Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Whilst I have great admiration and respect for the member for Macarthur, I disagree with him most earnestly on the motion he has put before the House. Australia is ranked second in the world for pandemic preparedness, according to the Johns Hopkins Global Health Security Index. Let's look at the additional findings of that particular piece of work:

Most countries, including high-income nations, have not made dedicated financial investments in strengthening epidemic or pandemic preparedness.

Australia has.

Most countries saw little or no improvement in maintaining a robust, capable, and accessible health system for outbreak detection and response.

We have.

Political and security risks have increased in nearly all countries—

I acknowledge that—

and those with the fewest resources have the highest risk and greatest preparedness gaps.

Well, we're certainly addressing those issues, and of course national security is of the utmost importance. The protection of our people is always No. 1.

Countries are continuing to neglect the preparedness needs of vulnerable populations, which exacerbates the impact of health security emergencies.

We certainly haven't fallen into that trap, quite to the contrary. The work that we did with our First Nations people, through both the Minister for Indigenous Australians and the shadow minister, has been exceptional.

Countries are not prepared to prevent globally catastrophic biological events that could cause damage on a larger scale than COVID-19.

Again, Australia does not fall into that category. The work that we have done, through the national cabinet process as well, has been exemplary.

On the first point, about dedicating financial investments, according to Johns Hopkins: 1.1 million jobs have been created since the pandemic hit—1.1 million jobs. Eleven and a half million Australians are benefiting through tax relief because of the policies that this government has put in place.

More than 95 per cent of Australians are protected with vaccines. I wish there were many more. I wish that it was 100 per cent, and I'm sure Dr Freelander does as well. As for those Australians—and they're allowed to do it—who were protesting in Canberra over the weekend and for many days before, they should all go out and get a jab, get two jabs, get three jabs—get that booster shot—to protect themselves and their families, loved ones and associates, and, perhaps just as importantly, to protect those strangers whose identities they will never ever know; they'd protect them as well. It's all well and good to protest and carry on—and I appreciate that they weren't just all anti-vaxxers—but, to that point, as I'm sure Dr Freelander will agree: some of our colleagues who are promoting that sort of stuff should take a good, long, hard look at themselves. Seriously! To those colleagues who—for the sake of a political photo op or some sort of opportunity to get more likes on their social media—go out and address those crowds and whip up a maelstrom of malcontent: I think that's very, very sad.

During the first week of this year, I had the opportunity, and I was so pleased that I did, to work with a leading Perth diagnostics firm to arrange 32.6 million rapid antigen test kits to come into Australia via 46 chartered flights. I thank Qantas for the work that they did in that regard, right up to the top—right up to the CEO, Alan Joyce. They went out of their way to make sure that those RAT kits came into Australia.

More than 94 million telehealth consultations through Medicare for 16 million patients have been put in place. I appreciate this was not just a COVID response, but it's one of the many things that we are doing to address those health issues, some of which have been exacerbated by the pandemic. Eight hundred and fifty-seven new medicines have been listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme since 2019. Again, it shows that this government is getting on with the job of addressing all the health issues, not just COVID. And there have been 1,400 additional nurse placements for the regions. That's so important. I come from regional Australia and I appreciate what has been done in the COVID response by good, ordinary, everyday country Australians, and I thank them—and all Australians—for doing what they've done to resist COVID.

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