Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) pays tribute to Australia's world-class healthcare professionals for their incredible, life-saving work during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic;

(b) recognises that healthcare workers have placed themselves at personal peril while at work in order to save the lives of others during the pandemic, including in the face of shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE);

(c) further recognises the role of our exceptional public health experts who have led Australia's response to the pandemic;

(d) notes with gratitude the professionalism and dedication of our doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and all those working in our public health system, during the pandemic and throughout their careers;

(e) acknowledges the significant mental health burden on health professionals during this challenging time; and

(f) calls on the Federal Government to:

(i) support and appropriately fund Australia's world-class public health system and all those delivering essential health care within it, and

(ii) ensure that no healthcare worker is put at greater risk through lack of access to PPE or other essential equipment.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government acknowledges and thanks our healthcare professionals for their contribution to keeping Australians safe. The highest priority of the government is to secure and supply PPE to keep our healthcare workers safe. To date, we've secured more than half a billion masks into the National Medical Stockpile and dispatched more than 46 million masks into hospitals, aged-care facilities, GPs, dentists, pharmacies, Aboriginal community controlled health organisations and NDIS registered providers and self-managed participants. As such, the government is pleased to support this motion and is delivering on calls made by the senator.

Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We support this motion. We acknowledge and praise the work and commitment of Australia's healthcare professionals and healthcare workers. These valued Australians provide compassion, care and support for many everyday Australians in need. Referring to paragraph (c), though, we note that nations like Taiwan—which has a similar population to Australia—quickly learned that they just had to isolate the sick and the vulnerable, and that allowed healthy and productive people and businesses to keep working and earning money. The result is that their economy remained healthy and they had far fewer deaths than in Australia. The truth is that this government did not refresh Australia's COVID strategy in April when Taiwan and other nations proved that their strategy worked and was far superior to ours. The government has exposed healthcare professionals to a needless risk.

Question agreed to.