Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Hansard source

I know this is an important question for the senator from Western Australia, and I would say this: we saw what happened during the pandemic, when we couldn't get the medical supplies that we needed when we needed them most, which is why the Albanese government is investing to create strong domestic supply chains that support our world-class services. That includes rebuilding our medical, pharmaceutical and manufacturing capacity in this country and to reach out right across all of these sectors, including the sectors that the good senator from Western Australia is asking a question about. We've dedicated $1.5 billion of the $15 billion of the National Reconstruction Fund for medical manufacturing. Only the Albanese Labor government believes in making things here and is investing so we aren't always reliant on others in a crisis. Under your watch, Australians faced shortages of vaccines, shortages of COVID tests and shortages of PPE for our frontline workers.

Honourable senators interjecting—