Jordon Steele-John (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] The reality of this pandemic and the rollout of the vaccine for disabled people here in Australia has been one of fear as we have watched our government fail us time and time again. It is a hard truth to hear that your government purposefully, strategically and outrageously made the decision to deprioritise four million Australians as it panicked to make up for its own incompetence in the early days of the vaccine rollout—but that is what happened. That is the truth. We have our royal commission to thank for the clear knowledge of the absolute failure of this government's vaccine rollout in relation to disabled people.

As a result of this failure, vaccination remains scandalously low among our community, well below the average in the wider population. We must urgently ensure that all disabled people who want to be vaccinated can get vaccinated right now before the country opens up and COVID inevitably rips through. There is absolutely no time to waste in this endeavour as Victoria and New South Wales radically change the way in which they manage COVID-19 in the community. We know that disabled people are at greater risk of COVID-19 and are more likely to become seriously ill or die if infected. Once again, the Greens call on the government to rapidly upscale the accessibility and the appropriateness of the vaccine program by making it a proactive program that goes to people where they are, sets a clear target of 90 per cent of the disabled population and prioritises disability support workers and disabled people's close contacts while making sure that all vaccination portals and websites are fully accessible.

Contrary to what the government's attitude seems to show us, the lives of disabled people are not expendable. The Greens have prioritised and always will prioritise committing to putting disabled people at the centre of this vaccine rollout as we change the way that we manage COVID-19. As we do that, we must also provide a proper plan to make sure that children in our schools have access to ventilation and air filtration and we must provide a proper set of socially distanced requirements to keep kids safe in schools as well.