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

My question is to the Prime Minister. Today is another record day of COVID cases, with 1,290 new cases in New South Wales alone. There are 840 people in hospital in New South Wales, with 137 of those in intensive care. The Prime Minister congratulated the New South Wales Premier for not locking down Bondi at the start of an outbreak which has now spread to Victoria, here in Canberra and New Zealand. Was this a mistake?

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

Those matters have already been addressed by me and the Premier of New South Wales. I note also today, with the onset of the delta outbreak, that it has impacted on not only New South Wales but also Victoria and, indeed, the Australian Capital Territory, where we are right now. As cases continue to grow, and if you look at the epidemiological curve for Victoria—it's in the Financial Review today—and compare it to what's happening in New South Wales, you'll see a very similar profile. We hope with the measures that the Victorian government has taken that that curve will indeed bend in the weeks ahead. We certainly hope that that is the case. But what we do know is that the Delta strain has been unlike every other element of this virus that we've seen to date, and has completely changed the way in which we seek to manage these issues.

It is also very sad today that we learn that there have been 1,000 people who've fallen to COVID as a result of this pandemic over the last 18 months. Here we are, on 30 August 2021, where 1,000 people in this country have now fallen victim to that virus. We know that many fell around the world, and indeed they hit that mark in the United Kingdom back in March of last year. It was the same in the United States, the same in France, in April in Canada and in September in Israel. This pandemic has imposed a heavy toll on the entire world.

Our efforts are focused on combating it as best as we possibly can. We know that more than 30,000 lives have been saved in this country because of the combined efforts of our government together with the governments at a state and territory level and, most importantly, the great work of Australians around the country doing what they need to do each and every day. And on a day where we have seen those cases rise, where we have seen more than 1,000 cases a day becoming more regular, particularly out of New South Wales, we can also say that on the weekend 379,114 Australians went and got vaccinated. That is a great cause for hope.