Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for the invitation, but I don't think it would be fair of me to table a top-secret list of One Nation's proposed Senate inquiries. The last one on the list, which I think actually the Liberal and National senators could be very constructive members of, is an inquiry into the question: why do you have to have a go to get a go? That one is a critical inquiry in Australian politics, and I thank One Nation for bringing these absolutely amazing proposals before the Senate. As I said at the start of my speech, what we've really found out today is that cookers are actually going to cook despite what sensible people in the Senate have got to say.

What I want to say in closing is that the COVID-19 pandemic has of course presented us with many challenges, but one of the big opportunities that it has presented us all with is an opportunity to reflect on the state of our society, the state of our government and the state of our economy. It has shown us where we need to improve, where we need to invest, the regulatory frameworks that are missing and those that need to be beefed up. Ultimately, it's given us an opportunity to learn a giant lesson about how we need to change as a society and how politics needs to change in this country to make sure that we do much more to look after people and support people who are ill.

I want to give a shout out to everyone who is suffering from long COVID in this country. I want to give a shout out and extend my deepest sympathies, and those of the Australian Greens, to everyone who has lost a loved one, a family member or a friend as a result of COVID-19, because it is cutting a swathe through our community. Life expectancy in this country and globally is plummeting. In fact, global life expectancy is plummeting now at the fastest rate since the great famine of China in the early 1950s. That is the rate at which global life expectancy is currently plummeting, and it is due to this virus; it is due to COVID-19 and the global pandemic that we are all living through and will live through, tragically, for some time yet.

What we do know is that it has revealed, amongst many other things, the critical importance of public health infrastructure, the critical importance of a robust and responsive healthcare system, and the absolutely crucial nature of a coordinated and compassionate approach to protecting everyone in our community, but particularly those who are most vulnerable: older people and immunocompromised people.    We've also seen the devastating consequences of systemic inequality and economic injustice in this country. We've seen the devastating consequences of a precarious and underpaid workforce and of a lack of investment in the education and training of healthcare professionals. As we move forward, we have to make sure that we learn the lessons of this pandemic: invest in our people; invest in public health infrastructure; give more people permanent, secure work with paid sick leave; invest in healthcare workers; and invest in the social safety net that protects the most vulnerable people in our community.

JobSeeker was doubled for a brief and beautiful time during the pandemic—by a Liberal-National government, I might add. My office was flooded with testimonials from people who said that for the first time in years, in some cases, they could actually put food on the table and pay the power bill in the same fortnight. For those who have never laboured under those kind of financial stresses—I actually did labour under them for a brief period when I was younger—they are terrible pressures to have to bear on a day-to-day basis. We should be doing much, much more to ensure that JobSeeker allows people to live a dignified life. We've got to ensure that our economy is resilient and adaptable and that it provides good jobs and fair wages and supports the small businesses and workers who are the lifeblood of our communities. We've got to do it all with a clear-eyed focus on the challenges and the opportunities that lie ahead.

This pandemic has actually demonstrated very clearly that everything is interconnected. We are all interconnected. The jobs people do are interconnected. The pastimes people enjoy are interconnected. Our families, our communities, the economy, our society, the environment and the climate are all interconnected. Our fates are intertwined and our actions can have far-reaching consequences, not just on ourselves but on everyone in our communities. Ultimately what the pandemic has shown us is that collectivism will win the day. We have to work together, we have to listen to each other, we have to support each other, we have to love each other and we have to approach our collective future with hope, with determination and with resilience.