George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister. Will the Deputy Prime Minister update the House on the work the Morrison-Joyce government is undertaking to protect the lives and livelihoods of regional Australians?

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Dawson for his question and note the splendid work that he has done in so many things, such as the Mackay ring-road. Also, he has been a great champion for farmers, especially the cane farmers. I'm doing everything I can to make sure that the member for Dawson remains the member for Dawson after the next election because of the advocacy that he has done.

The member for Dawson asks a question about updating the House on the work of the Morrison-Joyce government. The ultimate goal of any process, especially in dealing with COVID, is to make sure that we get vaccinations out. But the purpose of getting the vaccinations out is to make sure that people don't die. That is the ultimate goal, and that ultimate goal in our nation has been exceptional. We have had no deaths through community contact this year. We've had one tragic death from a person who came in from overseas. Now, that is not the case in other parts of the world. We've had two million deaths overseas—each one of those two million as tragic as every other.

The purpose that we have taken in this nation, both at the Commonwealth level and at the state level, is to work on policy commitments that keep the Australian people safe and on a process of keeping them safe, and I would have to say that Australia has been more successful this year than any other nation on earth, because we have had no community deaths—and that is the ultimate test. When you look at it, you can go to our regional towns. If you go to the regional town of Wagga, they've had no deaths this year, and I don't know whether they've even got a case in Wagga at the moment. If you go to Shepparton, they've had no deaths this year. I don't even know whether they've got a case in Shepparton. If you go to Gladstone, they've had no deaths this year. I don't even know whether they've got a case in Gladstone. We have no cases in Tamworth. We've had no deaths this year, and that is the ultimate success.

The ultimate test of success of the government is that the Prime Minister and I and each member of this parliament can go back to our communities and say that the Australian people have been kept safe. They've been kept safe through the diligent actions of the Commonwealth and been assisted by the states, in making sure that we keep the Australian people in a place that makes us the envy of the world.

As I conclude, the final judgement on anything—the rollout is so vitally important, but there is one thing more important than that: that we have kept Australians alive.