Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is not hard to see why this government has given all of the responsibility of managing this coronavirus pandemic to the states and territories. The last time they tried to do something to help manage this pandemic was the COVIDSafe app. We all remember that app. That worked really well—$70 million to trace 17 contacts! But now we actually need this government to do something properly. It can't just be about spin. We need them to get the vaccine rollout right.

We were told originally that we were at the front of the queue. 'The head of the queue'—that is what the Prime Minister told us. What was the truth? We're actually among the last in the world to get this vaccine rollout going. Australians are not at the head of the queue. Australians are waiting for this government to get this vaccine rollout right. We were promised four million vaccines by March. We are nowhere near that. We were promised that all Australians would be vaccinated by the end of October. Instead of actually delivering on his promise, what was the Prime Minister's response? 'No, we only meant that you would get the first vaccine by October.' Instead of worrying about vaccinating Australians, they're worried about the message. This government needs to get its act together. We need to no longer hear from people like the member for Hughes, who attacked our health experts, and Senator Canavan, who undermined our health approach in this country. We need a government that's actually willing to get the vaccine rolled out and to save Australian lives.

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