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

I move:

That the Senate take note of answers given by the Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services (Senator Colbeck) to questions without notice asked by Senators Watt, O'Neill and Pratt today relating to COVID-19 vaccinations for aged care workers and to quarantine facilities.

In estimates we saw Minister Colbeck asked on numerous occasions—I think it was 11, as Senator Watt referred to—about what the responsibility of the federal government is in relation to vaccinations not only for older Australians but older workers. He wasn't able to give us a direct answer during estimates, but clearly he did today. Families with parents, grandparents, aunties and friends in residential aged care are asking the Australian government: has this government ensured that every older Australian in residential care that wants to be vaccinated has had a vaccination? They also want to know—because it's critically important—that aged-care workers have had access to a vaccination.

Today we heard the minister say that vaccinations are available for aged-care workers if and when they want them. But the reality is that they have to take time off work—and, quite frankly, too many of them have to work across a number of sites—to find the time to do that. The simplest, easiest plan would have been to roll out vaccinations to older residents and to staff. We've heard that the government was given advice that they shouldn't happen at the same time. That advice doesn't say that they couldn't have gone back and started that program. What is just as alarming is that the supplement being paid to aged-care workers so that they didn't have to work across more than one site during the pandemic was taken away, and it then, when we saw another outbreak in Victoria, had to be reintroduced. That's just not good enough. There is no planning by this government.

During this pandemic, this government has had two responsibilities: (1) to roll out the vaccine; and (2) to provide quarantine. What have we seen from this government? No leadership whatsoever. It can't even roll out the vaccine in a timely manner. We still to this day do not know accurately how many aged-care workers have in fact been vaccinated even once, let alone had a second dose. It is not good enough.

We have seen from this government a failure to accept responsibility for quarantine. There is no reason why there should not have been federally funded quarantine facilities purpose built for such a contagious virus as COVID-19. But we have not seen that leadership. We have one such facility, and there have been no outbreaks from that. Everyone knows only too well that hotel quarantine has, on the whole, been a failure. Hotels are not built to accommodate people quarantining due to COVID-19. It is unacceptable to have hotels in inner cities trying to do the job this government has failed to do—providing purpose-built quarantine facilities. Every state and territory should have one of those facilities. That is the safest and best way to protect older Australians.

Time and time again we've seen this minister's failings in this portfolio. During estimates I asked: what is the protocol for new residents, older Australians, going into residential care, to ensure that they have been vaccinated? They couldn't tell me; they had to take that on notice. With the deaths we've had in this country in residential aged care, they couldn't tell me what the protocol is. Ask them what happens when those residents, for whatever reason—they may have been ill or they may not have been ready to have the COVID-19 vaccine administered to them—change their minds and want to have the vaccine. How is that protocol being rolled out? No answers. Silence again and, 'We'll have to take that on notice.' It is not good enough. This government has failed— (Time expired)

Ben Small (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yet again we find ourselves in this place with Labor conveniently ignoring many of the facts that have underpinned Australia's incredible success in managing the COVID-19 pandemic. Let's not forget that the Morrison government led the world in closing the international border to arrivals from overseas, declared COVID-19 a pandemic more than two weeks before the WHO did, and, in fact, took the very, very important decision in August of last year to ensure that Australia has sovereign vaccine-manufacturing capability. Despite taking those decisions early—and despite ensuring that not only were the lives of Australians protected through the health response but also their livelihoods were protected, through programs such as JobKeeper, the cashflow boost and the other important economic stimulus measures—the government has worked collaboratively with the states and territories, through the national cabinet process, to ensure that the vaccine rollout occurs in an orderly and planned fashion.

It's also important to note that not only has national cabinet had complete oversight of the vaccine rollout but also that the Australian approvals of the vaccines were not done in an emergency fashion, because the Morrison government's success in managing the pandemic meant that we could allow evidence from overseas to be assessed, where countries such as the UK, the US and those in Europe experienced death rates far in excess of those experienced here in Australia and were forced, with their backs against the wall and bodies piling up in the streets, in some cases, to rush through emergency approval of the vaccines. Instead, Australia's expert authorities reviewed that evidence and came to the decisions that they did.

Now we find ourselves rolling out the vaccine through the national cabinet process. National cabinet agreed on 8 June to increase access to the COVID-19 vaccine program for people aged over 40; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged between 16 and 49; NDIS participants aged over 16; and, indeed, temporary visa holders, who had previously been excluded. So we have responded to the dynamic situation of rolling out an unprecedented vaccination program in this nation. National cabinet further agreed, at the same time, not to proceed with the identification of other essential and high-priority workers in phase 2a, given the difficulty of defining these populations, simultaneously with the expansion of access to people aged over the age of 40.

So, at the end of the day, the Commonwealth, through the national cabinet process, is collaboratively prioritising vaccinations for those who most need them. We've simplified and streamlined access to the vaccination program, through state and territory operated sites—including, for example, providing walk-in access and no requirement to pre-book an appointment. Not only this, but we face criticism, despite that success in managing the pandemic and the approvals and rollout of the vaccination program—disingenuous attacks from those opposite on the quarantine program.

