Linda Burney (Barton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Can the Prime Minister confirm he introduced no-jab, no-pay legislation in 2015 and denied payments to families who refused to get their children vaccinated? Why does the Prime Minister pretend he is opposed to vaccine mandates when he imposed some of the strongest vaccine mandates in the country on children?

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

As I set out very clearly in this House yesterday, as Prime Minister I took the proposal for mandatory vaccines for aged-care workers to the premiers and chief ministers in June, and it was not until mid to late August that those mandates were put in place by those state and territory administrations around the country.

The government's policy on vaccines in relation to mandates has not been a binary one. It has been a carefully considered one based on the best possible medical advice—on the advice of the Chief Medical Officer, in fact. Indeed, a unified position was taken on mandates by the AHPPC, the medical expert panel which has guided us all the way through this pandemic. It has only had unanimous positions on mandated vaccines in relation to health workers, aged-care workers and disability workers. That is the policy of the Commonwealth government. Indeed, other states and territories around the country have gone further, on the basis, I assume, of advice received from their own chief health officers. But, I stress, the position the Commonwealth has taken on mandatory vaccines has been based on the advice of the Chief Medical Officer and, indeed, was based on the advice of the expert medical panel, which comprises all the chief health officers of the states and territories and the Chief Medical Officer.

For those opposite to falsely suggest that the government somehow has any truck with anti-vaxxing—it is false. In fact, we as a government—it is the policy of our government—have supported those mandates in very specific circumstances, with people working with very vulnerable people. It has also been our policy to allow the law of this land, under our courts, to enable businesses—where they wish to, exercising their rights—to exercise judgements about their own staff and those who consume their services. That is their right. We believe those decisions should be taken by those businesses, and that's the position we've adopted as a government.

In relation to no jab, no pay: that is true—we removed an entitlement to a benefit for those who did not vaccinate their children who are going into childcare facilities. We have one of the highest rates of child immunisation in the world. So that is a good policy. We didn't pay them to do it. We didn't offer them cash. We understood that if people are receiving a benefit from the government, it is only reasonable to expect that individuals would comply— (Time expired)