2021-08-03 46 1 7 House of Reps 0 1

Tuesday, 3 August 2021

The SPEAKER ( Hon. Tony Smith ) took the chair at 12:00, made an acknowledgement of country and read prayers.

 

STATEMENT BY THE SPEAKER 1 STATEMENT BY THE SPEAKER COVID-19: Parliament House 1 12:01 The SPEAKER 00APG For the information of members I have a statement to make regarding the building and, of course, the chamber. Unfortunately, once again I have to advise the House of revised arrangements for the chamber and the parliament due to COVID-19 outbreaks across the country. As members would be aware, the President of the Senate and I made a statement last Monday on temporary changes to the building operations here at Parliament House based on the current COVID-19 situations in Queensland and New South Wales, travel restrictions and designated hotspot areas. Parliament House is now closed to the general public. Members and their staff should only sign in those persons needing to conduct essential business and sponsors should ensure that their visitors leave the building immediately following the conclusion of that business. Access restrictions have been placed on volunteers and sponsored passholders, former parliamentarians and elected members of other parliaments. These passholders will not be able to access the building with their passes. With the delta variant of COVID-19 spreading in parts of the community, the use of masks is particularly important. Building occupants, including members, should wear masks wherever possible when doing so would not impede their work, including during any meetings and in this chamber. To reduce the transmission of COVID-19, all persons attending parliament are requested to: maintain appropriate hand and respiratory hygiene practices; minimise gatherings with other building occupants; and ensure physical distancing is maintained throughout the building. Occupants are encouraged to avoid unnecessary meetings in person. If any building occupant has spent time in a nominated Queensland local government area on or after 21 July they need to have isolated until receiving a negative test result—I know that many of you have done that already—and, obviously, follow the stay-at-home directions in place for the ACT. Importantly, the stay-at-home order imposed by the ACT government requires people subject to the order, amongst other things, to wear a mask when not in their residence and whilst in the ACT they may not socialise with other building occupants or colleagues, including in offices. Members and staff are reminded that physical distancing requirements in the chamber and other meeting rooms are again in place. Here in the chamber we will return to the situation as it was last year, with one important addition: that is that we're asking members to wear masks in the chamber when they're not participating in the debate. There will be increased spacing, as you can see in the chamber, so members may not be sitting where they sat last time. Please sit only in the seat now allocated to you with your name. Ministers and shadow ministers who are allocated seats in the rows behind the frontbench are asked to remain at their allocated seats when they speak. As you would remember, there will be reduced services from the attendants. Water will not be provided by the attendants but is available in bottles located at the rear of the chamber. Members can obtain their own water, or may bring their own water with them, and are requested to dispose of any empty bottles in one of the bins. Hand sanitiser is located at a number of stations within and around the chamber, so please use it regularly. Only three advisers will be permitted in the advisers' box on each side of the chamber. Advisers must scan in before entering the chamber and wear a mask. The Federation Chamber will not meet this week. Outside the chamber, if there is a Canberra check-in app placed outside a room or a space that you're entering, please use it. This includes the entrance to all the food and beverage outlets when collecting takeaway. Members and other building occupants also should not attend any other events outside on the authorised assembly area at the front of Parliament House. Finally, I cannot stress enough how important it is that, with the COVID situation evolving so rapidly, those who have travelled here need to regularly check the COVID-19 exposure locations in their home jurisdictions or areas they have been in over the last 14 days. If at any time any building occupants have symptoms, no matter how mild, you must not attend Parliament House, and you must get tested and isolate until getting a negative result. Members will be kept informed of any change regarding arrangements here at Parliament House, and the Department of Parliamentary Services will continue to provide regular updates regarding the appropriate health measures via information circulars. I thank the House. DOCUMENTS 2 DOCUMENTS Agreement for Members to Contribute Remotely to Parliamentary Proceedings 2 Presentation 2 12:06 Mr PITT 148150 Hinkler For the information of honourable members, I present the Agreement for Members to Contribute Remotely to Parliamentary Proceedings, made pursuant to the resolution adopted by the House on 23 March 2020. 12:06 Mr BURKE DYW Watson on indulgence—I want to, first of all, thank both the Leader of the House and the acting Leader of the House in reaching the agreement to make sure that people who are not able to be here—because of quarantining they would have to do beforehand or quarantining that they would have to do afterwards—are still able to participate in the parliament. I would note for members that, because of the number of people on the Speaker's panel who are not here, there has been an agreement that the Federation Chamber won't operate during the current sittings. That's unfortunate, but we need people to be able to chair it, and a large number of people on the Speaker's panel have been affected by that. I also would like simply to acknowledge, Mr Speaker, both your role and the role of the President of the Senate in making sure that the parliament is able to sit by adopting rules that are, indeed, more stringent than would apply anywhere else in the ACT but, given the nature of this place, provide safety for the whole country by doing it the way you have. There's important legislation to get through and important scrutiny to occur, and those rules and this agreement have enabled us to do that. PARLIAMENTARY OFFICE HOLDERS 2 PARLIAMENTARY OFFICE HOLDERS Speaker's Panel 2 12:08 The SPEAKER 00APG Pursuant to standing order 17, I lay on the table my warrant revoking the nomination of the honourable member for Lyne to be a member of the Speaker's panel. I also lay on the table my warrant nominating the honourable members for Gippsland, Parkes and O'Connor to be members of the Speaker's panel to assist the chair when requested to do so by the Speaker or a deputy speaker. STATEMENTS 2 STATEMENTS National Library of Australia Council 2 12:08 The SPEAKER 00APG I have received advice that Mr Leeser has resigned as a member of the Council of the National Library of Australia. BILLS 2 BILLS Treasury Laws Amendment (COVID-19 Economic Response No. 2) Bill 2021 2

Treasury Laws Amendment (COVID-19 Economic Response No. 2) Bill 2021

First Reading 2 Second Reading 2 12:09 Mr SUKKAR 242515 Deakin I move: That this bill be now read a second time. As the government has done throughout this crisis, it is committed to assisting businesses and individuals through the COVID-19 pandemic. This bill will enable the government to support individuals and businesses that are impacted by significant lockdowns caused by COVID-19. In particular, schedule 1 to the bill amends the Coronavirus Economic Response Package (Payments and Benefits) Bill 2020 to allow the Treasurer to make rules for economic response payments to provide support to an entity where they are adversely affected by restrictions imposed by a state or territory to control COVID-19. Schedule 2 to the bill amends the Taxation Administration Act to allow the ATO to share data with Australian government agencies, both federal and state, for the purpose of administering only relevant COVID-19 business support program payments. Schedule 3 to the bill amends the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to introduce a new power to make eligible Commonwealth COVID-19 business grants free from income tax. States and territories are already able to apply to the Commonwealth for the same tax treatment where they have grant programs focused on supporting small and medium-sized businesses facing exceptional circumstances. Schedule 4 to the bill will reinstate the operation of a temporary mechanism put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic that has now lapsed, which allows information and documentary requirements between government and businesses to be altered. This includes requirements to give information to government in writing and produce, witness and sign documents. Given the ongoing impacts and physical limitations imposed by COVID-19, there is still a clear need for these provisions. This measure provides that a responsible minister may determine that provisions in Commonwealth legislation containing particular information or documentary requirements can be varied; do not apply; or prescribe that another provision specified in the determination applies, for a specified time period. A responsible minister must not exercise the power unless they are satisfied that such a determination is in response to circumstances relating to COVID-19. The mechanism is temporary and will be repealed at the end of 31 December 2022. Any determination made under the mechanism will also cease to operate when the temporary mechanism is repealed. Schedule 5 to the bill amends the income tax law to make Commonwealth COVID-19 disaster payments received by individuals from the 2020-21 income year onwards non-assessable non-exempt income. This change will provide additional support to individuals receiving COVID-19 disaster payments by, importantly, making these payments free from any tax. Full details of the measures are contained in the explanatory memorandum. Leave granted for second reading debate to continue immediately. 12:13 Dr CHALMERS 37998 Rankin I rise to speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (COVID-19 Economic Response No. 2) Bill 2021. These are incredibly difficult times for the Australian people, but particularly, I think, for Australians in locked-down communities. We think particularly of the people of Sydney and surrounds. We think of the people in my hometown of Logan City, Brisbane, the surrounding local government areas and further afield. We think about the people of Melbourne and Victoria. We think about the people of Adelaide and South Australia, who only recently had restrictions in those lovely parts of Australia lifted. These are incredibly difficult times. We are dealing with the delta strain of this virus, which is causing havoc in our local communities. We see that day to day with the current announcements out of the New South Wales government and the Queensland government about these latest outbreaks. There's a human cost to this, of course, and that's the most important cost. Of course, the cost to people's mental health is especially challenging. I want to acknowledge John Brogden and the people from Lifeline for the briefing that I received last week about some of the human elements, some of the mental health elements, of these lockdowns. The human cost is the most important. We understand that people are finding it difficult. Families and people on their own right around Australia in lockdown communities from time to time are finding this incredibly difficult. But there's an economic cost as well as this human cost that so many people are paying for more lockdowns in our communities and in our economy. The Treasurer himself has put a number on the cost to the economy of these lockdowns. He said, I'm assuming based on the advice of Treasury—I hope—that the lockdowns are costing the national economy something like $300 million a day and a couple of billion dollars a week. That's an extraordinary price to pay. The Business Council of Australia have done their own well-considered and informed work on all of this and think that the cost may be even higher than that. These are extraordinary costs that the national economy is bearing when it comes to lost activity in the economy. We know that when we see this kind of lost activity that it has consequences for people's jobs, for their ability to provide for their loved ones and for their ability to maintain their living standards. We have said all along—all throughout this year, really, from the beginning of 2021—that as the government has been in this rush to pat themselves on the back for the beginnings of an economic recovery, which came after the first recession in almost 30 years and the worst recession in almost 100 years, that the government shouldn't be in a rush to congratulate themselves on the beginnings of a recovery. We said all along—and, unfortunately, we've been proved right by recent events—that this recovery was always hostage to the government's ability to roll out the vaccines and to build purpose-built quarantine facilities. It would be better if the government had done that; we could have avoided these lockdowns, or at least the severity of these lockdowns, if the government had done those two jobs. We've said, really, for some time now—I've lost count of the amount of times that I've said it—'You cannot have a first-rate economic recovery with a third-rate vaccine roll out'. That's what we're seeing right now, literally today and for the last few weeks. What we're seeing is the price that Australians are paying in their economy for the government's failure to do those two really important jobs. That failure is costing the economy hundreds of millions of dollars a day and billions of dollars a week. We've said for much of this year: 'Be really careful about how quickly you withdraw economic support. Don't end the economic support before the pandemic ends. Have the ability to dial that up or dial that down.' JobKeeper was key in 2020 in being able to do that and it shouldn't have been discarded so readily and easily in March. Remember that when the government first said that they would discard JobKeeper in March it was also when they said that four million Australians would be vaccinated. They linked the two things together. So they were too quick to withdraw support and too slow to roll out the vaccines, and that's why Australians are paying the price for that misjudgment—that error, that public policy mistake that has been made by those opposite. We can't have that great recovery enduring if the government doesn't do the constituent parts of that recovery when it comes to vaccines and quarantine, and economic support as well. When we said that they were withdrawing support too soon, the government was in this rush to pat themselves on the back for the beginnings of the recovery. We said, 'There will