Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

[by video link] We all know Mr Morrison is shameless when it comes to spin, but his most shameless spin yet is that he is the one who offers Australia a pathway to reopening, when he is the one most responsible for us not being open. His failure to order enough vaccines, his failure to roll out the vaccine, and his failure to build fit-for-purpose national quarantine facilities to stop the virus from entering the country are the very reasons we are locked down or unable to reach our loved ones. Now he has the audacity to spin himself as the saviour, when the one we actually need saving from is Mr Morrison. If it weren't for him we wouldn't be in this mess.

The pattern is clear. Mr Morrison dodges responsibility, only acts when it is too late, blames everyone else when everything goes wrong and actually even says everything is a matter for the states. It's only reasonable for Australians to be worried that he will be the same when it comes to reopening, which is why people are asking questions about how Mr Morrison is going to deliver reopening. Can testing and tracing keep up with so many cases in the community? Can we keep vulnerable communities safe after they've been so dangerously exposed by Mr Morrison's failings? Can our hospitals cope if there are thousands of cases in the community? How will Mr Morrison keep our children safe?

Everyone knows that over time we will need to be able to live with the virus. The emphasis is on living—living safely. It can't be about just casually accepting more people dying. Mr Morrison led us into lockdown. He's not the one to lead us out of it.