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

My question is to the Minister for Health and Aged Care. Will the minister please advise the House on how the Morrison government is responding to international developments in relation to the most recent COVID-19 variant of concern, omicron, and what action is being taken to protect Australians?

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Over the weekend we know that the total number of cases around the world increased to over 261 million cases and, very sadly, now almost 5.2 million lives lost officially. I want to thank the member for Higgins for her focus in this space as somebody with a lifetime's experience in health care and health policy. What's absolutely clear is, against that background, Australia has had one of the lowest rates of loss of life in the world—one of the three lowest rates of loss of life in the OECD. We now have one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, and, after Israel, we are one of the first nations to have implemented a whole-of-nation booster program. The consequence of that is we now have over 92.3 per cent of Australians who've had a first vaccine, over 86.8 per cent of Australians who've a second vaccine and 415,000 Australians that have had boosters.

We know that the WHO identified on Saturday, Australian time, a new variant of concern: the omicron variant. As a response to that, the Australian government has taken the following steps. We have immediately banned flights coming from the nine southern African nations where we have seen cases of omicron and the spread. We have, sadly, had to ban the arrival of non-Australians who have been in those countries. In addition to that, we have sought to make sure that all returning Australian citizens and residents and their dependents and immediate family who have been in those nine countries in the last 14 days enter quarantine here in Australia. In addition to that, those rules have applied to those that are coming from travel bubbles. So, all of these things are occurring in Australia.

Today, the Prime Minister has taken it further and has commissioned a meeting of the National Security Committee of cabinet this afternoon to review measures, to review progress. He has also commissioned a meeting of the national cabinet, comprising the first ministers of states and territories along with the Prime Minister. I have asked ATAGI, through the secretary of Health, Professor Brendan Murphy, to consider the period for boosters, both in light of emerging international evidence and in light of anything which may come from omicron. But what is important is that—as Professor Paul Kelly, the Chief Medical Officer, has pointed out on many occasions—there is some evidence that this may be a milder variant. This is still to be determined, but that is an important sign, and the message to the House is: We've got through this. We've protected Australians. We'll continue to do so. (Time expired)