be a need; your own budget says there will be lockdowns each month for the rest of the year.' The government factored that into the budget in one respect but they didn't factor in that they might actually have to do something about it—that they might actually have to come to the assistance of Australians, whether it's in my part of the world, whether it's in the Hunter or whether it's in the suburbs of Melbourne represented by the member over there. We have said for some time that they need to have the capacity to help out. These lockdowns are a consequence of the failures on vaccines and quarantine. The least they can do is come and help Australians who are the unwilling victims of their incompetence in those two really important areas. What we've seen since then—and we all know what's happening here—is that the government don't want to admit that they were wrong to pull the rug out from under Australians too early when it comes to government support. We've had four attempts now to make up for that public policy mistake. Each time they've popped up and said, 'No, no, this is all we need to do,' and it's become obvious within an hour or two that that hasn't been the case. Every few days we get another announcement and another shirty prime ministerial press conference, where he seems to be personally affronted that people are asking questions about these issues. He's probably doing one as we speak. I think he is. We've had four attempts at replacing JobKeeper. Each one of them has been inferior. Each one has had different eligibility criteria. Each one has had a different level of payment. It's policy on the run. They're scrambling to make up for it. They're scrambling to fill what they see as a political hole to be filled, not a human cost that people are paying in our communities. They need help. The government always see things as, 'How do we close down this political problem that's emerging?' as it dawns on more and more Australians that the government's not prepared to do what's necessary to compensate them and help them through a difficult period caused by the government's incompetence. So we've had these four attempts, and there have been gaps each time. There have been problems each time. There hasn't been a perfect substitute for JobKeeper, but each time the government comes forward with a package of support we say: 'We're not going to stand in the way of that support. We think there's a better way of doing it, but it's not in the interests of the country for us to stand in the way of that government support being provided.' That's what guides our approach to these bills. We will support these bills through the parliament. We may have done things differently. We may point out—and subsequent speakers will point out—some of the gaps and some of the issues that we have with this government support, but we do support the efforts to remove some of the obstacles as the federal government works with the state governments in providing this advice. There are some obstacles there that we need to remove, so we obviously support that effort. We do need to have the capacity to share information between the feds and the state governments to make that support possible. There are some issues around the extension of electronic signatures and other issues like that, and obviously we're not going to stand in the way of that. That's one set. There are five schedules, and that's one set of objectives covered by three of those five schedules. The other two are about the tax free nature of the payments. Again, we will support that. We will vote for that here in the parliament. If that's another way to get more support to people who desperately need it then so be it. It's worth noting, on the way through, that it wasn't the government's intention that these payments be tax free. JobKeeper was a part of the tax system. What actually happened was the Prime Minister was asked about this in a media interview last week and said it would be tax free. He said that it would be tax free. You can imagine all his colleagues scurrying around in the Treasurer's office drafting this legislation so that the legislation reflects the error that the Prime Minister made in that interview. I don't intend to dwell on that, but it is the case that these payments are tax free because the Prime Minister wasn't across the detail of the original announcement. If that means more support for people, good, but let's not pretend that the two schedules that go to the tax free nature of these payments were some sort of deliberate act of public policy genius. It was a mistake made by the Prime Minister in a media interview, and that's why it's represented here in the legislation. Those opposite will deny that, but I think we all know what went on here. The major issue we have, when it comes to these packages of support, is, however welcome it is to get money into the hands of families and small businesses, and workers in particular—that is obviously a crucial thing right now as the economy bleeds those billions of dollars in lost activity each week, and it is crucial that we get the support out as soon as possible. But we should recognise that even these bills, the fourth attempt at announcing a package of support, don't properly deal with the cause of these lockdowns or all of the consequences of these lockdowns. Even with the best effort to pass this package of support through the parliament, we will still be leaving the cause of the lockdowns unattended to and some of the consequences unattended to as well. One cause is obviously the extremely slow vaccine rollout, which has us at the tail end of the developed world when it comes to vaccination rates. It is something that those opposite, frankly, should be ashamed of. We should be better than that in this country. We are capable of so much in this country. We are capable of doing amazing things. The Australian people are doing their bit. They need the government to do their bit when it comes to rolling out the vaccines. With the vaccine rollout there have been so many issues which could have been avoided had the government gone about this task in a more competent fashion. So that is something left unattended to by these bills. Then there is purpose-built quarantine. It beggars belief, frankly, that the budget or anything subsequently hasn't contained more sufficient investment in purpose-built quarantine. We're 19 or 20 months into this pandemic and still there's no purpose-built quarantine in addition to Howard Springs. That's a remarkable failure and another of the causes of these lockdowns. The bill deals with some of the consequences, it tries to provide some support, but we need to consider that the economy is bleeding hundreds of millions of dollars a day, billions of dollars a week. Most credible economists think that the September quarter will be negative in terms of economic growth. The economy will shrink in September, according to the considered view of the country's most respected economists. Nobody quite knows about the December quarter. The Treasurer himself said that he can't rule out the second recession in two calendar years. We don't know yet, obviously, because we don't know how long Sydney will be locked down and we don't know how long South-East Queensland will be locked down. We don't know what the future lockdown scene around Australia will look like, so we don't yet know what December will look like. But we do know that the economy, for the time being, is in all sorts. So this otherwise welcome support, in my view, won't do enough to stem the bleeding from what's happening right now in the national economy—and I've dealt with some of those numbers provided by the government, the BCA and others. One of the reasons I will be moving the second reading amendment circulated in my name is that I think it's critical that we acknowledge that the economic costs of this crisis come from the failure on vaccinations. It has meant that businesses and workers are struggling, and that's why the economy is bleeding hundreds of millions of dollars a day. So I will be moving the second reading amendment circulated in my name. Throughout this pandemic, we on this side of the House have done our best to be constructive and to put forward ideas that we think will be helpful as we try to combat the virus, in the first instance, and the economic consequences of the virus. Throughout all of 2020 and 2021, yes, we've picked up the government when we've thought they were doing a bad job, and, yes, we've mentioned where there were gaps. But overwhelmingly what has guided us has been not the politics of the day but the national interest in combatting this virus. We said the country needed wage subsidies, and the Prime Minister and the Treasurer said they would be dangerous. When they had a change of heart, it was a welcome change of heart. We didn't rub their noses in it, because we wanted the country to have those wage subsidies. There was lots of waste, they didn't do it perfectly, but they implemented wage subsidies. And they were important. When they took the credit for them, we said, 'That is fine.' It was our idea; it was dismissed by those opposite. They had a change of heart; it was good for the country that they did. That's the approach that guided us and that's the approach that guides us today. When we think about the twin issues that we're dealing with now—the slow rate of the vaccine rollout and the slowing economy—we believe there is something that can be done responsibly to deal with both of those issues at once, and that is a cash incentive for people to get vaccinated. What we have proposed is a $300 payment on the second jab, before 1 December, incorporating everyone who's had it to now, everyone who would get it between now and the start of the policy, everyone who would get it up until 1 December. This is partly a reward for people doing the right thing. We acknowledge that they have all kinds of motivations, all kinds of good motivations, to get vaccinated. This is a reward for doing the right thing. It's an encouragement, an incentive, for people to get vaccinated. The national cabinet's own guidelines talk about providing incentives. We think that this is a good, responsible way to go about it. This will also be a shot in the arm for the economy and a shot in the arm, in a public health sense, to get the vaccine rollout going again. It will be a shot in the arm for families and small businesses and for an economy that desperately needs some help right now. So this would be good from a public health point of view but would also be an important economic stimulus in the system. That's why we think it is important, in addition to the support in this bill, that the government pick up and run with the idea that we have proposed today. If we get the vaccine rollout right, we give ourselves a chance of getting the economy right. Look at what Chris Richardson from Deloitte Access Economics said today: 'Vaccinations are Australia's path out of the COVID crisis. It's not just the number of jabs that matter; how fast they happen is vital too.' That's absolutely spot-on. He also said, 'We estimate that one job is being saved for every nine extra people getting vaccinated now, rather than later, in New South Wales.' That's bang on. What he's saying there is that getting everyone vaccinated as soon as possible is important, and if we do that we will save more jobs than we would do otherwise. Of course, as always, before properly contemplating what we're proposing today with this cash incentive for people to get vaccinated, the government come out and make all kinds of criticisms. I just want to deal briefly with three of those. The first one is that they want to talk about what's responsible in terms of spending. Well, what could be more responsible than investing in the public health response in a way that has such a substantial economic dividend—a good dividend for small business and for workers and for local communities? If those opposite want to talk about budget responsibility, we're not taking lectures from them. They are the most wasteful government since Federation when it comes to sports rorts, 'pork and ride', Safer Communities rorts, dodgy land deals and wasting $13 billion on JobKeeper payments for businesses that didn't need it because their profits actually went up. The price tag here, if you want to talk about responsibility, is minor compared to the billions of dollars a week the economy is bleeding because the government can't do its job. I heard the finance minister on Radio National this morning talking about our policy being 'insulting'. I'll tell you what's insulting: insulting is being at the tail end of the medal tally when it comes to the vaccine rollout because the government can't get its act together. Think of all the sacrifices Australians have made for each other to get ourselves through and to do the right thing by each other. The government is not doing its bit when it comes to vaccines. That's insulting to the Australian people. You want to talk about what's insulting. That's insulting. They say that these kinds of incentives won't work. Well, let me tell you what's not working: the vaccine rollout is not working and the economy is not working as it should. We're not dealing with the causes and the consequences of these lockdowns. If they think that their rollout is going well, if they think that the economy is going well and that nothing needs to change and there's no need for fresh thinking, then they are from another planet. I will finish on this point. We've seen this before. We come up with an idea, like we did with wage subsidies, and the government spends a few days, or maybe a couple of weeks, saying it's a dangerous idea. Then, with wage subsidies, they picked it up and ran with it and they took the credit for its success. We genuinely hope they do that again. We expected them to be dismissive today, but we call on them to pick this idea up and run with it, which is offered in good faith. It's a constructive idea. It mirrors what others are doing around the world and mirrors the kind of good thinking that's happening in the business community when it comes to incentives for vaccinations. We encourage the government, we urge the government, we implore the government: please pick this idea up and run with it. The support in this legislation is important, but we can and should be doing more to deal with the causes and consequences of these lockdowns, and we think providing a cash incentive for vaccinations is a good way to go about it. I move: That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words: "whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House notes (1) only 15 per cent of Australians are fully vaccinated; (2) businesses and workers are struggling from lockdowns made necessary by the Government's botched vaccine rollout and the lack of purpose-built quarantine facilities; and (3) these lockdowns are costing the Australian economy hundreds of millions of dollars every day". The SPEAKER 00APG Is the amendment seconded? Ms Swanson 264170 I second the amendment and reserve my right to speak. 