Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm very concerned about reports that have emerged today of the Prime Minister doing what he does best, which is to blame other people for his own failures. Today, yet again, it's Queenslanders that the Prime Minister wants to blame for his own failures when it comes to the vaccine rollout. The Prime Minister has been in the media today blaming Queenslanders and saying that they're not showing enough urgency when it comes to getting vaccinated against COVID-19. The only person in this country who has not shown a sense of urgency when it comes to the vaccination rollout is the Prime Minister himself. This is the man who, month after month, told us that the vaccine rollout is not a race and not a competition. How many times did we hear that from the Prime Minister when Labor and many other people were calling on him to speed up the vaccine rollout and do more deals with pharmaceutical companies? But he refused to do so, assuring us time after time after time that it was not a race. Now he has the hide to turn around and blame Queenslanders for any shortfall in our vaccination rollout. That is the kind of disgusting anti-Queensland attitude that we have seen from this Prime Minister throughout this entire pandemic.

Let's be very clear: the vaccine rollout is Prime Minister Scott Morrison's job. It is his job to get the vaccine rollout working. It was always his job to get the vaccine rollout working, and, if it's not going to his satisfaction, rather than blaming Queenslanders he should have a good look in the mirror and see who's actually responsible for this. If there is any reluctance among Queenslanders to go and get vaccinated now that vaccines are finally starting to roll in, it is the Prime Minister's job to put on a decent public information campaign that convinces people to get out there and get vaccinated quickly. It is particularly the Prime Minister's job to do this public information campaign when he's allowing his own members of parliament—like the member for Dawson, George Christensen; Senator Canavan; and Senator Rennick—to run wild, spreading all sorts of antivaccine, antilockdown, antimask attitudes within the community and discouraging people from following the government's own health advice.

So let's be clear: if the Prime Minister has a concern about the level of vaccination that's occurring in Queensland, that is on him. It is his job to get the vaccine rollout working. It is his job to get a public information campaign working, not anyone else's, and he should stop trying to spread blame towards other people, particularly my Queensland compatriots. He should actually, for once, take responsibility and do his own job.

This continues the pattern we have seen from Scott Morrison, the Prime Minister, throughout this pandemic. Yesterday, he referred to people in Queensland and Western Australia as cavepeople. We have senators from New South Wales, like Senator Bragg, referring to Queensland and other places as hermit kingdoms. That is the kind of anti-Queensland attitude that we continue to see from members of this government right up to the Prime Minister.

The situation has got even worse today because the Queensland government has been forced to put a pause on hotel quarantine due to people travelling from interstate hotspots. What is the reason for that? It is because, in 18 months, this Prime Minister has not been able to build one quarantine station to take the pressure off in Queensland. Do your job.

Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is now 13.30. We shall now proceed to two-minute statements.