Katie Allen (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister outline to the House how the Morrison government is continuing to act on its plan to protect lives and livelihoods from the coronavirus pandemic and its economic effects?

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

I thank the member for Higgins for her question and for her strong advice and encouragement to the health minister and myself and during the course of our response, given her experience in these and many other areas. Can I also acknowledge International Nurses Day today. This is an important day to recognise those who are out there right now protecting all Australians and showing the care that is needed to assist so many, particularly those—although they would be very few in number—in our ICUs today as a result of the response that we've had to the COVID-19 crisis. They are still there and they will be there no matter what the challenge is that comes to Australia on this matter. Ever since the COVID-19 outbreak started, going back into early January, the government has had a very clear plan as to our response. The first point in that plan has always been to fight the virus and to take the medical advice about how we can achieve that.

Together as a country we are winning when it comes to addressing the COVID-19 pandemic here in Australia. With the great cooperation and efforts of the states and territories, we have been able to flatten that curve, we have been able to reduce the growth in the case numbers and, importantly, we have been able to put the protections in place—increased ICU capacity, increased availability of PPE and testing kits and the COVIDSafe app, which I've just been asked about. All of these things provide protection against the COVID-19 virus and have ensured that we are now one of the safest countries in the world when it comes to this virus—certainly among developed countries. Australia's story is one we can be proud of when it comes to responding to this issue. We did that by fighting the virus and ensuring that we took the right steps—from closing borders, to putting the health steps in place, to putting restrictions in place—to ensure that we can get on top of the virus and put ourselves into a good position. And that of course led at the same time to ensuring we extended an economic lifeline right across Australia, through the JobKeeper and jobseeker program, the doubling effectively of the jobseeker payment through the COVID supplement and the cashflow measures that the Treasurer went through today in his statement to the House, providing that important lifeline to get Australians through the worst of this crisis. And then last Friday, and in the weeks that preceded that, the national cabinet moved together with a clear three-step process to reopen the Australian economy. But we must move carefully and cautiously, with states and territories moving at their own pace, and we must not be complacent. The virus is not defeated. It's certainly still out there, and we cannot be complacent and we must remain on our guard. Having done that and in rolling that out, we rebuild the confidence and the momentum and we reset for growth because it's the growth of our economy that will ensure that we continue to guarantee the essential services Australians rely on, that we get the jobs back in our economy, that we keep Australians safe and we can look after this amazing country we call our own.