12:35 Mr VAN MANEN 188315 Forde Indeed, as the member for Rankin outlined and as the Assistant Treasurer outlined in his opening remarks, this is a very difficult time for many Australians right across the country, whether it's in my home town of the City of Logan and the northern Gold Coast or whether it's New South Wales and Victoria or, to a lesser degree, whether it's South Australia. But there have also been impacts further afield, in WA. The whole country actually suffers as a result of these outbreaks. While we have been able to come to Canberra and continue the process of parliament, there are many, many people in many, many businesses right across my electorate and across broader parts of Australia that don't have that luxury, that are struggling to decide how they keep their doors open and how they keep people employed. That is what this bill and many of the other support measures that we have put in place over the last 12 months have been designed to do. It's been about keeping business turning over and keeping people employed and engaged with the businesses that employ them to ensure that, as we come out of these lockdowns and these restrictions, we can see that recovery, once again, come to fruition. In the early part of this year we saw the ingenuity and the willingness of Australian business and the Australian community, when the opportunity presented itself, to get out there on the front foot and build on the opportunities that were sustained through the programs that this government put in place through 2020. Whether it was JobKeeper, the SME loan guarantee, the instant asset write-off extension or the instant expensing provisions, I know all of those measures were used by a variety of businesses across my electorate of Forde. In some cases it was one; in other cases it was a number. From speaking to those businesses, I know the benefit and value it had to them. Equally, the package of measures in this bill is about getting money out the door into our economy to support people in their current time of need. We don't know where individual people's situations are at, but through these measures in this bill we create the opportunity for them to make that assessment and to take advantage of the support that this government has provided, if they meet the conditions around which that support will be provided. I note that the member for Rankin spoke at length about the vaccine rollout. I'm pleased to share with the House that some 41 per cent of the population across the country have now received their first dose and some 20 per cent their second dose. And we're seeing that ramp up each and every day. As we see the vaccination rates ramp up as the vaccination rollout continues to gather pace, the opportunity to move through the four-stage process that the Prime Minister and the premiers agreed to last Friday at national cabinet will get closer and closer to coming to fruition. And that staged process is about ensuring that we have the protections in place to open up our economy once again. We saw the success of that earlier this year. We recognise that we can't forever stay in this situation of lockdowns—coming out of a lockdown and going back into a lockdown when there's another outbreak. We have already seen a significant increase in the number of younger people impacted by the delta variant. Sadly a young 38-year-old lady lost her life in Sydney in the last week or so having been infected by the delta variant. So these are crucially important measures. I am pleased to note that in my home state of Queensland the Chief Health Officer who has been opposed to the broader rollout of AstraZeneca—one of the important vaccines in dealing with this outbreak—has today changed her tune and has now got on board with the ATAGI advice of allowing the AstraZeneca rollout to be made more broadly available. I know a number of young people, who I've spoken to over the past few weeks across my electorate, who are keen and willing to get whatever vaccine is available to them—not just Pfizer; they were willing to get the AstraZeneca based on an informed discussion with their doctor. I'm pleased to see that the Chief Health Officer in Queensland has changed her view on that. Hopefully that will see Queensland catch up with vaccination rates to the averages of the rest of the country because currently we trail those averages across the country. This government continues to be focused—through this bill and through, as I said, many other measures that we previously brought before this House—to seek to continue to support our economy, particularly our businesses, but also individuals in this time. I know that there will always be differing views on how well these packages are rolling out and whatever. It's always easy to be wise in hindsight. We are seeking to make the best decisions with the best information we have available at the time. Over the past 12 or 18 months we have shown the capacity to change and make adjustments to the packages and the programs that we are rolling out to reflect changes in circumstances as and when they occur. I note that many businesses in my electorate have been very appreciative of our willingness to do that. I continue to engage with my business community about the issues they're seeing on the ground and provide that feedback to the Treasurer to continue to review and refine the programs that we are rolling out. I commend this package of measures to the House as another step in ensuring that we are providing the support necessary across our economy to deal with the economic impacts of COVID-19. Whilst we are focusing on these bills, on the economic impacts, let us not forget the health and other impacts on our communities as well. The government has equally outlined measures around mental health and other things in the budget that're focused on dealing with those health and mental health issues that we know are impacting people across the country. I know a number of discussions were had in the last couple of days with people across my electorate where we're trying to get resources to them because they're too afraid to leave their houses. We have some great community groups like Lighthouse Care, twin Rivers care and others who are also providing enormous community support across the electorate, particularly to support frail and elderly people who have a degree of fear about going out at present. We are ensuring that where necessary we're getting the supports, in terms of food or medicines or other critical supplies, to those people in need and that is being done right across the country. I want to take this opportunity to thank those community groups, many of whom are run by volunteers, who are willing to go out there and support these people in need at this crucial time. I commend these bills to the House, in their unamended form, because they will continue to keep things ticking over so that, when we come out of a lockdown, our economy will have the ability to again recover. We have done it before. We have seen the capacity of Australian business people and Australians more generally to get out there and do that. It's typical of the Australian attitude of getting out there and getting things done. I commend these bills to the House. 12:45 Mr THISTLETHWAITE 182468 Kingsford Smith I want to put on the record for the parliament some of the frustration that the community I represent in Sydney is feeling about this Liberal long lockdown that our community is suffering through at the moment. There's a great deal of frustration and anger in the community that I represent because of the Morrison government's incompetence and failure to show leadership and take responsibility for the problems associated with hotel quarantine and the bungled vaccine rollout. This long lockdown seems to have no end in sight. Workers have lost jobs, businesses are on the brink, the mental health of many in our community is deteriorating, and children are unable to attend school. The worrying thing is that there appears to be no end in sight, and the government can't get on top of this latest outbreak. Many in the community are questioning the competence of the Morrison and Berejiklian governments to bring this outbreak under control. In terms of the vaccine rollout, we've seen the government's arrogance and incompetence on full display. Labor warned that this would happen. Last year, when the government did negotiate enough supply deals with manufacturers, Labor warned that this would be the consequence this year with the bungled vaccine rollout. We knew that the commitments that the Prime Minister made to the Australian people would never be met. We all knew that the commitment to vaccinate four million Australians by the end of March would not be met, and the government failed to do that. The Prime Minister said that Australia was at the front of the queue. That's a broken promise, because Australia is actually 78th in the world, with only 15 per cent of our population vaccinated. The anecdotal evidence in the community, unfortunately, reinforces that poor statistic. Many Australians want to get vaccinated, but, when they try and register through the government's vaccine eligibility website, they can't get an appointment. I want to relay to the parliament an email that I received a couple of weeks ago from a local who lives in Botany, who wrote: 'I'm writing this as I strongly believe that our area is missing out on the Pfizer vaccine. I've tried GPs in Botany, two in Mascot—Eastgardens don't even answer—two in Maroubra, one GP in Green Square last week, and none of them had the Pfizer vaccine. Can you please push Greg Hunt for an answer to when my local GP in Botany will receive the Pfizer vaccine? I wrote to Brad Hazzard asking this, and they passed it on to Greg, and no response. My local GP in Botany doesn't even know when they will receive it.' That's a message from a constituent in the community that I represent about the government's failed vaccine rollout. The government's encouraging people to get vaccinated. That's pretty hard when you can't make an appointment for a booking. We have the government's mixed messages about the appropriate vaccine, which have created a lot of confusion in the local community and this vaccine hesitancy. The Prime Minister always blames someone else; it's ATAGI's fault or it's the state's fault. We've got frontline staff in the community that I represent that can't register for a vaccine. The New South Wales government has decided that year 12 students will return to school in less than two weeks, yet many teachers still can't register to get a vaccination. Principals are being given very little guidance about how students are going to return to school safely. We've got teachers unvaccinated and students using public transport who are coming from hotspot areas. It appears that the government, both state and federal, are making this up as they go along, and that is creating a lot of confusion in our community. I'd like to turn to the economic impacts. This bill provides the Commonwealth with the ability to administer business support payments if a state or territory is unable to administer its own payments or arrangements. The bill also allows the Treasurer to create a program of economic response payments until December 2022 and provides for the tax-free treatment of payments from Commonwealth COVID-19 business support programs. I support all these reforms. But this lockdown has been devastating for many in the small business community and workers, and I don't think the government really understands how their delay in acting has caused so much pain and suffering and downturn for small businesses in our community. Many are saying that the government were too slow to react, that they failed to appreciate the nature of this downturn and that they can't give business any certainty or a way and a plan out of this current lockdown. Over the past few weeks I've spoken to many small businesses in our community. Some have just given up. They've closed their doors. Almost all of them are struggling, and many have laid off staff. In those conversations with small businesses, many of them are telling me that this lockdown is different to the one that occurred in 2020-21, and the principal reason for that is that on this occasion there's no JobKeeper from the government to support their businesses. The business support they were all hoping for simply hasn't been there, and because of that they couldn't keep their staff on. Businesses that have been able to continue to trade are also saying that, compared with 2020-21, they're facing a downturn, because there's no discretionary spending in the community due to the lack of JobKeeper support payments. The government reluctantly increased the COVID-19 Disaster Payment after I and many Labor MPs had relayed the stories of what was going on in the local community. But they did this reluctantly and begrudgingly, with no understanding of the suffering for small businesses. In the end, it represented a lack of leadership from the government about their understanding of small business and about taking action quickly to provide that support for jobs and small businesses in our community. There are still people who are falling through the cracks. This week I received a phone call from the mother of a young apprentice hairdresser who started her apprenticeship earlier this year and has been working in a salon in the local community here. Obviously the salon has had to close, and that apprentice has been stood down without any work. She's gone from earning $850 a fortnight to earning nothing, because the government's COVID-19 Disaster Payment does not apply to workers under the age of 17 years. There are many young working apprentices throughout this country who deserve the support of this government, but the government has failed them. I think it goes to the fact that, when it comes to putting these packages together, this government doesn't think about workers. They don't think about apprentices and workers who need their support. They start from the basis of thinking of the owners of the business, and that is wrong. In the aviation sector we're seeing troubling times once again. Sydney airport is the biggest employer in the community I represent, and it is once again on its knees, and all the businesses associated with the airport are struggling. Already 10,000 jobs have been lost in the aviation sector in Australia, and today Qantas announced that a further 2½ thousand staff will be stood down for a period of two months. The government's had 18 months to come up with a plan for the survival and recovery of the Australian aviation sector, but instead they've sat on their hands. They could have used the billions of dollars in support that they offered to major airlines to secure the jobs of workers but have chosen not to do so. We saw yesterday that the government came up with what was essentially a stopgap announcement for the industry, and typically in this shambolic approach it looks to exclude ground-handling staff and airport staff, who are a crucial and important part of the aviation sector. Initially, only 50 per cent of pilots and cabin crew from airlines will be eligible for the payment, provided they can prove revenue was down at least 30 per cent. Again, we've got a group of workers and employees that are falling through the cracks, because, when it comes to putting these packages together, the government doesn't think of workers. The government is not on the side of workers when it comes to government support such as this. In conclusion, the Morrison government have failed the people of Australia in their response to COVID-19, particularly the people of Sydney related to this latest lockdown. Their failings on quarantine and on the vaccine rollout have been writ large during this latest lockdown. Our economy is losing billions of dollars per week, jobs have been lost and are being lost, businesses are closing and struggling to survive, the mental health of many in our community is deteriorating and our children aren't attending school at the moment. Australia is in a heavy and deep funk at the moment because of the Morrison government's incompetence. The Australian people deserve better than this failed and incompetent Morrison government. 