Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Hanson for her question. It is a very similar question to one that I addressed yesterday or the day before in relation to the types of reviews that could be undertaken. The Prime Minister has been very clear that right now, in the here and now, the government's priority remains on the response to the pandemic. In responding to the pandemic in Australia and working together, the Commonwealth government, state and territory governments, business, community, health experts and service providers in particular have all managed to achieve some outstanding outcomes in comparison to the rest of the world. Across Australia, we retain one of the lowest fatality rates, one of the highest vaccination rates and some of the strongest economic outcomes. They have all been very important, hard-fought outcomes that Australians as a whole have contributed to, and they have responded to all those messages.

The Prime Minister also acknowledged that there will be time for appropriate reviews and inquiries to look at the management of COVID-19. Of course, we have had in this chamber an ongoing review process through the COVID select committee that was established, but I'm sure there will be processes that look back, once we can put the pandemic more clearly in the rear-view mirror. The exact nature of such reviews and inquiries will be matters to be discussed with states and territories and others at the time. Whilst it will be important to have a look at preparedness and readiness for the handling of future crises and other uncertainties, and to look at what has gone right or wrong, I would, as I did in my response the other day, also just caveat that with the fact that the next pandemic or the next crisis will be quite different, no doubt, to this one. So, while there will be lessons to be learned, we shouldn't pretend that anything will always provide preparation for all of the uncertainties we may face.