Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] I join the debate today speaking on the Treasury Laws Amendment (COVID-19 Economic Response No. 2) Bill 2021. Labor is supportive of any measures to help Australians, including people in my home state of Tasmania, to get through this pandemic as unscathed as possible. With further lockdowns expected, due to the incompetence of Scott Morrison and his tired, eight-year-old government, more economic measures are necessary. Scott Morrison has had two jobs throughout this pandemic—firstly to roll out the vaccine and secondly to build a fit-for-purpose quarantine system—and he has failed at both. Business support payments, as outlined in this bill and other bills, are crucial if we are to get the economy back on track. Labor will not stand in the way of support for businesses trying to make ends meet during a global pandemic.

The Australian people know too well that this tired and old Morrison government has mishandled the pandemic. Those opposite have mishandled the rollout of the vaccine and they have mishandled quarantine. To this day, only 15.4 per cent of Australians have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. This is not a figure to boast about. Let there be no confusion here: the only reason this legislation is before the Senate today is because of the Morrison government's failure to bring this pandemic under control. Whether it's through the vaccine rollout, hotel quarantine or cutting off JobKeeper too early, this government has failed workers and failed businesses. This government is good at one thing: looking after its mates. The government has been more than content handing out $22 million of taxpayers' money to Harvey Norman to fill their coffers while people have been left outside in the dark without any real support from this government at a time when they most need it. Every Australian feels for their fellow Australians in New South Wales and Queensland at the moment. Our thoughts have been with them throughout the pandemic, just as they were with the Victorian community when they were forced into a number of lockdowns.

The delta strain presents new challenges, but these challenges should have been foreseen by this government. We were always going to run into trouble when so few Australians have been vaccinated. With only 3.89 million Australians fully vaccinated, delta was always going to threaten lives—and now it's not just threatening them, it's taking them. For many workers and small businesses in New South Wales and Queensland, support has been too little and too late. Businesses are closing their doors—closing them for good. All of this was avoidable, but now, because of Mr Morrison's incompetence, we don't know whether we're going to be able to stop it. The majority of Australians wouldn't be out of pocket if it weren't for the Morrison government's failures on rolling out the vaccine and quarantine.

Mr Morrison said the vaccine rollout isn't a race. He's wrong. It is a race, and Australians are paying the price for his failure. He may want to use the Olympic terminology about racing, but the reality is that this Prime Minister has been found wanting—demonstrating no leadership at all. Every Australian knows it's been a race to beat the pandemic. Every Australian knows it's been a race that we needed to win. Only yesterday, every newspaper across the country declared that it is a race. After reading some of that media, Mr Morrison has come to accept the fact that it has been a race.

Mr Morrison left many workers and industries out in the cold. Frontline workers in retail and hospitality have not been valued the way they should be. He doesn't value truckies, who have delivered the goods and kept the services that we needed moving throughout this country. He doesn't value our airline industry and the workforce that keeps Australians in the skies. He doesn't value local government workers or the arts community—and I spoke yesterday about the lack of support to the university and tertiary education sector in this country. And then there are the aged-care and disability carers. They've been last on Mr Morrison's list to be vaccinated. It's an absolute tragedy. People want their Prime Minister to fight for them. They want to know that their Prime Minister has their backs—and, frankly, they're realising that this Prime Minister doesn't; he shirks his responsibilities. Remember when the Prime Minister told the Australian community that he 'doesn't hold a hose'? Mr Morrison, you need to take responsibility. There needs to be a network of purpose-built quarantine facilities across the country.

What have we seen from this government? There's been no leadership whatsoever. It can't even roll out the vaccine in a timely manner. They were late getting out of the starting blocks in ordering vaccines and making sure we had the supplies from the outset. Right now, in the biggest crisis facing our community and the world in over a century, the Prime Minister has been unable to communicate a vision for Australians to be fully vaccinated so that we are out of lockdowns for good. When a healthy woman in her 30s dies because of COVID-19, and Australia had the opportunity to eradicate this virus with a successful rollout of the vaccine, that is an unmitigated disaster and a huge failure of this leadership—and my heart goes out to the families of those who have lost their lives. More recently, there is the impact that delta has had on so many young people and now children.

The Prime Minister is not solely responsible. He doesn't have to shoulder all the blame, because the minister for health, Mr Greg Hunt, should also be held accountable. At no other time in our history would a minister survive in his job when it is so obvious that he has failed to carry out his job—as minister for health during this pandemic. Mr Hunt will go down in history as the worst health minister that Australia has ever seen. People in Australia are still dying because of active decisions made by Mr Hunt throughout the mishandling of this outbreak, and yet he's still the minister for health.

We also have the Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services, Mr Richard Colbeck, who has failed older Australians over such a long period of time. He has failed the aged-care sector, firstly, by being reluctant to ensure that all the recommendations of the royal commission into the aged-care sector are adopted by this government and implemented in a very timely manner. Now he has mishandled the pandemic. They were warned about the serious nature of COVID-19 early enough to ensure that those in the aged-care sector were protected. I have to remind you of the tragic circumstances in 2020, when 685 older Australians died because of COVID-19 infections in residential aged care, despite, as I said, those early warnings that these sites were highly vulnerable. We also have dismal vaccination rates for people in disability homes and for disability carers, with only one-third currently vaccinated.

Why aren't these ministers being held accountable for their failures in their ministerial duties to keep Australians safe? If Australia had rolled out the vaccine and installed nationally coordinated vaccination and quarantine systems, Australians would not be dying again. Fourteen million Australians would not be forced into another avoidable breakdown of their businesses and their livelihoods, and they would not be in lockdown right now. This is destroying their livelihoods, the family businesses. There is the harm this is doing to their mental health. Scott Morrison's ministers should be and must be held accountable. I'm calling for the resignations of Mr Hunt and Senator Colbeck. They should be sacked by the Prime Minister. Instead, Lieutenant General John James Frewen has been brought in to cover for Mr Morrison's failure and for his ministers' failures.

It is unacceptable that we have this second-rate Prime Minister who continues to fail to take responsibility for his own failings. He blames everyone but himself in communicating with the people of Australia. Mr Morrison didn't negotiate enough vaccine deals early enough. That's a fact. He failed to heed the early warning signs and protect older Australians in aged-care homes—fact. He has failed to protect aged-care and disability workers—fact. He has failed to protect teachers, retail workers and transport workers—fact. He has failed to bring back JobKeeper and to keep Australians safe—unfortunately, another fact.

I'm angry that people's lives are still at risk because we have a prime minister bereft of any leadership tendencies whatsoever. We have a Prime Minister who has only ever been worried about his own job and how he is perceived. People's lives are not only at risk but their mental wellbeing is as well. We do not know the full impacts of people's mental health but we will see that transpire over the coming months. While New South Wales and Queensland are in lockdown it hurts the entire country. Tasmania may be in its quietest season for tourism, but we rely on mainlanders travelling to our great state to see and taste our world renowned cuisine. We rely on our mainland brothers and sisters and neighbours to stay for a few—