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

tor STEELE-JOHN () (): I wish to take note of Auditor-General report No. 3 of 2022-23, Performance audit—Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout: Department of Health and Aged Care.In making this contribution to what is a report which, each time I read it, makes me more and more frustrated sitting here as the Greens health spokesperson and as a disabled person, I note that on 8 November the national cabinet made the decision to remove the requirement for people to isolate while positive for COVID-19 from 14 October. We are now living in the reality where somebody that tests positive to COVID-19 is under no obligation and neither is supported to isolate while they are infectious—while they are in fact at the peak of their infectiousness.

In the face of one of the longest existing public health measures that humanity has ever come to understand—that being that, when you are sick with an infectious disease, you should isolate from others, which is a rule so basic that a schoolchild, let alone a public health officer or an expert in public health, would be able to recommend it to the public—and in the face of these basic public health realities, the national cabinet decided to put the profits of the big corporations of this country and the political convenience of its leaders ahead of community public health. That is the reality of today. That is the reality of the COVID-19 response in Australia in 2022.

I attended an online meeting of hundreds of older people, of disabled people and of the immunocompromised in the aftermath of this decision, coming to gather, outraged and terrified that their governments, state and federal, had completely disregarded their safety in making this decision and had seemingly made it in the face of all basic public health understandings. I was joined in that conversation by public health experts that shared our concern.

From those requests from the community, the Greens have the following 20-point plan, which I will read for the information of the Senate, because these are the steps that should have been crafted on the back of the dangers listed in this report. listed in this report. No. 1 is the release of unredacted medical advice that was considered by the national cabinet in making the decision to remove the isolation requirement. No. 2 is the immediate reinstatement of a mandatory isolation period for five days for people with COVID infection, to be reviewed after 12 months. No. 3 is to continue with the pandemic disaster payment for five days isolation, to be reviewed in 12 months, and an end to mutual obligations for people on JobSeeker and other in-kind support. How is that, if you are COVID-19 positive, the federal government would require you to go into the public realm to mix with people? It is outrageous!

Also included in the 20-point plan is: that other government agencies must have a non-contact service framework, particularly Centrelink; the provision of rapid antigen tests free on request and the continuation of free PCRs; an amendment to relevant regulations to require COVID-19 testing for those working in, particularly, the care and support industries, if requested by the person they are caring for or supporting; the funding of an ongoing public health campaign, including bringing attention to the importance of prevention, treatment and the importance of mask-wearing in indoor spaces and the health risks associated with COVID-19; increased funding for telehealth and the reinstation of healthcare items that were invested in during the 2021 period; and, among other things, proper diagnosis of health based supports for those living with long COVID.

I know that there are so many out there that feel abandoned by the government because of this decision, and I want you to know the Greens are with you. We're going to continue to keep working with you to keep each other safe.

Debate adjourned.