Ben Morton (Tangney, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister and Cabinet) Share this | Hansard source

Yesterday we saw another record-breaking day with 221,859 vaccinations having been administered across Australia. We're now seeing a million doses administered every six days, and 1.2 million Australians are getting vaccinated each and every week, with over 13,030,000 vaccines having been administered since the rollout began. Eighty per cent of Australians over 70 have received their first dose and over 44 per cent are now fully vaccinated. Two-fifths of Australians over 16 have now had their first jab and a fifth are already fully vaccinated.

Let's put this in context. Globally, there have been over 200 million known cases of COVID-19 resulting in, sadly, four million known deaths. In Ireland, Israel and Germany their death rate is 20 times higher than Australia. In the UK, Italy and the US combined, they have faced over 860,000 known deaths from COVID-19, more than 50 times the death rate in Australia.

But no success is achieved without some setbacks along the way. We know that, and the Prime Minister has acknowledged that. We've had our problems. We have not hit the mark on the vaccine rollout that we aimed for. Not all calls the government has made have turned out as we hoped, and I respect the Prime Minister for acknowledging this. But one thing has not changed. We can be very proud of the health and economic response that Australian governments working with the Australian people have delivered in this country.

Decisions taken early in the pandemic have ensured that we didn't make calls under duress. Our early success allowed us to understand the evolving variants as they occurred, and our early success did impact on the vaccine rollout. It's true that, in the UK and the US, the vaccine rollout got underway more than two months before Australia's, and for very good reason. In December 2020, when both the UK and the US gave emergency approval for their vaccines, the UK was averaging 14,600 COVID cases a day and 452 deaths a day. The US was averaging 215,000 cases a day and, very sadly, 2,500 deaths daily. I recall seeing those terrible pictures of Bobcats placing pine coffins in mass graves in Brooklyn. But, at the same time that that emergency approval for those vaccinations was given in the UK and the US, in Australia, we had 74 new cases all in hotel quarantine and, sadly, one single death in the first week of December 2020. So I understand why emergency approvals for vaccines were given in the UK and the US, and I can understand that it didn't make sense to do so here in Australia. I understand that the Therapeutic Goods Administration's more cautious approach, which was supported by the government, was the right way forward. I accept that. I believe the Australian people accept that. But the question is: do those opposite accept that same rationale applied by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, supported by the government at the time? Obviously that is not the case.

The Labor Party has talked about an 'all eggs in one basket' strategy by this government, but it couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, that type of politics is completely consistent with their petty politics, with no solutions—just complaints. We know that the government entered into five different agreements for prospective vaccines and established a domestic vaccine manufacturing capability that was non-existent a year ago. Not only are we back on track with our vaccine rollout, we are making up ground very fast. I got my first dose of AstraZeneca from the GP. If you're not already vaccinated and if you're under 60, like I am, I encourage you to go and talk to your GP. If your GP recommends it, get vaccinated. I actually made my booking for my AstraZeneca vaccination only one day before receiving it. If you're over 60 and you haven't been vaccinated, please join the 74 per cent that have already had their first jab.

We cannot be complacent. Each of us has a part to play in beating this pandemic. It's time to roll up for Australia. It's time to ensure that we put behind us the petty politics of those opposite—those who want to talk Australia and Australians down. The government has acknowledged the issues that have occurred with the rollout of this vaccine. We have been able to support the state governments in ensuring that there is a rollout across the country, and now is the time to roll up for Australia.

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