Kristina Keneally (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister representing the Minister for Health (Senator Colbeck) to questions without notice asked today by Senator Gallagher and Senator Keneally.

As we stand here today, three states are facing COVID outbreaks—community transmission of COVID. Just weeks ago we had no community transmission of COVID in Australia. That was the good news supplied just weeks ago. But, as we stand here in the Senate today, outbreaks from hotel quarantine are now leading to potential lockdowns in New South Wales and significant restrictions are in place, and three cases of community transmission have been reported this morning in Queensland. And, of course, we saw the outbreak earlier in Victoria.

Whose responsibility is quarantine? Under the Constitution, it is the federal government—the Morrison government. Yet, here we are, some 16 months into this pandemic, and we still do not have fit-for-purpose quarantine facilities in Australia.

An opposition senator: Shame!

It is a shame. In New South Wales we have 40 cases of community transmission. This is a highly contagious COVID variant. There are significant challenges going on for the people of New South Wales right now from an airport driver who was unvaccinated. Whose responsibility is vaccination supply? It's the federal government's—the Morrison government's. These COVID outbreaks sit squarely at the feet of the Commonwealth government—the Morrison government. It is failing to supply vaccines and failing to deliver fit-for-purpose quarantine.

Let us remember what the Morrison government promised as their targets. They promised that all Australians would be fully vaccinated by October. That won't happen. They promised that four million Australians would be vaccinated by the end of March. That did not happen. They promised that all of category 1a would be vaccinated by Easter. That did not happen. Who is in 1a? They are the frontline healthcare workers, border and quarantine workers, people living and working in aged-care and disability settings. They have not been vaccinated yet. The Morrison government promised that six million Australians would be vaccinated by 10 May. That did not happen.

What has happened instead? We now have no targets and no promises; we have horizons. And we don't just have one horizon—oh, no. The document that the Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services and the Minister representing the Minister for Health tried to keep secret, but finally had to table, has three horizons for each state and territory.

Senator Sheldon interjecting—

Senator Sheldon is chuckling, because it is laughable, isn't it? There are three horizons for each state and territory and three horizons for the national government. There are 27 horizons! A horizon, by definition, is a thing you never meet. It's a thing you never get to. It's always out there ahead of you. We don't just have one horizon; we have 27 horizons in this Morrison government's supposed vaccine strategy. We are not going to meet any of them, because you don't meet a horizon; you never get to it. I mean, come on: there are COVID vaccination 'allocation horizons'.

What did we hear from the minister today?

We heard that only some 11,000 workers in aged care in New South Wales have been fully vaccinated. That's about 10 per cent of the aged-care worker population in New South Wales—10 per cent! We have a COVID outbreak going on in Sydney, and we have some 90 per cent of aged-care workers in New South Wales not vaccinated.

The Morrison government had two jobs: fit-for-purpose quarantine and rollout of a vaccine. They are failing at both, and they are leaving Australians behind.