12:56 Mr LEESER 109556 Berowra [by video link] I'm pleased to speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (COVID-19 Economic Response No. 2) Bill 2021. I'm appearing virtually from my electorate office in Pennant Hills to participate and to give voice to the people of my community, who at this time are under lockdown. In doing so, Mr Speaker, I want to acknowledge you, the Chief Whip and the parliamentary officers for making this possible. I also want to acknowledge the people of my electorate who are locked down today in their homes, from Cheltenham in the south to Wisemans Ferry in the north, from Brooklyn in the east to Sackville North in the west and all the suburbs in between. I want the people of my electorate to know that I am with them, as the government is with them, in providing support to our community. Right across my electorate, people are facing challenges. Whether it is doing as we've been doing in balancing working from home and home schooling, whether it is businesses not operating or whether it is workers who are not in work, people in my electorate are doing it tough. Today I particularly want to acknowledge the people in Carlingford, in the south of my electorate, which is also in the Parramatta LGA, people under the most severe lockdowns of any part of the country. There are residents in Carlingford who can only move five kilometres from their house and whenever they leave their house to go anywhere they must have a mask on. This is an unprecedented time for people in my community. The Delta strain of COVID-19 is more infectious than any other we've encountered before. By the end of August, Sydney will have experienced a lockdown of between nine and 10 weeks. In March this year my electorate experienced severe flooding on the Hawkesbury River. At that time, the federal government's disaster recovery payments were a godsend in keeping people going and getting them through those hard times. The payments were essential to support the community to recover and rebuild. I'm so proud that so many members of the Berowra community have shown great resilience in bouncing back from those devastating floods. But, of course, businesses impacted by the floods are in many cases being impacted again by the lockdown. Those disaster recovery payments got out the door quickly and have proven to be very effective. It's the experience of dealing with disaster recovery payments which have made them such a good model for the COVID disaster recovery payment system. That's why the Morrison government has partnered with the New South Wales government to deliver a comprehensive package of support to individuals and businesses across the country, which is particularly focused on people like my constituents in Sydney who are locked down at this time. The legislation that we have before the House provides the backbone for the cooperation and information sharing between our government and the states and the payments which are being made to my community at this time. It enables the government to make disaster recovery payments to individuals and businesses and to make those payments tax free. I want to say something about what these supports mean for people in my electorate and Australians more broadly. Under the enhanced COVID disaster recovery payment regime, people who have lost more than 20 hours of work can claim $750 a week and people who've lost between eight hours and 20 hours a week can claim $450 a week. This is the same level of support that was received last year under the JobKeeper program. Individuals who currently receive an income support payment through the social security system can receive a weekly supplement of $200 in addition to their existing payment if they can demonstrate they've lost more than eight hours of work and meet other eligibility requirements for the COVID-19 disaster payment. The new payment rate will be automatically updated for those in the Services Australia system. These new payments recognise the significant impact the new COVID-19 delta strain is having on our communities, businesses and workers. While it's effectively the same amount for people, it's a better program than JobKeeper at this time. It's temporary, it's targeted, it's not national and it actually applies to a wider group of people and doesn't necessarily take into account a business's decline in turnover across the country, especially when workers in a business are located in different parts of the country. As the Treasurer highlighted, the disaster payment is supporting those who are unable to work and wouldn't be eligible for JobKeeper if it were in operation. For instance, these payments are open to casual workers who may not be permanent casuals. That's an area where the new payment is actually reaching more people than the payments last year. These individual payments are of course available through Services Australia. In terms of business payments, we are making those payments in partnership with the New South Wales government, 50-50, administered by Service NSW. Those payments are open to businesses and not-for-profits in New South Wales with an annual turnover of between $75,000 and $250 million. Businesses are eligible if their turnover is 30 per cent lower than in the equivalent two-week period in 2019. Those businesses will receive 40 per cent of their New South Wales payroll payments, at a minimum of $1,500 a week and a maximum of $100,000 a week. To receive their payment, they are required to maintain their full-time, part-time and long-term casual staffing as at 13 July 2021. This continues the scheme of maintaining the connection between employers and employees and therefore supports the longer term economic recovery once our restrictions are eased. For sole traders, the payments are set at $1,000 a week. These expanded payments now cover more than 400,000 businesses, employing 3.3 million workers across New South Wales. The payment is also more substantial support for businesses to cover unavoidable costs like rent, insurance and maintenance, as well as employee costs during an extended lockdown. When I think about these business payments and the payments to individuals, I think about constituents in my electorate and some of the people I have been talking to across the last few days. I think of Maskell Fine Jewellery in Hornsby who, while they have a significant number of customers who shop online, many customers, especially those seeking to purchase those all-important engagement rings, want to do so in person. I think of All Clear Pest Control in Mt Colah. This business relies on being able to visit homes, which are off limits as a result of the lockdown. I think of musicians like David in Hornsby who regularly plays in major productions across Sydney and for whom opportunities have stopped as a result of these lockdowns. And I think of Louise from Middle Dural and her family who have relied on FIFO income from interstate, which has dried up as a result of state border closures. All these people and thousands of others like them across the electorate will benefit from these specially targeted payments. I also want to mention that, in addition to these payments, the government has put in place a range of other supports to help people through these difficult times, such as increased mental health support through organisations like Lifeline and Sonder and particularly supports dedicated to perinatal depression and anxiety. I think of the childcare gap fee waiver, through the federal government, in local government areas subject to stay-at-home orders. And I think of the telehealth support through Medicare and additional doses of vaccine that have been set aside for Sydney—an extra 200,000 Pfizer doses and an extra 150,000 AstraZeneca doses. In the context of this debate, I heard the shadow Treasurer criticising the government's approach. The shadow Treasurer wanted to keep JobKeeper going, even back in March, once the country has emerged from its first phase of COVID. It's to be remembered that you can actually put in place supports for too long. What we saw once those temporary and targeted supports were removed is growth at rates that we hadn't seen since the 1960s and unemployment was at 4.9 per cent—a rate we hadn't seen for a decade. So, while it's important to have targeted and temporary arrangements like the ones before the House, you can keep them on for too long. I also note the shadow Treasurer talked about a $300 cash-splash idea to encourage people to get vaccinated. This is an idea that was developed in jurisdictions overseas that don't have our social safety net. By world standards, Australia has a generous social safety net. The payments before the House today, as with previous payments, have demonstrated that Australians look after each other in tough times. The idea from the shadow Treasurer is a half-baked idea, like Cash for Clunkers or a citizens assembly. It's a reminder of Labor's previous period in office, during the GFC, which they sent cheques to pets and dead people. This government will not be paying its fellow Australians a bribe to do things that they know it is their duty to do. I want to raise one other issue that is being faced by my electorate at this time—that is, the difficulties people in my electorate face in relation to telecommunications. This makes lockdowns in my electorate particularly difficult. My message to Andy Penn, the CEO of Telstra, and Stephen Rue, the CEO of NBN Co, is: you really need to do a whole lot better by my constituents, especially in these difficult times. There's a school in my electorate where they can't do remote schooling online because mobile phones and the internet are unreliable in their area, where the photocopiers are running overtime preparing printed material which is then delivered to students. It puts particularly those students doing their HSC at a real disadvantage, because they can't leave home but they can't effectively work from home either. These sorts of stories abound across my constituents. Let me share with the House the story of a family from Kenthurst with seven young children at home during this lockdown. Rather than being at home to help out, the husband of this family has to go to the city every day for work because he can't have meetings from home. They get an upload of 0.3 megabits per second on the existing ADSL service; this is an area where the NBN is not coming in until 2023. The husband contacted Andy Penn, the CEO of Telstra—they had worked together in the past—and was given a standard answer about difficult topographical areas, the slowness of the rollout and the like, but it didn't do anything to help him. Let me give another example, of Belinda from Glenorie. She writes: 'I thought I would update you on the struggles of working from home. My tradie boys are home, which is what it is. Another house member works in the same industry but in an office.' She tried to work from home yesterday, but, with the phone balancing against a door handle to get reception and having to walk around the house with her laptop to get internet service, this was very stressful and near impossible. Getting further behind in her work, she had to go back to the office this morning. She writes: 'The plea for everyone to work from home is impossible and very stressful. To work successfully, as you and all government workers know, you need a desk, a laptop and a phone in easy reach of each other to conduct a day's work. Sitting at the top of a driveway just to answer a phone call should not be okay in 2021 in Sydney.' I couldn't agree more with Belinda from Glenorie. I had a situation of a doctor in Hornsby who was unable to take calls for several days to operate his practice because the phones were down, a family in Pennant Hills whose internet connection was unreliable and a 91-year-old pensioner who had so many appointments cancelled on him that he developed anxiety and had to be taken to hospital, and now cannot stay at home waiting for the Telstra technician to come because his anxiety levels are so great. These are some of the examples of the terrible telecommunications that are faced by people in my electorate at this time. Telecommunications is not a privilege; telecommunications is a right, and it's particularly a right when we are asking people to work from home. This isn't just about the lockdowns; it's about the future of work, and it's about the future of communities like mine right across the country. I note that yesterday the government released the guidelines for the Peri-Urban Mobile Program. I welcome those guidelines and I welcome that program. That is a start. We need to do so much more to fix the telecommunications situation in my electorate, and I will have more to say when I present a private member's bill to the House later this year. Returning to the bill before the House, these supports are very welcome. They're very welcome for people in my constituency and people across Sydney and New South Wales, and others who are locked down more generally. They give people hope and confidence in a difficult time. They are the shelter from the stormy blast of COVID-19. They are an important protection for people who are locked down through no fault of their own. I commend the bill to the House. 