Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

My question without notice is to Senator Payne, the Minister representing the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment. Minister, countries in southern Africa are grappling with the new omicron COVID variant, while also suffering low vaccination rates. Meanwhile, Australia is set to join the World Trade Organization's ministerial meetings soon, with the proposed intellectual-property waiver on COVID-19 vaccines on the agenda, which would allow for mass vaccine production across the global South. The government has stated that, rather than support the waiver proposed by India and South Africa, it would try to find a so-called 'convergence' with the opposing countries. Your government is making no effort to galvanise support for a strong waiver. Amnesty International has labelled Australia 'a passive bystander' in light of this. Why is the government taking the coward's way out and refusing to join more than 60 countries to co-sponsor the vaccine waiver, as proposed by India and South Africa?