House debates

Tuesday, 1 June 2021

Matters of Public Importance

COVID-19: Vaccination

4:16 pm

Photo of Steve IronsSteve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this MPI on COVID-19 vaccination today and send good wishes to all the people and all my family in Victoria. I grew up in Victoria, and most of my extended family, including grandchildren, are in Victoria. Fortunately none of them have rung me to complain about the federal government's position on this. I congratulate all the frontline workers and all the people who are doing the rollout for the work that they're doing.

Yesterday was a record Monday for vaccinations. Overall four million vaccine doses have been administered. The Australian government is a strong supporter of immunisation as a safe and effective way to prevent the spread of many diseases in the community that can cause death, severe health conditions and hospitalisation. The COVID-19 vaccination is the best way to protect the Australian community. While the government supports immunisation, it is voluntary, and individuals maintain the option not to vaccinate. It is important that everyone who can benefit from a COVID-19 vaccine can access it to protect themselves and their community.

The TGA rigorously assesses vaccines for safety, quality and effectiveness before they can be legally supplied in Australia. These are strict requirements, because vaccines are routinely given to healthy people in large numbers. The Australian government have committed $1.3 billion to the vaccine delivery, including workforce funding to states and territories; primary care, including general practice; Commonwealth vaccination clinics; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community controlled health services; pharmacists; and surge workforce.

While I mention the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community areas, I give a shout-out to the Royal Flying Doctor Service for the tremendous work they're doing in rolling out the vaccines in remote areas, which we haven't heard anything about from those on the other side. Just to update them, the government has committed a total of $37.2 million to the Royal Flying Doctor Service, which includes an extension of the contract to 31 December 2021 to expand RFDS capability to undertake vaccine administration in rural and remote communities and continue early evacuations, medical retrievals, swab transfers, and fly-in GPRC services. In addition, the 2021-22 budget announced an additional $18.2 million to extend specific measures to support the successful COVID-19 vaccine rollout to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations to 30 June 2022, including an extension of the RFDS contract.

The RFDS delivered vaccination administration under the contract for services at Eucla, WA, on Wednesday 19 May 2021. Eucla is a remote community located in WA, on the WA-South Australian border. The RFDS administered 51 vaccinations in three different locations—36 doses in Eucla, nine doses en route at Rawlinna, a small mining town 450 kilometres away from Eucla, and six doses at Forrest Airport, 154 kilometres from Eucla. Vaccine delivery was facilitated from DHL to the RFDS base in Kalgoorlie, WA, and supported from them within the department, using the Pfizer vaccine. Second doses will occur in the week of 14 June 2021, so, again, hats off to the RFDS, who are just doing a fantastic job in remote and regional areas with the vaccine rollout.

The Australian government remains committed to rolling out the vaccine as promptly and as safely as possible, backed by medical advice from the TGA. The Australian government has secured 195.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine. This includes the newest agreement, to secure 25 million Moderna vaccines, and our focus will be on getting these doses rolled out over the year. The Australian government's COVID-19 vaccination public information campaign launched on 27 January and is rolling out across the country. The national campaign will support the phased rollout of the vaccination program. There will be further stages over the coming months, and different messages, as the program extends to other phases of the rollout. The campaign is working with more than 100,000 people, on average, each day, checking the eligibility checker. I, along with all members on this side of the chamber, encourage people to go to Australia.gov.au and check if they are eligible and find their local clinic and book right now. One point three million dollars has been provided for peak multicultural organisations to help reach culturally and linguistically diverse communities. The government will continue to fight the virus, while the opposition just fights the government and the vaccination rollout.

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