13:09 Mr HAYES ECV Fowler I also want to make a contribution to the Treasury Laws Amendment (COVID-19 Economic Response No. 2) Bill 2021, and, in doing so, indicate that the passage of this bill will be supported by my colleagues on this side of the House. We understand that what's contained in the bill is needed. It's needed urgently to support the affected communities, particularly those in Sydney and Brisbane who have been recently dragged into another series of lockdowns by the incompetence of this government. The government's failures are certainly large and wide when it comes down to this pandemic. Let's be clear: the only reason this bill is needed is that the government has had many failures. It's failed to bring this pandemic under control and to guide Australians out of uncertainty. What Australians need most is certainty, not continued policy changes that are simply made on the run. This is a bill that is nothing more than a clear admission of the government's failures. Whether it be the vaccine rollout, the hotel quarantine or cutting off JobKeeper in the midst of an ongoing pandemic, the Morrison government has failed Australian businesses and Australian workers and, more importantly, their families. The bill in essence implements a number of administrative arrangements for financial support for communities recently locked down—communities such as mine in south-western Sydney—that are really feeling the pressure of this extended and harsh lockdown as it's applying throughout many areas of Sydney at the moment, particularly Western Sydney. Not only has this lockdown had a significant economic impact on our communities but, as you would appreciate, it has had dire consequences for the mental health of many. Certainly, some are suffering more than others. I know this because, like many on both sides of the House, I have had to listen to discussions time and time again over recent weeks by many individuals and businesses across our respective communities, but particularly regarding what has occurred in the last six weeks in south-western Sydney. My electorate of Fowler, as most people in this place would understand, has significant pockets of disadvantage. As a matter of fact, the average household income in my electorate is just a little over $60,000. On top of that, we have very clear issues about affordable housing. Research conducted by the University of New South Wales shows almost half my electorate is living in rental stress. I'm painting a picture—mine is not a rich community. This pandemic and these lockdowns have only exacerbated these issues in my community, with individuals and families struggling to put food on the table, struggling to pay the rent and in certain cases struggling to fulfil their minimum obligations in respect to mortgages. I know these families are struggling. I know from talking with my own children and their families. I know the struggles that families are going through in terms of homeschooling, working from home and looking after households. Last week, I was talking to a teacher in our community in Fowler. Her name is Raina. Raina wanted me to understand what she and others were going through. I pointed out to her that I think I do have an understanding. Like her, my daughter is a high-school teacher in Western Sydney. But Raina wanted to tell me about the effects on her and her family through this lockdown. She's a teacher. She is expected to conduct classes online for her pupils while ensuring that her own children—one of which has special needs—are being looked after, and she's helping attend to her husband's business as well. This was just one conversation, but it certainly emphasises many of the issues raised by local residents at the moment. Furthermore, while the stability of working from home and people being able to gain and maintain an income has certainly been of assistance during this pandemic, the reality is that it's just not possible in my electorate for many people because of the nature of their employment. My community has a significant number of people who are employed in manufacturing, construction and the trades—all areas which have been at a standstill across this pandemic. I know that because two of my sons are both tradesmen working in construction. I know the impact that it's had on them because they can't travel more than five kilometres from their homes as it is. I don't have a rich electorate, but I don't have much construction going on in my electorate either. Our tradesmen, who come from Western Sydney, travel throughout Sydney to attend major building sites. I don't think we should forget the ramifications that this pandemic is having on businesses, particularly the small businesses. If there is any growing type of employment in my area it would be in terms of very small businesses, many of them home based businesses maybe employing one or two people. But we're seeing a number of these smaller businesses now closing down, with the very real likelihood that they won't reopen—they won't survive this series of lockdowns. For a nation that, I have to say, was doing relatively well—significantly well, even—throughout the COVID-19 outbreak and in the way that it controlled things at the time, I have to say that what we're seeing now simply highlights that, in the most part, the efforts in controlling it were the efforts of our people. That's whether it was social distancing, the way we interact with one another or even with us now saying, 'Please stay at home.' Let's face it: throughout these last 18 months the Prime Minister only had two fundamental jobs—two jobs, and both have been botched. The lockdowns that have been made necessary now were simply because of the Prime Minister's failure on vaccines and quarantine. This is costing our economy something in the vicinity of $300 million each day. The economy is bleeding hundreds of millions of dollars—billions of dollars each week—and the Prime Minister simply hasn't been able to do his job. The price for this incompetence is being paid by people in our communities—by people in my community. These are people like Raina, her husband and her family. Clearly, Scott Morrison's failures on the vaccines and quarantine are putting lives, jobs, the economy and its recovery at risk. We need a plan—a plan that's going to get us through these times and not a plan that's simply focused on the snap, harsh lockdowns that we see in our communities in Sydney at the moment. It should be a plan focused on an effective vaccine rollout and a proper quarantine situation. I know that the Prime Minister made it very clear in a series of interviews that this is not a race. I'm glad we don't say things like that to our athletes over in Tokyo at the moment! Of course it's a race, and a race we want to win, because in winning this we protect our people. But this is the race that we're not winning at the moment. As a matter of fact, we're not even at the starting blocks. Various health experts and medical professionals are all telling us that our only pathway out of this pandemic is an effective vaccine rollout system. The Prime Minister simply has to get on with the job. On quarantine: we have a government about whose incompetence in hotel quarantine I have to say to—in fairness—that hotels are built for tourists. They're not built as quarantine centres. We've had 27 COVID leaks from hotel quarantine, numerous lockdowns and families separated from loved ones, so you'd think the government would have worked out by now that, instead of looking at tourist facilities for quarantine purposes, we need a dedicated quarantine system. We have one in Howard Springs. It has taken those opposite 18 months even to start talking to the Victorian Labor government about constructing a quarantine facility there. This has to be evidence that the vaccine rollout and hotel quarantine failures have simply let Australians down. Quite frankly, this sees the only option for many of us being these snap and harsh lockdowns which we're currently experiencing. For my community in south-west Sydney, the lockdown is certainly having a detrimental impact on individuals, families and businesses, and that's why this legislation, which gives financial support—to help clean up the government's mess—is very much needed. I know it's needed in my community. Unlike this government, we, on this side, have a four-point plan. They may not like it, but I will go through it very briefly. We want purpose-built quarantine facilities. We want to fix the vaccine rollout. The government might want to call it a 'cash splash', or words to that effect, but we want to incentivise the rollout so that people put aside their hesitancy and actually go out and get vaccinated, because we know that the key to escaping harsh lockdowns is a properly vaccinated community. We also want to build the manufacturing capacity to secure the delivery of mRNA vaccines and to make them here in this country to serve our people. We want to deliver a targeted, thoughtful and motivating media campaign to encourage people to get vaccinated, not simply seeing someone's rolled-up sleeve and a bandaid on their shoulder. I don't think that's going to motivate too many people, at least as I see it. With all that I have said—and we will continue to hold the government to account for their handling of this pandemic—I, nevertheless, commend the passage of this bill. I know it supports the people in my community who are in desperate need of financial assistance at the moment and the many others across the country who are experiencing the effects of these lockdowns at the moment. I support the passage of the bill. 13:21 Mr BANDT M3C Melbourne I rise to speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (COVID-19 Economic Response No. 2) Bill 2021. So many people across this country are suffering so much, and, sadly, so much of that could have been avoided had the Prime Minister and this government just done their job. People understand that we are fighting a virus, but when they hear 'We are all in this together' they expect the government to act accordingly. But when we've had my home state of Victoria going through long lockdowns as part of our bit to avoid the outbreak of a third wave, and we have other states, including New South Wales, suffering through that right now and Queensland enduring its lockdown, which we hope won't last for too long, people are entitled to look at the Prime Minister and ask: Why is it that these outbreaks, many of which have come out of the quarantine facilities that were his responsibility to ensure they stayed strong, are hitting still largely unvaccinated populations and are able to spread in a way that we thought we could get on top of? Why is it that we were promised vaccination targets by the Prime Minister that never got met? Why is it that this government put all its faith in big drug corporations and hoped that they would bump us up to a favourable place in the queue, only to find out that we didn't have enough of all of the kinds of vaccines that we need and that we didn't have the ability to make all of the kinds of the vaccines that we need right here in Australia? Then, when populations, when people, get locked down and lose their job, because we're having to respond to the virus with a still largely unvaccinated population—when the government's own failures have led to these lockdowns—the government has been unwilling to step in and support people through them. As a result, people are living through these lockdowns in poverty. If there's one thing that we've learnt from the pandemic last year it's that insecure work and casualisation and trickle-down economics spread the virus, because if people are forced to make the choice, the terrible, terrible choice, between potentially getting some money to keep food on their table and to look after themselves versus staying at home and doing the right thing, people are going to be forced to make a choice that no-one should ever have to make. So if we not only want to do the best by the whole community to get on top of the virus but want to do right by every person and make sure they don't put their lives at risk, we have to ensure that people can live above the poverty line and have the ability to pay the bills. That is especially the case because this time around in many parts of the country people don't have the protections against evictions. They might not have mortgage freezes and pay freezes like they had last time. And the cost of living is not only still there; for many people it goes up during a pandemic, because you're having to order in and get things in that you previously might have been able to go out for. So, for many people, especially those who are already living hand-to-mouth, the costs go up during a pandemic. Last time, part of the reason that we were able to get on top of this in the way that the Prime Minister boasts about is that people didn't have to live through the pandemic in poverty. And we saw for the first time jobseekers being able to live above the poverty line. The Prime Minister was caught short because, all of a sudden, when we saw those depression era dole queues along the street—including outside the Centrelink in my area of Abbotsford, a Centrelink that the government wanted to close down and we fought them and stopped them—when we saw those incredible scenes that we haven't seen since the depression, the government was pushed to look after people. The Greens were the first party in this place to call for a wage subsidy scheme. We also saw JobSeeker go above the poverty line. The reason that had to happen is that the government was caught out, because all of a sudden all of those people queuing up to get Centrelink payments were about to find out just how terribly the government have been treating unemployed people in this country for years. So they increased unemployment assistance to above the poverty line. For many, many people around this country, that meant that they could actually live a dignified life, often for the first time in years, and that they didn't have to skip essentials like food in order to make ends meet. But now, this time around, people are back in poverty and people who are on JobSeeker are doing it on $43 a day. Instead of just reintroducing full JobKeeper and full JobSeeker, the government is trying to hide from its mistakes by doling out what it thinks is the minimum it can possibly get away with, even if it means people will still struggle to make ends meet during the course of this pandemic. For example, if you were someone who worked seven hours a week—you worked a shift to help make ends meet—and you did that week in, week out, the government's leaving you behind. They come and say, 'Let's pass another piece of legislation to allow us to put in place a new scheme,' and the Greens will be supporting this legislation, because it is right that the government puts in place some new methods of financial support. But, again, they're coming in here and asking us to take them on face value that this time they're not going to leave anyone behind. But, when you look at what they did last time, you just can't trust them on that. Last time, a million casual workers lost out. Last time universities saw thousands and thousands and thousands of university workers sacked. In the middle of a recession, the general wisdom is that the public sector expands and employs, but this government instead cut thousands of people who work at universities. That was on this government's watch. Again, we're seeing people who are going to be predominantly women and predominantly young people, who work a bit of work here and there to make ends meet, now finding themselves being left