Let's cast our minds back to 27 March 2020—almost 15 months ago now—when national cabinet collectively made the unanimous decision that mandatory hotel quarantine would be implemented under state public health orders. That reflected the fact that the Commonwealth wasn't resourced with either the workforce or the facilities to handle the return of Australians from overseas in these circumstances. Notwithstanding that, some 360,000 Australians have been returned to our shores through that program, with a greater than 99.9 per cent success rate. So, whilst those opposite criticise us for not allowing Australians to return, they're equally criticising us for using hotel quarantine systems that give us the capacity to have had more than 360,000 people thus far, and counting, returned safely to Australia. It belies the credibility of their attack on government policy, which ignores the success that we have achieved in the health battle against COVID-19 and completely misrepresents the realities of the situation that we face.

Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Manufacturing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I also rise to take note of answers to questions asked of Senator Colbeck by myself and my colleagues. The government, as we have seen clearly now, month after month, is behind in every aspect of the COVID pandemic in Australia, and Australians continue to suffer. The government promised as recently as late last year—October—that all aged-care workers would be vaccinated by March this year. Yet here we are in June, in this question time, with the Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services, speaking on behalf of the Minister for Health and Aged Care, unable to tell us how many aged-care workers have had the vaccine and unable to give us any state breakdown of what that looks like.

It's all very well for those opposite to try and blame the procedures and processes of the national cabinet. This is not a job for the national cabinet. This is not a cover-up, where the states will have paid detailed attention to this, leaving it open for the Liberal Party to lay the blame: 'Well, this is how it was supposed to be all along. We did this deal with the states.' The simple fact is that in this nation aged care is a Commonwealth responsibility, and the need to track any vulnerabilities in our aged-care system due to COVID-19 is clearly and firmly a Commonwealth responsibility. Yet we have a government that simply does not know how many people who work in the aged-care sector have been vaccinated. A person's occupation isn't being asked for when they line up for their vaccination. Yet, within this context, plenty of younger workers who are supposed to be in the 1a cohort, who would not otherwise have been eligible, are not being asked what their profession that would make them a vulnerable frontline worker is. In the recent estimates, we heard that fewer than two per cent of people living in residential disability care are fully vaccinated, and yet we hear time and time again that the government is 'comfortable' with the vaccine rollout. This is the very same government that said they were committed to underpromising and overdelivering, and yet they have not been able to meet their own explicit measure of what they promised they would do, which even they said was, in effect, not a very high benchmark.

The government has lifted the ban on employees working at multiple facilities, which was imposed during the last outbreak, and yet again we have evidence to show that only 15 per cent of aged-care workers have been vaccinated. We know a proportion of these workers may be Medicare ineligible and may have to go through clinics, but where's the oversight to ensure that the state-run clinics, as per our protocols with the states for people who are Medicare ineligible, are actually prioritising and seeing aged-care workers? There's nothing here that demonstrates there's been any proactive effort by this government as the regulator of aged care to ensure that aged-care workers are going through any of those systems. We're told that staff members who were vaccinated at aged-care homes were done with the spare doses that were left over. There wasn't an intention to completely vaccinate those staff members, because they were vaccinated with the dregs of the system.

Frankly, it's clear to me that, with many workers being under 50, they would want to wait for the Pfizer vaccine. We know there's been vaccine hesitancy, and I'm by no means endorsing that. But—

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order, Senator Pratt. Senator McMahon.

Sam McMahon (NT, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of answers in response to questions by Senators Watt, Pratt and O'Neill to Senator Colbeck. I find it absolutely incredulous that those on the other side of this chamber would take something that has been a massive success and can only nit-pick and criticise—'Oh, you haven't built this;' 'You haven't vaccinated fast enough;' 'You haven't done this'. We have been one of the most successful countries in the world at combatting COVID and in bringing our people home from overseas—bringing Australians home from overseas—without spreading COVID to the rest of Australia. We have been one of the most successful countries, yet those across the floor can only nit-pick and criticise. They take absolutely no notice of the science behind it, of the health advice and of the actual success of this government in managing this disease outbreak.

Senator Polley mentioned the fact that we've been using hotel quarantine—and we have. That's a state decision. Quarantine of Australians returning is a state and territory responsibility and decision. The wonderful place that is 'Danistan' decided to use hotels that were possibly not suited and personnel who were possibly not properly trained and equipped to do this, and we have seen outbreak after outbreak. Senator Polley also mentioned one facility in the Northern Territory that has been enormously successful and from which we've had no outbreaks. That is the Howard Springs quarantine facility. That was not a purpose-built quarantine facility; that was a workers' camp. So, yes, it has proved ideal for the purpose of quarantine, but that's not because it was a Commonwealth built, purpose-built facility; it is a Northern Territory facility. It is still owned and operated by the Northern Territory government.

