Raff Ciccone (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I present the 494th report of the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit, together with executive minutes relating to several reports of the committee.

Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the report.

I rise to take note of the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit's Report 494: inquiry into the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's crisis management arrangements, which has just been tabled. In this inquiry, the committee reviewed the Auditor-General's report on the effectiveness of DFAT's crisis management arrangements during the COVID-19 pandemic. This framework was implemented to facilitate the return of overseas Australians who were stranded due to travel restrictions and border closures.

At the outset, I would like to note that we in the committee warmly commend officers of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for their dedicated work in assisting Australians stranded offshore during the pandemic and for the help they continue to provide to any Australians across the globe who require it. As a member of cabinet at the time, and having been involved in the response, I also acknowledge my cabinet colleagues and the Prime Minister for their leadership in the response. The committee itself supported the areas for improvement identified by the Auditor-General and noted that DFAT objected to two recommendations.

Can I also note what we said in the 'Coalition member's additional comments'. It was important for us as a committee to remember that this was a once-in-a-generation pandemic. The circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic were extraordinary and the response was unprecedented, but there are certainly lessons to be learnt from a response of that magnitude. We said:

The Morrison Government declared the COVID-19 pandemic on 27 February 2020, before the World Health Organization declared it on 11 March 2020. The early acknowledgement and action in closing international borders meant the Government could put health and economic measures in place to protect lives and livelihoods.

Remember that, at that time, there was no sight of any vaccine for this new virus.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's established crisis framework enabled it to successfully assist 61,755 Australians to return and facilitate 227 flights.

Again, that is unprecedented in its scale, scope, time frame and challenges given that the global airline industry had, pretty much, shut down.

The response to the pandemic was tough but it allowed Australia to be one of the few countries to come out of the pandemic stronger, with over 95% of Australians vaccinated …

This also saved at least 43,000 Australian lives. As of February 2023, more than 64 million vaccine doses had been administered here in Australia—that's despite misinformation and the undermining efforts of some in the community. Our comments continued:

… the Department of Health's Is It True? portal opened on 14 March and provided information on the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine rollout in more than 63 languages for multicultural communities.

And that's across Australia.

In Australia from 3 January 2020 to 21 March 2023, there have been 11,380,700 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 19,447 deaths reported to the World Health Organization – meaning Australia has only contributed to 0.28% of the world's—

fatalities due to COVID-19 and 1.5 per cent of reported cases.

Other large comparable economies, such as the United States, China and India, that did not implement the measures that Australia did had significantly higher cases and also, sadly, deaths. The United States, for example, had confirmed more than 102 million cases, which was 13.5 per cent of global cases, and more than one million Americans died of COVID-19, which was over 16 per cent of global deaths. So the Americans have achieved 69 per cent of the population fully vaccinated, whereas here in Australia we had over 90 per cent—in fact, 96 per cent.

So there is no doubt that the JobKeeper payment government financial supports that the Morrison government implemented played a key role in supporting the nation's economy throughout the pandemic and also ensured that businesses could keep employees connected to them during those terrible times.

The Reserve Bank estimated that this payment alone, the JobKeeper payment, reduced total job losses by 700,000 between April and July 2020. Treasury estimates that the unemployment rate would have been at least five per cent higher than it turned out to be because of JobKeeper. The Morrison government's $314 billion in direct economic support included payments to individuals and support to businesses, also contributed to Australia keeping its AAA credit rating—one of only nine countries in the world to achieve this. They were extraordinary times. As the committee reported, DFAT certainly did a sterling job in dealing with Australians who were stranded overseas and repatriating them to Australia.

In conclusion, I thank all of the contributors to this inquiry, particularly the DFAT officers who appeared at the public hearing and also facilitated a site inspection of the department's crisis management facilities. I also thank all fellow members of the JCPAA who participated in this inquiry. They continue in the bipartisan tradition of this committee. Finally, I give a huge thanks to the amazing committee secretariat for their support and their professionalism throughout this inquiry. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.