behind yet again. So when the government says, 'Trust us; we are going to look after everyone,' well, no, you didn't last time. Even on the payments that you have announced today and in this legislation, you're again not going to do it this time. Bring back JobKeeper. Lift JobSeeker to above the poverty line. If there's one thing this pandemic has taught us, it's that we are leaving too many people behind. No-one should live in poverty. It's time the government took this opportunity to lift everyone above the poverty line, so that there is no poverty in this rich country. The DEPUTY SPEAKER HWN The debate is interrupted in accordance with standing order 43. The debate may be resumed at a later hour. STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS 15 STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS Morrison Government 15 13:30 Ms MURPHY 133646 Dunkley [by video link] Two years and one week ago, in my first speech, I committed to do what my community asked me to: to work to recover the public's faith in our democratic system and to harness politics to enlarge opportunities and our national imagination. Of course, since that time our country has been challenged by forces of nature, by bushfires and by disease. These challenges have demanded responses by governments, federal and state, that will leave a lasting impact on our capacity to enlarge opportunities and our national imagination. What I want to speak about today is a challenge that is posed to our politic itself by the conduct of the Morrison government and to warn that if we do not take a stand it will be irrevocably changed so the ambitions, such as recovering public faith in our system, will be nothing more than quixotic words. Today the Centre for Public Integrity released research that found that 100 per cent of the Morrison government's grant programs that have been audited by the ANAO since 2019 were flawed. Remember the Regional Jobs and Investment Packages where applications were not soundly assessed; the award of over $400 million to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, with insufficient scrutiny; sports rorts; the Supporting Reliable Energy Infrastructure Program and most recently, and arguably most audaciously, the Commuter Car Park Projects, where not everyone could even apply and it was based on winning seats? It is time, as Supreme Court judge—(Time expired) Graham, Mr Peter, OAM 15 13:31 Mr ALEXANDER M3M Bennelong [by video link] Last week, the Bennelong community lost a giant: Peter Graham OAM was a pillar of our community. As alderman, councillor, mayor, pastor, volunteer and, until April, chair of my federal election committee he affected the lives of thousands of people across Bennelong and he will be sorely missed. I first met Peter in the late nineties when he was mayor of Ryde and I was a sports developer looking to build a gym in the water polo stadium for the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Peter was a beacon of purity in a council which at the time was notorious—bringing his time as pastor and moderator to the Presbyterian church to provide a moral grounding to local government. Peter became an alderman in 1971 and held a position on council all the way through to 2004, with only a brief break in the late seventies—a remarkable 30 years at Ryde council. The reforms and developments he oversaw through these pivotal decades are too numerous to mention in the time I have. He had a major impact on the shape of our community. More recently Peter stepped in to help out lead our FEC during a difficult period. He steered us through the turbulent years of a by-election and the election of 2009. Peter only stepped down from this role earlier this year to move to the Central Coast to be near his son. Peter was a genuine, stoic, kind and generous human being. In his passing Ryde has lost—(Time expired) Greenway Electorate: COVID-19 15 13:33 Ms ROWLAND 159771 Greenway [by video link] I draw the attention of the House to the reality that Australia is a diverse nation so it is no revelation that a diverse range of communities are impacted by this delta outbreak. As the member for Greenway I represent two of the eight local government areas of concern currently subject to the strict lockdown restrictions in Western Sydney. Greater Western Sydney is perhaps the fastest growing and most diverse region in New South Wales, if not Australia. More than one third of residents are overseas born. In my electorate of Greenway over 45 per cent of households speak a language other than English. These facts are not novel and it is time this government provided information in a way that caught up with reality. It is hard enough for native English speakers to keep track of the evolving COVID safety messages, let alone those for whom English is a second language. In my community Zoom last week, which was joined by hundreds of local residents, it became very clear that there was much confusion about how these rules operate in practice. Unfortunately, the New South Wales government and federal government health websites are neither consistent nor comprehensive when it comes to the provision of in-language translations about COVID. This must change and it must change urgently—(Time expired) Electric Vehicles 15 13:35 Dr ALLEN 282986 Higgins The Morrison government is investing in Australia's future by investing in technologies that will drive down emissions. One of the many ways we're doing this is through the Future Fuels Fund. Last week, the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction announced almost $25 million in funding through ARENA. This funding will directly support more than 400 new fast-charging stations across the country. Our government is focused on driving down electric vehicle range anxiety, while powering up EVs. While industry works to make electric vehicle technology more affordable, we will get on with the important work of supporting the infrastructure that's needed to make EVs easier. This approach will empower more consumers to switch to EVs with confidence. Just as I've recently bought an electric car, this further commitment by the Morrison government will help even more Australians join me in making the switch. In fact, it's pleasing to know that, for the second consecutive year, EV registrations have almost doubled. The commitment from the Morrison government to reduce emissions by investing in new technology is clear. We've already committed around $1.4 billion to help increase the uptake of low- and zero-emissions vehicle technologies. The investment in EV infrastructure is just another way this government is helping secure Australia's future. Wright, Mr Ronald (Ron), OAM 16 13:36 Ms OWENS E09 Parramatta Parramatta has lost another of its greats. Ron Wright OAM, Secretary of the Parramatta District Cricket Club, passed away last week. Even among Parramatta greats, Ron stood out. We knew him as 'Mr Parramatta Cricket'. He was the honorary secretary of the club for 40 years, and that's quite a record. He was secretary from 1979 to the present day, except for one season in 1987-88, when they elected someone else—I'll have to get to the bottom of that one. And that title—Mr Parramatta Cricket—was well and truly earned. As Ron would say: no effort, no crown. This was a man who turned up. For 40 years, even at the age of 89, he was still turning up, attending every meeting, as well as practice sessions and matches. He was always there if help was needed. There were periods in the late 1980s and early 90s when this man literally held the cricket club together through force of will. The club basically owed its continued existence to his energy, commitment and generosity. Even more amazing, Ron never actually played cricket; in fact, he was a soccer goalie. He got to know the club when his son joined the junior cricket team. The world of Parramatta cricket changed that day. For his efforts, Ron was awarded life membership of the Parramatta District Cricket Club, life membership of the New South Wales Districts Cricket Association, an Australian Sports Medal and the Medal of the Order of Australia. He was 89 years of age when he passed away and was still getting on with his job. My condolences to Ron Wright's family—his wife, Margaret, and his kids, Martin, David and Debbie—and the Parramatta cricket club community, who will miss him deeply. National Stroke Week 16 13:38 Mr ANDREWS HK5 Menzies Can I remind honourable members and, indeed, all Australians, that this is National Stroke Week. Stroke is a major killer of Australians. More people die from stroke than they do from breast cancer, for women, and prostate cancer, for men. Indeed, on average, stroke claims the lives of 24 Australians every day. And it doesn't discriminate according to age or gender or any other circumstances. Anyone of any age can have a stroke. It's also devastating for the thousands of people who survive a stroke, not to mention their families, their colleagues, their workmates and their personal networks. The impact of stroke is life changing and creates an immense reliance on our health system. It's estimated, for example, that post-stroke cost is something like $6 billion in public funding every year. But there is good news, and that is that stroke can be treated. I remind people of the acronym FAST. If you suspect someone has had a stroke, look at their face. Has their mouth drooped? Look at their arms. Can they lift both arms? Is their speech slurred? If they have any of these characteristics, then time is of the essence. Dial triple 0, get them medical attention and get them to hospital immediately. For more information, go to strokefoundation.org.au for those interested in this subject. Oxley Electorate: Vietnam Grace Church 16 13:39 Mr DICK 53517 Oxley Over the weekend, Vietnam Grace Church, in my electorate, had planned to celebrate their 35th anniversary with a church service and a gathering of their wonderful congregation. Of course, in light of recent outbreaks in the south-east corner of Queensland and the very necessary measures that have been implemented to contain them, the service wasn't able to go ahead. But no outbreak can diminish the importance of this church to our local community or the pride that I share with the congregation over their continued dedication to service, to community and to God. In particular, I'd like to congratulate Pastor Hoa on her leadership of this church and her amazing dedication to serving our great community. The past 18 months have been challenging for all our local churches, who have had to adapt their services and programs to comply with restrictions and to keep their churchgoers safe. Many have also turned to them to provide emotional and spiritual support as our communities face the uncertainty and sometimes fear that have come with this pandemic. Vietnam Grace has risen to the challenge and done more for our community than many others, streaming their services live on Facebook and projecting strength and resilience throughout this challenge. I'd like to offer my sincere congratulations to the church and its members for their longstanding dedication to our area. I wish them all the very best for their future and look forward to working with the church and sharing fellowship with them for many years to come. Titmus, Ms Ariarne 17 13:41 Mrs ARCHER 282237 Bass I'm delighted to stand here today to pay tribute to Northern Tasmania's golden girl Ariarne Titmus. Although she's on loan to the Queenslanders, the electorate of Bass, which I represent, is proud to claim Ariarne as our own. Just eight days before the Sydney Olympics kicked off in 2000, Ariarne was born in Launceston, Tasmania, to Steve, a well-known local newsreader, and his wife, Robyn. Starting swimming at an early age, Ariarne began competitively racing aged eight, joined the Launceston Aquatic Club at age 10 and smashed every competitive meet she entered. When she was in her early teens, Steve and Robyn made the tough decision to move the entire family, including younger sister Mia, to Brisbane, to ensure that her talent was nurtured by some of the best coaches in the industry. It's safe to say that that move paid off. At just 20 years of age, the 'Terminator' from Tassie has brought home two gold medals, a silver and a bronze from the Tokyo Olympics. Like so many across the nation, I was glued to the screen last week watching Arnie's incredible grit and years of training pay off as she beat rival Katie Ledecky to bring home gold in the 400-metre and 200-metre events, making her the first ever Tasmanian to win an individual gold at the Olympics. Arnie, we're incredibly proud of you and what you have achieved. You've inspired a whole new generation of young swimmers across the country who now look to you as their hero. What an outstanding achievement. Australian Democracy 17 13:42 Ms SHARKIE 265980 Mayo The late Australian academic and historian John Hirst liked to reflect on the distinctiveness of Australian democracy. He was one of the first public intellectuals, somebody who liked to infuriate, inform, provoke and delight audiences. Hirst believed that Australian democracy was distinctive because a contradiction lay at its heart: on the one hand, Australian electors liked to believe they were anti-authoritarian—most obviously, they celebrated outlaws and individualists—while on the other hand, their society, including their political life, was a model of order. I'm often approached by constituents asking about our democracy, its history and ideals. These conversations are important—vital, in fact. They illustrate that our democracy is not static. It's something that we must all continue to reflect on, nurture and actively participate in. I thank constituents who have recently approached me to discuss local political concerns, and I seek leave to table documents related to those discussions. Leave granted. Moncrieff Electorate: Nerang Community Association 17 13:43 Ms BELL 282981 Moncrieff Last week I had the great pleasure of visiting the Nerang Visitor Information Centre and art gallery in my electorate of Moncrieff. Both are run entirely by the selfless volunteers of the Nerang Community Association. The Nerang Visitor Information Centre is located inside Ceramic House, which is a beautiful heritage home built in 1919 in the immediate aftermath of World War I. Just next door is Preece House. Built in 1948, this house was previously a family home for the Veivers—who have been well known on the Gold Coast for some 50 years—before being donated to the Nerang Community Association, who have transformed it into the historical art gallery it is today. The Nerang Community Association, led by Derek and Lynn Ogden, have brought Ceramic House and Preece House back to life, restoring them to their former glory. Six days a week both houses open their doors, welcoming visitors from near and far—you should see their guest book, Mr Deputy Speaker—allowing them the opportunity to take a step back in time, with all furnishings and artefacts inside from the truthful period. I thank the Nerang Community Association for