Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The vaccine rollout has begun and, representing an electorate with one of the oldest populations in the country, I'm delighted, especially given there are around five vaccine hubs on the Sunshine Coast. Two of these, Buderim and Woombye, are in my electorate, so locals in my patch will be among the first to be vaccinated.

We know this crisis is not just a health one, it's also an economic one, and I think we should acknowledge that credit-rating agency Fitch has this morning reaffirmed Australia's AAA credit rating. This is terrific news, and it comes on the back of last week's news about the unemployment rate going down to 6.4 per cent. So the economic recovery has also begun.

There will, however, be bumps in the road ahead. We know that, and we all have a role to play to ensure that we are supporting businesses and individuals. To that end, I want to pay tribute to the Sunshine Coast Chamber Alliance, who only last Friday ran a business breakfast focusing on the importance of solvency and what to do if your business is at risk of becoming insolvent, based on the new insolvency regime this government has introduced. Everybody has a role to play to support each other. We should be building confidence and making sure we're helping all other businesses.

See this speech in context