House debates

Wednesday, 2 June 2021

Matters of Public Importance

Health Care

3:49 pm

Photo of Adam BandtAdam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

It dredges up terrible feelings and memories for all of us in Victoria watching and awaiting those press conferences every day, awaiting those figures, to find out today that we are going into an extended lockdown again. We know that we'll get through it because we have done it before but we're angry because we shouldn't have to, because this lockdown follows a series of failures from this government. The virus escaped from a quarantine facility in another state, and quarantine facilities and standards in those facilities are the Prime Minister's responsibility. It came into a population that was unvaccinated, and vaccination is the Prime Minister's responsibility. We saw infections among aged-care workers, and aged care is the federal government's responsibility. That is why this is called the 'Morrison lockdown'. He's leaving us in Victoria high and dry. That is rubbing salt into our wounds and making this lockdown even harder.

This time around, we're asked to do our bit for the public health of the country, to stop a third wave from spreading across Australia but without the financial support we had last time. It's happening when businesses, especially in my electorate of Melbourne—in the arts sector, the creative sector, the hospitality sector, the retail sector—were just getting back on their feet, starting to enjoy full houses again and seeing those bookings come through. Casual workers were starting to get shifts coming through again, and people were looking forward to this period as one of rebuilding; instead, it is one that might smash many businesses and many workers during this period.

The first time around, JobKeeper was so important because it kept businesses and their workers connected and kept them alive. But despite clear requests, the government is giving us in Victoria nothing. People in Victoria are asking for a hand, and the government is giving us the finger. Even though this lockdown may only go for two weeks, and we hope it does, the consequences can be long lasting because this could be the difference between businesses getting back on their feet or failing. People who don't have a job are in enormous strife because they are living below the poverty line at the moment.

Last time around, there was some recognition that costs during a pandemic can go up, because all of a sudden you need to order things that may have been available for you through some other means. Costs for many things go up. Life can become more expensive for many people, especially for those who are amongst the poorest in our community. That's why this time around we need JobKeeper 2.0. We need JobSeeker lifted above the poverty line and, right now, the government needs to listen to the call from ACOSS for an immediate payment of $3,000 for those people who have lost work or, we say, didn't have any in the first place. Bills need to be paid right now. We don't have the same protections that were in place last time, like the protections against evictions. We don't have the same financial supports from the government. But people have lost their shifts. People are already doing it tough. People are already finding it impossible to make ends meet. If there's one lesson from last time, if you want people to follow the public health advice then relieve the financial pressure on them so they can do it and we need to do that right now. The Prime Minister could do that with a stroke of a pen. There was $10 billion put aside to deal with COVID emergencies. Most of that, about $9 billion-plus of it, as far as I'm aware, is still sitting there. That is what it is there for—to help people through the tough times and the urgent times. Spend some of it now to ensure the pandemic doesn't get worse and to ensure people don't fall through the cracks.

I mentioned aged care before. One of the things that this pandemic has shown us is the failure of privatisation in aged care. It turns out that running aged care for profit and having your country run by people who take donations from the big corporations that run aged care for profit is an all-round terrible idea. It's time to start making care for the public good, not for profit. We know that what is going to get us through this pandemic we're witnessing are all the things the government has attacked for the last 30 years. It is our public health system that is going to help us get through this pandemic. That is why we have to stop the cuts to our public health system and, instead of giving handouts of billions of dollars to corporations that already have a lot of money, start reinvesting in our public health system.

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