Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] The government has had two clear jobs through this pandemic. The first of those is to save lives, and the second is to save livelihoods. Our job has been to save lives and to save livelihoods. We know that, were it not for the actions of the government working together with governments around this country, our experience as compared to those of like countries around the world—more than 30,000 Australians would have perished during this crisis. That didn't occur because of the actions taken on our watch. In addition to that, we've saved livelihoods to ensure that Australia's economy is stronger today than before the pandemic hit, and, in addition to that, there are more Australians employed today than before the pandemic hit. Now, there have been many measures we have put in place to secure that, but those have included an investment of more than $310 billion in health initiatives as well as economic supports to achieve those results.

Reference is made to the actions of the states, and I commend the actions of the states. In fact, as Prime Minister I called the states together into the national cabinet to ensure that our actions were coordinated, and one of the first actions we took as a national cabinet was to agree to put in place a system of hotel quarantine around this country. That has been a key measure in ensuring that Australia has been able to have the success that it has. Breaches from any form of quarantine in a global pandemic are inevitable, and that is why the further rings of containment with contact tracing, social distancing and other measures are vital.

Of course, the vaccination program, as I have already indicated, has now reached some 6.86 million, two-thirds almost, of Australians aged over 70 and the most vulnerable populations; they have already received their first dose, and more than a quarter of Australians aged over 16 have received their first dose. And, as the vaccination program continues to escalate, as we move from the AstraZeneca vaccine to the Pfizer vaccines, which were timed for their delivery, because of international supply constraints, in the second half of the year, that will continue to roll out.

We've also invested half a billion dollars in the quarantine facilities in the Northern Territory, which was recommended by the Halton review. In addition to that, we're partnering with the states, particularly Victoria right now, on the development of additional facilities to supplement the hotel quarantine program, not to replace it. So the actions that our government has taken have saved lives and have saved livelihoods. That has been our focus. The politics in this have been left to the opposition, who have sought only to undermine and engage in carping negativity, rather than engage in the national project, which this government has led to the great advantage of Australians.

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