Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This summer a member of my community wrote to me in despair and said:

My husband and I are older people and parents of two disabled adults. We've been made to feel expendable by the Morrison government and their current decisions. Are these decisions because we're seen as a burden on the community? Are they because we're considered unproductive? Are we a way to save money on pensions, because dead people cannot claim a pension?

She went on to explain the lengths she had gone to to try to source COVID tests for her family, including for her son with Down syndrome. She said that rapid antigen tests were unavailable. As a grandparent she undertakes regular duties to care for two children under five, who can't be vaccinated but are also exposed to the virus at child care. And the staff cannot access rapid antigen tests.

This was the summer for my constituents, but for the Morrison government this summer was attending the cricket for three days instead of attending the Senate inquiry into COVID in aged care. It was trying to explain away text messages about the Prime Minister's character from the former New South Wales Premier, a current cabinet minister and, of course, the current Deputy Prime Minister. Most recently for the Prime Minister it was attending to campaign stunts and washing a woman's hair for the cameras. My community is sick and tired of this Prime Minister and this government not doing their jobs. We deserve so much better. (Time expired)