the work and the advocacy that they do for their local community. You can truly see just how passionate they are about the community and maintaining their beautiful heritage homes for future generations to enjoy in Nerang. They come from all over Queensland to experience the heritage of these two houses. We certainly have a very close community on the Gold Coast and also in the community in Nerang. COVID-19: Morrison Government 17 13:45 Dr FREELANDER 265979 Macarthur My community is entering its sixth week of lockdown and is about to have many more because of the actions of this government, in particular the actions of this 'off to the footy; don't hold a hose' Prime Minister. There has been poor vaccine procurement, a poor approach to hotel quarantine, a lack of foresight, a lack of insight and a lack of action. The laissez-faire policies of this government are causing my community enormous harm. Very poor messaging about vaccines has contributed to our low vaccine rates. It's contributing to the lack of business activity. It's contributing to the financial impacts. It's contributing a whole lot to my community and the community of south-west Sydney and how it's coping compared to the rest of Sydney and the rest of New South Wales. This Prime Minister is opaque in his actions. He won't release the modelling from the Doherty Institute about the way out of the pandemic. He won't release information about why the vaccines were procured in the way they were, why we don't have enough of the Messenger RNA vaccines and why he won't approach hotel quarantine in any rational way, which we know doesn't work and leaks and will continue to leak until something is done about it. We need proper quarantine near each capital city. We need proper vaccination of our population and proper messaging—(Time expired) Victoria: Bushfires 18 13:46 Mr CHESTER IPZ Gippsland We need more boots and less suits to accelerate the Black Summer Bushfire Recovery Grants Program in my electorate and assist with practical projects to increase the resilience of Victoria's coastal and regional communities. Eighteen months after the bushfires which took lives, destroyed homes, killed wildlife and undermined regional economies, I'm sorry to report that the progress on economic recovery projects in Gippsland is still tangled in bureaucracy. The major failing of the recovery has been the lack of urgency of Bushfire Recovery Victoria and other state government departments to approve major projects and actually get stuff done on the ground. We are still waiting for bridges, tracks, trails and jetties to be replaced and repaired 18 months after the fires. We need more boots getting the work done on the ground and less suits in Melbourne making excuses. To add insult to injury the Black Summer Bushfire Recovery Grants Program, announced last month, has notionally allocated just $4.5 million to the East Gippsland Shire Council. This funding envelope proposed by our own government is insulting to East Gippslanders and doesn't properly reflect the extent of damage compared to other municipalities in Victoria. Under the model proposed by the Canberra bureaucrats the broader geographic region of north-east Victoria will receive $27 million while the broader Gippsland region will share in just $9 million. The minister responsible needs to ensure the funding envelopes are adjusted to provide a fairer deal for East Gippslanders in recognition of the enormous unmet demands in my community. COVID-19: Vaccination 18 13:48 Mrs ELLIOT DZW Richmond My community on the New South Wales North Coast are so angry about the situation the Morrison and Berejiklian governments have put us in. Firstly, the Prime Minister's failure to get enough vaccines and his failure to establish quarantine facilities—that's why we're in this dire crisis. Secondly, the New South Wales Premier's failure to lock down Sydney early enough has plunged our region into even more chaos. Last week we saw, in a move of utter contempt, the New South Wales Premier decide to take our already limited supplies of Pfizer from regional New South Wales and redirect them to Sydney. I'm being contacted by locals every day who are so angry that their appointments for Pfizer have been cancelled. Others have been told they've got to wait months and months for even the possibility of Pfizer vaccines on the New South Wales North Coast. This is absolutely appalling and unacceptable. I'm calling on the Morrison government, the Berejiklian government, all their MPs on the North Coast and their agencies—Healthy North Coast and the Northern NSW Local Health District—to all come clean and tell us the following: exactly how many of our Pfizer supplies have been taken from us and taken to Sydney? How many Pfizer supplies do we actually have in northern New South Wales today? Our community demands the facts, not weasel words or promises in the never,-never. Make no mistake, this situation is an absolute disgrace and it shows we're the forgotten people when it comes to the Liberals and Nationals—(Time expired) COVID-19: Demonstrations 18 13:49 Mr CHRISTENSEN 230485 Dawson In July 2020, tens of thousands of people, including some Labor MPs, marched in Black Lives Matter protests in every major city in this country. Mainstream media defended these people, even claiming that no community transmission of COVID-19 occurred because of the marches. They said it couldn't occur when people were outside. Fast forward to 12 months on: thousands of Australians marched through the country to protest government lockdowns and restrictions and to promote freedom. These people were subsequently vilified in the media and called 'crazy', 'COVID idiots' and 'conspiracy theorists' who had endangered the public. What hypocrisy! It's disgusting to label these people as crazy. These are men and women whose voices are as valid as those of every other Australian. They are men and women who are crying out because lockdowns have pushed them to the brink—ordinary Australians who have lost their jobs, watched their businesses go under or seen their life savings vanish. I've heard horror stories firsthand from businesses in my own electorate, particularly those in tourism. These are real people who have had their lives turned upside down. To denigrate them in the public forum is abhorrent. I was vilified for attending a rally in Mackay, where it was completely legal, as were local men and women. They're standing up for freedom but they were called QAnon supporters by one taxpayer funded media outlet. They weren't, and I am proud to stand with those people and fight for our freedoms—and I will not hesitate to do so again. Eden-Monaro Electorate: COVID-19 19 13:51 Ms McBAIN 281988 Eden-Monaro There is no such thing as business as usual anymore. After droughts, bushfires and a pandemic, a number of years have now made businesses uncertain and the disruption causes significant concern. Now, with a third border closure and another Sydney lockdown, Eden-Monaro businesses are at their wit's ends. And the impact is being felt not only in the city. In the Snowy Mountains one real estate agent alone reported losing more than $1.8 million in just one week due to cancelled bookings. The flow-on effects of this will be felt right across our community. Last year restrictions meant that the snowfields were only able to operate at 50 per cent capacity. This year, with the best snow we've seen in years, businesses are expecting profits of 50 per cent of last year: that's 25 per cent of the usual winter turnover. That's livelihoods in the Snowy Mountains, because 80 per cent of their income comes from the winter period. With this money gone, our communities need a government to step up and provide support. But all of the support is policy on the run. Every day there's a new policy and it's up to businesses to try to keep up. The Morrison government have had 20 months to plan and prepare; 20 months to ensure a speedy and effective vaccine rollout so that we wouldn't be in this position, and they've failed. That failure, combined with a lack of planning, a lack of consideration into the wide-ranging and ongoing effects of lockdown and no real planning for how this government will support businesses mean that my electorate and businesses are getting deeper and deeper into debt. (Time expired) Stirling Electorate: Stirling Natural Environment Coastcare 19 13:52 Mr CONNELLY 282984 Stirling WA has some of the best beaches in the world, including in my electorate of Stirling. As a lover of our magnificent coastline, and a keen surfer, I appreciate how essential environmental coastal protection projects are. Stirling Natural Environment Coastcare, or SNEC, does an incredible job of nurturing our local coastline. I've been working with SNEC for a couple of years now, and back in 2019 I made a promise to provide $20,000 for interpretive signage at Trigg Beach, at the southern end of Marmion Marine Park. It was a really exciting moment a few weekends ago to be able to deliver on that election commitment and to unveil this engaging and educational signage. SNEC president, Rae, and the team have been working tirelessly on bringing this initiative to life. I commend them for ensuring that the signage is of the highest quality for visitors and locals. This signage will inform people about the history and value of Marmion Marine Park, and encourage respect and preservation of this beautiful area for generations to come. The Morrison government's strong economic management is ensuring that community projects like this become a reality. And it is this Morrison government which is investing in initiatives right across the country which are ensuring the protection of our unique coastal environment, and that it remains pristine. Perth Electorate: Palmer, Mr Clive 19 13:54 Mr GORMAN 74519 Perth YouTube, Facebook and Twitter all stand against COVID misinformation. It's time that our mail distributors do the same. They should stop taking Clive Palmer's money to distribute falsehoods, lies and dangerous information across Australia. Last week, we saw his latest crazy flyer put out in letterboxes across the state of Western Australia. This man is a conspiracy theorist, he is a Liberal Party preferencer and he's a Liberal Party donor, but now he's putting the lives of all Australians at risk, and the government are doing nothing to stop him. The government are absent from the letterboxes of Australia. They haven't put out any information. They're letting Clive Palmer have a free run in the letterboxes of Australia and it has to stop. If this government won't do anything, I'm calling on IVE Group—we normally know them in this place as Salmat—to stop taking Clive Palmer's money. They're not doing any good. They can use their freedom of speech to stop taking his money. They don't have to distribute his misinformation. And I say to the person who is not here this week, the Manager of Government Business: if what I read in TheDaily Telegraph is true, that he is a—shock—friend of Clive Palmer, he should do the right thing as a friend, talk to Clive Palmer and say, 'This is not what you should be doing.' He needs to stop, and this government need to get their— (Time expired) Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program 19 13:56 Mr McCORMACK 219646 Riverina During recent weeks, I've taken the opportunity to see firsthand some of the works in progress and some of the completed projects as part of the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program. Mr Chester IPZ A good program. Mr McCORMACK 219646 'A good program,' I hear the member for Gippsland say. It has proven enormously popular in the Riverina and the Central West—indeed, right throughout 537 councils across Australia. In total, $2½ billion has been allocated and each and every local government area is benefitting in order to realise their long-held aspirations and get boots on the ground to ensure that some of the projects which they probably never thought would be delivered are being delivered. They are being delivered now and are being delivered by this government. It's part of the overall $110 billion infrastructure program over the next decade which is supporting 100,000 workers. Indeed, I visited Lockhart Shire, Weddin, which takes in Grenfell, and the Forbes and Junee shires. In each of those LGAs there are projects, such as the toilet in Wal Alexander Park in Lockhart. It doesn't mean much to many, but, I'll tell you what: for mums with families there, it means the world of difference. There are projects such as the Grenfell Main Street upgrade, which is such a good project. In Forbes Shire is the heated pool and CCTV in the CBD. There are all of those sorts of projects. Junee Shire is doing a lot too. Well done to each of those LGAs. (Time expired) Morrison Government: COVID-19 20 13:57 Ms TEMPLEMAN 181810 Macquarie If you have a go, you get a go, according to the glib Morrison government lines, but not if you're a 16-year-old apprentice and you've lost your income because of the Sydney COVID lockdown. That lockdown has happened because of this government's failure on two jobs: to get purpose-built quarantine facilities and have an effective vaccine rollout. Were it not for that, Travis, Liam and Joshua, who live in the Hawkesbury, would all still be working, but they have paid the price. As 16-year-old first-year apprentices, they found they weren't eligible for the COVID disaster payment. They were shocked that they'd miss out, their families were shocked that they'd miss out, and their bosses were shocked that they'd miss out. Why would they? They work and learn full time. Like other workers, they have financial commitments. They might seem like kids to those opposite, but they make financial contributions to their families. Like any other worker, they have their own financial commitments. Travis's mum, Janette, who lives in South Windsor, tells me Travis is really proud to be able to pay rent and pay for his phone, and he's still doing that, in spite of the lack of government support. As Josh's dad, Mark, says, 'It's wrong that these young workers are discriminated against simply because of their age.' It's bad enough that they can't go to work, have their routine and keep contributing because of this government's failures, but it's even worse that they're abandoned by the Prime Minister at the one time that they need support. Flynn Electorate: CQWA Mt Larcom Branch 20 13:59 Mr O'DOWD 139441 Flynn Last weekend, I attended the CQWA Mt Larcom Branch 90th anniversary celebrations. Festivities included a street parade, led by a pipe band, followed by a roll call. There were plenty of memorabilia and photos on display. A history booth gave everybody a chance to share old stories and photos. There was also a variety of market stalls and raffles. Mrs Dawn O'Dowd, my aunty, was awarded her 70th-year certificate and a pin and had the honour of cutting the anniversary cake. Congratulations, ladies, on your loyalty, dedication, hard work, friendship and community spirit. In the evening, festivities continued with an old-time dance. Special