Stephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's been a tough year. Jobs have been lost, businesses have been smashed and households have been locked down. Much of this has been a lot worse than it needed to be because of the Prime Minister's and his government's mishandling of the pandemic—the hotel quarantine failures that they were warned about and the failure to do what was necessary to get a supply of vaccines in place as and when it was needed. In the face of all of this, Australians have responded magnificently. My constituents have responded magnificently. Too often in this place we hear the Prime Minister and his ministers taking credit for the work of other people. I want to use this opportunity to give a shout-out to the people who have actually done that work and thank them directly. To the staff of the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District, who have been on the front line of the pandemic response, who've been delivering the vaccines and providing health support and life support to those who've caught the disease: thank you for the magnificent support you've provided to our community.

I want to thank the staff of the Aboriginal medical service. A few months ago there was a 20 per cent lag in vaccination rates between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. Due to the great work of the medical service, Illawarra health district staff and our general practitioners, we've closed that gap. We're not there but we're nearly there.

To our GPs and all of their staff, who've been delivering vaccines throughout this year: thank you. To our mental health workers; our domestic violence workers; our teachers; and our police force, who, when they signed up, never thought they were going to be the pandemic police but have had that as their reality for the last 12 months: thanks so much for all that you've done over the last 12 months.

As we go into Christmas, people are excited to get out. If they're going to come to the Illawarra, they want to ensure that when they visit a restaurant, cafe or hotel there are going to be staff there to serve them. That's why I've been working with my colleague Sharon Bird, the local jobs coordinator and Regional Development Australia staff to run a jobs drive for the hospitality industry. They are crying out for staff. We launched it a couple of weeks ago. It will come to its peak on 7 December between 10 and 2 pm. We'll have a hiring hall at Osborne Park on the Wollongong Harbour foreshore. But you don't have to wait till then. You can sign up. There are literally hundreds of jobs. Employers have been magnificent and saying, 'I need staff.' Whether you're a school leaver, a returning university student or somebody who wants another job, get in there and support our hospitality industry, and let's make the Illawarra a great place to visit this summer.