Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to the delta strain which emerged in India in October and was wreaking havoc by April, so deadly that the Prime Minister told returning Australians they'd be locked out or locked up. Delta leaked from hotel quarantine into Melbourne in early June. On 24 June, the Prime Minister said, 'I commend Premier Berejiklian for resisting going into a full lockdown.' With more than a thousand cases today, why won't the Prime Minister accept responsibility for the consequences of his actions?

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

Over the course of these past 18 months, going back to the very commencement of this pandemic when Australia moved before most other countries did—in fact, almost all—and declared the pandemic before the World Health Organization had even done it, we closed our borders. We brought the country together. We put in place a system with the states and territories which saw 423,000 people arrive and some 4,200 cases kept within quarantine over that period. That's been an extraordinary job by those states and territories. We agreed at that time to put that into place—a program very similar to what New Zealand has, and Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and other countries continue to use those mechanisms—because, in a pandemic, you need to be able to adapt and you need to put situations in place that enable you to cope with what was an incredible surge. And what was the result of all of those efforts—the economic supports of JobKeeper and the cash flow boost, and all of those measures over many, many months? The result has been that 30,000 lives have been saved in this country, a million people have got back to work, our economy remains resilient and, importantly, Australians can now look forward with hope, with the national plan that says at 70 per cent and 80 per cent they will be able to live with the virus.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister will resume his seat. The Leader of the Opposition on a point of order—if you can state the point of order.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, Mr Speaker, on relevance. I went to the delta strain and the fact that it's been around since last October and the Prime Minister's comments.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have to say that that's certainly a very long preamble—and it's okay, I don't need a reinterpretation—with a sort of open-ended question as an accusation. I think the Prime Minister is starting to drift off onto the more general topics, but I'm listening to him.

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

Well, Mr Speaker, I would say quite specifically that the national plan, framed by the federal government, supported by the national cabinet and agreed in July and in August, in the heat of the delta strain, sets out the plan that enables Australia to live with this virus.

The Leader of the Opposition makes reference, of course, to the delta strain in India. I remember that the Leader of the Opposition was not terribly supportive of the government's moves at that time to ensure that the delta strain did not come through at that time. I remember the critical comments being made by members of the Labor Party about the strong stand the government took. But I am used to that, Mr Speaker. So we will stick with the national plan. We will continue with the national plan, which will enable Australia to go forward with confidence and with safety and ensures that we can live with this virus into the future.