Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for the Republic) Share this | Hansard source

The Morrison government couldn't deliver a pizza and the Australian people know it. In almost every policy area that this Prime Minister has made a commitment or a promise to the Australian people, he has failed to deliver and it's affecting the welfare of the Australian people. Remember the Prime Minister promised four million Australians would be vaccinated by the end of March? He only fell 3.8 million short of that target. The government are still bungling the vaccine rollout, with elderly people and people with disabilities still unable to receive the vaccine.

I want to read a letter that I received from a GP in the area that I represent. This GP is the head of a number of GPs that work at a practice. He writes, 'We find it hard to understand and very disconcerting that some GP practices, including one as large as ours with a total of 16 doctors, is only receiving 100 AstraZeneca vaccines per week. We have a large number of elderly patients and patients with significant underlying medical conditions and currently have close to 500 on our waiting list to get the vaccine. They understand the need to be protected against COVID-19 and they're keen to be vaccinated as soon as possible via their GP. We ask you to pass on our dilemma to the health minister, Greg Hunt, and the Prime Minister and we hope this will result in an immediate improvement in vaccine distribution to GP clinics like ours.' That was on 5 May. That's the view of Australia's GPs about how that side of the chamber is bungling the vaccine rollout, but they don't seem to care.

Australians are worried about their health, particularly the elderly and those with disabilities. Small businesses are pleading with this government to get on with the vaccine rollout so they don't have the threat of another lockdown or restrictions again. Businesses whose workers rely on borders reopening are dumbfounded at the government's lack of interest in getting Australians vaccinated. When it comes to vaccinations, they have failed the Australian people. Now, the No. 1 job of an Australian government is to keep the Australian people safe and to provide them with safe passage home when they want to get home.

Remember the Prime Minister promised we would have all Australians home by the end of Christmas—another failure. There are still 36,000 Australians stranded overseas and they cannot get home. Back here in Australia, the government talks about supporting workers. Well, this government is failing Australian workers. Those on that side quite often like to come in here and say, 'We're all about supporting Australian workers.' Let's look at their record. They are not about supporting Australian workers when they're the party of WorkChoices that introduced laws that cut the wages and working conditions of Australians and forced them on to individual contracts. They're not the party of Australian workers when you cut penalty rates so that low-paid workers take home less to their families each week. They're not the party of Australian workers when they allow Qantas, one of our largest employers, to sack 3,000 of its workers and, in an ultimate insult to those workers, bring in a foreign corporation to do the work that Australians were doing on lower wages and conditions. That's an absolute disgrace. They're not about Australian workers when they oppose coalminers who are seeking to be paid the same as their colleagues for doing the same work although they're employed by a labour company. They went to the High Court and gave a submission against those workers saying no, they shouldn't be paid the same as their colleagues. And they are not for Australian workers when they make a submission to the Fair Work case for low-paid workers ensuring that they don't get a wage increase at all. When they make a submission to the Fair Work case saying low-paid workers don't deserve a wage increase at all, they're not for Australian workers one bit. The result is that Australian workers' incomes are falling and it is confirmed in the government's own budget papers. They admit that, over the forward estimates, the real wages of Australian workers are going to fall under their government. How are they for the welfare of the Australian people?

The government is failing small businesses as well. If you walk down any main street of any region in Australia, a small business employer will tell you, 'We can't get workers. We can't get skilled staff.' Why? Because there are 140,000 fewer apprentices in this country since this government was elected. They cut $2 billion from TAFE and, as a result, there are no workers to take on the skills and the requirements that employers need. Their solution in the past was: 'It'll be okay. We don't need apprentices and trainees. We'll import them from overseas. We'll bring in foreign workers on temporary visas.' Well, now that the borders have been shut they've been found wanting and small businesses are suffering.

They're not for older workers, either. Older Australians are suffering as well. When the title of the interim report of the royal commission into aged care is Neglect, you know you got a problem.

You're not for Australian workers and small businesses at all.

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