Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

DON () (): I rise to speak on this very important motion that's been put forward by Senator Louise Pratt. This matter of public importance is incredibly important to this country and to my home state of New South Wales, which has been suffering lockdowns but is now emerging out of those months of lockdowns. Months of lockdowns were only necessary because the Prime Minister, Mr Morrison, utterly failed on the vaccine rollout and quarantine, because of Mr Morrison's insistence that the vaccine rollout was not a race. Because of Mr Morrison's insistence that the COVID-19 pandemic is a problem for the states and territories, there have been lives lost; there have been many more who have suffered serious illness; there have been billions of dollars lost from the Australian economy, billions of dollars that have been drained out of the pockets of small business owners and working Australians; there has been severe financial hardship; and there have been severe impacts on mental health. It will be some time before we truly understand the full toll that Mr Morrison's failure on the vaccine rollout and quarantine has had on Australia.

It is only thanks to the extraordinary response of the Australian people that we have managed to begin turning Mr Morrison's failures around, but now Mr Morrison is moving on to other matters. He is now entirely preoccupied with internal fights about climate change. He is a Prime Minister held hostage by his junior coalition partner. He is no longer even in the room where the decisions his government makes on climate are made. He is held hostage by the New South Wales Premier, who makes announcements about international borders without even telling the Prime Minister.

The COVID-19 pandemic hasn't ended. It certainly isn't over for Victoria, which continues to suffer through lockdowns created by Mr Morrison's failures. It isn't over for those workers around Australia who continue to be out of work as a direct result of Mr Morrison's vaccine failure. And rather than support people who remain without work at this critically important time, Mr Morrison is instead cutting the safety net. He is ending COVID-19 support payments for workers around Australia. International students haven't come back, but he's cutting support for university workers. International and domestic aviation has been recovered, but he has already cut support for aviation workers. In fact, Mr Morrison excluded outsourced aviation workers from support payments.

Perhaps Mr Morrison isn't aware, but the vast majority of the ground-handling work at Australian airports is now outsourced. Qantas outsourced 2,000 jobs last year while simultaneously receiving $2 billion from the government to keep those workers in their jobs, and the Federal Court recently ruled that outsourcing was illegal. I still haven't heard a peep from the Prime Minister about those workers, but Mr Morrison certainly made sure the 2,000 workers whose jobs were illegally outsourced will not have any access to COVID-19 support payments. I would find it very surprising if this was just an unfortunate oversight, because many of those aviation workers live in his electorate of Cook. And what do workers at Sydney airport get from their local member for Cook? They get their jobs outsourced, and then they get cut off from support payments for their trouble.

The fact is COVID-19 has not gone away. Those jobs have not come back. So why are the payments disappearing? If only Mr Morrison were as quick to roll out the vaccine as he is to cut the safety net for Australian workers. And it isn't just support payments that Mr Morrison has gone missing on. While the Premier of New South Wales has taken over control of Australia's international borders, the Prime Minister has gone missing on rapid testing for aviation workers. We all want to see international aviation begin. Aviation workers desperately want to get back to work, but they are rightly concerned about COVID-19 safety, particularly as we open back up to the rest of the world. Aviation workers want to know what Mr Morrison is going to do to ensure they can be safe at work. They have heard nothing in response.

The Transport Workers Union produced a COVIDSafe national transport road map. It is a road map for how we can safely reopen our road transport and aviation sectors—sectors where workers are uniquely exposed to COVID-19 transmission risks. A key part of that road map is rapid antigen testing. Rapid antigen testing will reduce transmission on planes, it will provide aviation workers with peace of mind and it will keep planes in the sky. Rapid testing is already being used in international airports across the world to detect positive cases early. These airports include London's Heathrow and terminals in the USA, Ireland, Germany and Turkey. Sydney international airport has rapid PCR testing installed, with results given in just 20 minutes. Even before international borders open, we've seen, time and time again, domestic flights listed as contact sites and hotspots for transmission, so how can we open up our aviation sector again without a road map and a plan for minimising COVID-19 risks? We already know how it can be done. The TWU's road map has been endorsed by the leading Australian epidemiologist, Professor Adrian Esterman from the University of South Australia. Professor Esterman said, 'It is a major step forward and, if implemented, would greatly reduce the risk of transmission of the virus.' It is time for Mr Morrison to come to the table and commit to government-funded rapid testing across the network, and to do so immediately.

But, no, Mr Morrison has nothing to say about rapid antigen testing. Mr Morrison doesn't care about keeping aviation workers safe at work, just as Mr Morrison doesn't care about the tens of thousands of workers around Australia who are about to lose critical COVID-19 support payments. What has Mr Morrison been focusing on, other than fighting the Nationals on climate policy? He's been telling state and territory governments to look elsewhere if they need support with the hospital system as we emerge from lockdowns. Mr Morrison is telling state and territory governments that he's not going to stump up any money to help them deal with increased pressure on ICUs and hospitals. How unbelievable is that!

Mr Morrison was happy to dish out $40 billion to big businesses. Over $20 billion was paid to companies that made an improvement in their income. But if you need funding for intensive care units struggling through a surge of COVID-19 cases or if you need funding for emergency support payments for people without work due to the pandemic, Mr Morrison turns his pockets inside out and cries poor. It's just the latest chapter in the sorry saga of the Morrison government. There has been no end to the amount of money that can be dished out for government rorts or in handouts to big business that doesn't deserve it, but if you're doing it tough, if you need money to put food on the table or to pay for an ICU bed, then you're tough out of luck.

The necessity for there to be a fifty-fifty funding arrangement with the state government was raised by the Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union. A survey of Queensland health workers was carried out recently. They're calling for funding to address the dire safety issues in hospitals. A survey of nurses and midwives reveals that 72 per cent worry about facilities that cannot cope with COVID-19 outbreaks. The Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union questionnaire revealed that 58 per cent of respondents do not believe that facilities are safe for patients or staff. Queensland is part of Australia. New South Wales and the rest of the states make up Australia. It's critically important that the Prime Minister act, and act now.