The success of that facility is not purely down to its location, its structure, its build or the facility itself. The success of that facility is down to the people who are running it—Professor Len Notaras and AUSMAT, the Australian Medical Assistance Teams. These people are specialists in biosecurity and specialists in disease control and prevention. That is what has made the facility so successful. We can have hundreds, even thousands, of people through that facility safely and without the virus escaping, due to the professionalism, the training and the expertise of those personnel.

I will disagree with Senator Polley on one point she made point, and that was that we have one facility. Well, we don't; in the Northern Territory alone we have two facilities. There's a second one, which is very similar and possibly even better in its design and construction than Howard Springs. That is Bladin Village. Why are we not using Bladin Village? I don't know; you'd have to ask the Labor Northern Territory government, because they are the ones that are refusing to utilise this facility.

Then we go to the issue of vaccination and the criticism of the vaccine rollout. Again, that is a function of the states and territories. The Commonwealth is supplying the vaccine, and the states and territories are rolling it out, and we don't necessarily have the ability to dictate to them how they will do that. However, in all Commonwealth residential aged-care facilities everyone has received their first dose and 94.1 per cent have received their second dose. I think that's not a bad achievement. Nearly all are fully vaccinated. If you look at the issue of the workers in those facilities, yes, that vaccine rollout did experience a hiccup when it was discovered overseas—and it was in fact pointed out in this chamber by the senator that sits in front of me, Senator Canavan—that issues around this vaccine had stared to occur and we have since seen them occur in Australia, with a very tiny percentage of people coming down with blood clots. Would those across the room want us to barrel on ahead in those circumstances? (Time expired)

Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I also rise to take note of answers to questions asked by Senators Pratt, Watt and O'Neill. We've been in this pandemic for one year now, and in that time there's been time to learn, to look at what's happening on the ground, to think of solutions and to roll them out. On the two things that we know the federal government is ultimately responsible for—quarantine and vaccinations—we've seen failure after failure.

On the vaccine, Scott Morrison has said that the vaccine rollout isn't a race, and he could not be more wrong. It is a race, and Australians are paying the price for his failures in it. South Australians don't want any more excuses. They don't want any more deadlines missed, avoided or dodged. They don't want to hear the federal government continue to blame the states or, indeed, anyone they can look at or point to. They want the federal government to take responsibility, and they want the federal government to deliver. They want to be safe, and they're fearful that they're not safe.

Nowhere are the government's failures on the vaccine rollout more stark than in aged care, where we have lost Australian lives and where workers and residents alike are fearful of this virus and of what happens if the vaccinations aren't rolled out quickly and they aren't protected and kept safe. And can we blame them after everything they have been through these past 12 months? They expect the federal government to deliver for them. They expect to be kept safe.

It's not just aged care; it's the disability sector as well. Just today I met with advocates from this sector who told me that their staff are yet to be fully vaccinated and that their workforce are concerned about their safety. The PM promised to vaccinate vulnerable workers by Easter, and with good reason. Easter mattered. It was a promise with reason, because the Australian winter is the most dangerous time for this virus. It's when respiratory diseases are at their highest and Australians are most vulnerable. They promised Easter with good reason, and they have failed to deliver on it. That has left Australians less safe. That has left people who work or live in aged care less safe and more fearful. It has left people who work in the disability sector less safe and more fearful, and it is simply not acceptable.

There were two jobs: quarantine and vaccinations. Hotels aren't meant to be quarantine facilities; they're meant to house tourists. This has been a failure of the federal government. It is a failure which affects Australian lives. It is a failure which affects South Australian lives.

The vaccination rollout is failing, too, in its speed of delivery. It is so important that the federal government get this right. It is important for confidence, and it's important for the safety of some of our most vulnerable workers and our most vulnerable Australians. Instead of coming in here and defending it, puffing up your chests and saying, 'We've done a great job, and therefore that's it; game over, we're done,' you actually need to keep working on this. You need to keep working every day, doing everything you can to keep South Australians safe. You always need to be looking to do better and roll out better. You need to spend less time focused on excuses for errors and failures in delivery and more time working out solutions to these problems. You need to spend less time focused on Labor, although you might want to think about some of the things we've suggested to fix this, such as purpose-built quarantine facilities. An advertising campaign wouldn't go astray. Channel 9's done a pretty good one. You can listen to us and our positive suggestions, but spend less time focused on the politics of this and more time focused on the things you're responsible for: the rollout, the delivery and the implementation—the fundamental roles of federal government and the responsibility you have to keep your fellow Australians safe. It's a clear, linear responsibility that you hold.

There's a clear job ahead of you. Australians expect it of you, and if you don't deliver you are leaving Australians less safe and you are leaving them fearful. After the year that we have had, after the lessons that we have learned, it's time to take responsibility. It's time to actually set targets and meet them. It's time to stand up for South Australians.

Question agreed to.