thanks go to Cheryl Hannant, president; Colleen Krapkat, treasurer; and Jean Peters and her committee. Congratulations on the 90th year of the QCWA Mount Larcom and a great community celebration. The SPEAKER 00APG In accordance with standing order 43, the time for members' statements has concluded. Just before I call on questions, members will have heard my statement this morning about wearing masks, including in here when you are not participating in the debate. Obviously, in chairing question time, I won't be able to be wearing a mask, and the same, obviously, goes for the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. I think that's fine and practical. For the rest who are asking questions, it's a matter of taking the mask off just before you jump. MINISTERIAL ARRANGEMENTS 20 MINISTERIAL ARRANGEMENTS 14:00 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook Mr Speaker, I present a revised ministry list reflecting changes to the ministry and the change of representative arrangements. The document read as follows— Commonwealth Government 2 July 2021 SECOND MORRISON MINISTRY Each box represents a portfolio. Cabinet Ministers are shown in bold type. As a general rule, there is one department in each portfolio. However, there can be two departments in one portfolio. The title of a department does not necessarily reflect the title of a Minister in all cases. Ministers are sworn to administer the portfolio in which they are listed under the 'Minister' column and may also be sworn to administer other portfolios in which they are not listed. Assistant Ministers in italics are designated as Parliamentary Secretaries under the Ministers of State Act 1952. Mr MORRISON E3L Mr Speaker, I inform the House that the Minister for Defence will be absent from question time today and for the remainder of the week. The Minister for Defence Industry will answer questions on his behalf in the Defence portfolio. The Minister for Industry, Science and Technology will be acting Leader of the House. The Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment will also be absent from question time today and for the remainder of the week. The Treasurer will answer questions on his behalf. The Minister for the Environment will also be absent from question time today and for the remainder of the week. The Minister for Health will answer questions on her behalf in the Environment portfolio and the Minister for Home Affairs will answer questions in her behalf on the Women's portfolio. QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE 22 QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE Morrison Government: COVID-19 22 14:01 Mr ALBANESE R36 Grayndler My question is addressed to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister had two jobs this year: fixing the bungled vaccine rollout and creating a safe national quarantine system. Don't the widespread lockdowns since this parliament last met show that the Prime Minister did have these two jobs and that he failed at both of them? 14:02 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook Anyone who thinks that the Prime Minister has only two jobs is not up for the job, because anyone who has ever occupied this office understands that the jobs are multitudinous: protecting our security interests, protecting the health of the country, ensuring that the economy is moving forward, that our children are educated, that our science labs' research potential is funded, that our railways, like the Inland Rail, are being built or that the Western Sydney airport is being constructed. Anyone who has done this job or who seriously thinks they can do it understands that any prime minister has more to do than that. But, when it comes to the focus, saving lives and saving livelihoods has been the task of our government, as we have come through this crisis, and I want to thank Australians. I want to thank every single Australian for their achievements over this past more than 18 months, because it has been their forbearance, their patience, their sacrifice, their commitment and their determination which, even today, mean that, in the past month alone, we have been able to double the double-dose vaccination rates across this country. That will ensure, as we now move to implement the national plan agreed across the country, that we reach a stage where we can live with the virus into the future. If the opposition—the Labor Party—want to support this national effort, then I invite them to spend more time supporting the vaccination program than undermining it. I invite them to join the initiative, rather than engaging in bubbles without thoughts, which have come from the Leader of the Opposition today—ill informed, ill disciplined and not thinking of the consequences. If the Leader of the Opposition wants to come up with any alternative, he needs to inform himself, and he could start by talking to General Frewen who he has not yet sat down with—not once—since he came into the job. General Frewen is the person who is running the vaccination program for the government, and he hasn't even bothered to talk to him. Honourable members interjecting— The SPEAKER 00APG Members on both sides! The member for Eden-Monaro and others who are interjecting! The member for Sturt. COVID-19: Vaccination 23 14:05 Mr STEVENS 176304 Sturt My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister please outline to the House how the Morrison government is implementing its plan to transition Australia from the COVID-19 pandemic and build a stronger and more secure nation? 14:05 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook I thank the member for Sturt for his question. I thank him for his commitment in his electorate and all the members of this place who are out there each and every day supporting their communities and encouraging them to go along and be part of the national vaccination program so that we can hit the targets that are so important for Australia to live with this virus in the future. Local members are working with their local communities, promoting the opportunities to get the vaccine—whether it's AstraZeneca or Pfizer. They ensure that they're connecting with those thousands upon thousands of points of presence which have seen our vaccination program having turned the corner: 200,558 doses in just the past 24 hours—12.6 million doses. Almost 80 per cent of over seventies have now had that first dose and almost two-thirds of those over 50 have had that first dose. One in five Australians now are double-dose vaccinated and two in five have had that single dose, ensuring that we move towards the vaccination rates that are important. I want to thank the premiers and the chief ministers, working with the federal government to ensure our shared objectives as a country, which we share with the Australian people, to save lives and to save livelihoods. We know that had we suffered the terrible fatalities of countries around the world—like Australia, advanced economies with sophisticated health systems—more than 30,000 Australians would have perished. The fact that that did not happen in this country is because of the collective effort of millions and millions of Australians working together with the federal government and our counterpart governments in the states and territories. But it's not just that: a million Australians are getting back into work after last year's COVID-19 recession. Indeed, these lockdowns—which are the necessary response to the latest delta variant, as the Doherty modelling has shown—and this response will also be overcome because this government is standing behind Australians and beside Australians, ensuring that they can get through. Over $1.2 billion is supporting Australians through these lockdowns so that they can get to the other side and so that we can ensure that as we come out of this phase and these lockdowns, as we have seen before, the Australian economy will come back strongly. Australians will get back into those jobs. As we move to the end of this year we will have a country that has not only been able to save lives—more so than almost any other country in the world today—and have an economic record of coming through this pandemic but we will also be ensuring that everyone who is seeking to get that vaccine will have that opportunity. We'll be moving through that four-phase plan to ensure that Australians can live with the virus in a way that few in the world can. COVID-19: Vaccination 23 14:08 Mr ALBANESE R36 Grayndler My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the government roll up its sleeve in the race to vaccinate the nation and adopt Labor's proposal for a one-off $300 payment to every fully vaccinated Australian? 14:08 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook I will respond by making reference to Professor Peter Collignon, an infectious diseases expert, who has said this about the Leader of the Opposition's plan: 'This is a bad idea'. This is a bad idea. He's joined by so many, including the Journal of the American Medical Association, which said: Financial incentives are likely to discourage vaccination (particularly among those most concerned about adverse effects); instead, contingent nonfinancial incentives are the desired approach. Unlike the opposition leader, I have confidence in the Australian people. The Leader of the Opposition's proposal is a vote of no confidence and an insult to Australians, suggesting they won't get vaccinated unless you dole out the cash! That is an insult. That is an insult to every Australian. Those 80 per cent of older Australians who've turned up and rolled up their sleeves—they didn't need the cash. They just needed to know that it was good for them, it was good for their family, it was good for their community and it was good for their country. We know that, under Labor, you and your money are easily parted. That is the fiscal record of the Labor Party. We know that this plan is a bubble without a thought, which is what we have become used to from this Leader of the Opposition—bubbles without thoughts. He hasn't bothered to speak to General Frewen or to seek a meeting with General Frewen. He cancelled his meeting even yesterday. Mr Albanese interjecting— The SPEAKER 00APG The Prime Minister will resume his seat. The Leader of the Opposition, on indulgence. He did use an unparliamentary term. Mr Albanese R36 The Prime Minister knows full well there's a scheduled meeting with General Frewen on Thursday, which is the first time it's been proffered. The SPEAKER 00APG The Leader of the Opposition just needs to withdraw the remark and resume his seat. Mr Albanese R36 I withdraw the unparliamentary term. The SPEAKER 00APG The Prime Minister has the call. Mr MORRISON E3L If the Leader of the Opposition had bothered to inform himself of the significant work that had been done on these issues regarding incentives then he would not have rushed headlong into this proposal, which says Australians need to be paid cash to turn up and protect themselves, their communities and their families. I know what Australians have done over these past 18 months. I know the sacrifices they have made. They haven't done it to get the cash; they've done it because they know what has been necessary to get them, their communities and their families through. Over these years in opposition, this Labor Party have learnt absolutely nothing. The cash splashes of their last untargeted, ill-disciplined fiscal recklessness are writ large again in this Leader of the Opposition. Under Labor, you and your money will be easily parted with the undisciplined, untargeted, ill-informed spending of the Labor Party— (Time expired) Regional Australia: Infrastructure 24 14:12 Mr O'DOWD 139441 Flynn My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister. Will the Deputy Prime Minister inform the House how the Morrison-Joyce government is investing in nation-building infrastructure which is creating jobs and driving growth in regional Australia? Is the Deputy Prime Minister aware of alternative approaches? 14:12 Mr JOYCE E5D New England I thank the honourable member for Flynn for his question. It was great to be in Gladstone the other day discussing with the member for Flynn key proponents on how we drive the Inland Rail from Toowoomba through to Gladstone—we know how important that is—and working with Colin Boyce, who's the candidate there. I'm sure that he will do a great job. So often we hear the sneers from the other side about the member for Flynn, but we acknowledge that he is a person who's been in business, who's stood behind his own chequebook and who's risked his own money. That is a great recommendation so people can understand why the Inland Rail is so very, very important. We are now driving the Inland Rail so that you can go from Melbourne to Narromine. We have 37 kilometres still to do at Stockinbingal. This is a mechanism that shows delivery. This is something that we actually believe in. The best quote we got from the Labor Party was that it was a nice idea. For us it's not a nice idea; it's a reality. It's a reality that we are delivering. Mr Albanese interjecting— Mr JOYCE E5D I take the interjection from the member for Grayndler. He said he funded it. There wasn't an inch of track that was built under the Labor Party, because they are not doers. It was interesting that, whilst I was in Gladstone talking about the Inland Rail— Opposition members interjecting— The SPEAKER 00APG Members on my left! The member for Shortland and the member for Ballarat! Ms Butler interjecting— The SPEAKER 00APG The member for Griffith! Mr JOYCE E5D talking about the 1,700 kilometre project that we are building, talking about how we have been working with Minister Toole to drive the section from Narromine to Narrabri, talking about how we are currently building the Narrabri to North Star section and the money that has been spent there, talking about how we have completed the section that goes up to Narromine from Parkes and making sure that people understood clearly what we were doing, there was another person in Central Queensland—the member for Grayndler, the Leader of the Opposition. He was in Moranbah but no-one would ever have known. He was like the long-grass person. He was hiding in the long grass. You wouldn't have known about him unless you tripped over him. He didn't want any cameras there. The SPEAKER 00APG The Deputy Prime Minister will pause for a second. Mr JOYCE E5D There was to be no TV. The SPEAKER 00APG The Deputy Prime Minister will resume his seat. Mr Joyce interjecting— The SPEAKER 00APG You can keep talking but your microphone is off. I would make two points. The Deputy Prime Minister was asked about alternative approaches, not to give a character assessment. So he needs to stick to the policy. For those members who were interjecting, I shouldn't have to repeat myself but I will briefly. You will be ejected. There are a lot of members that can't be here and many that are here have gone to great lengths to be here, but if you interject you will be ejected. For those who are interjecting, I can hear the noise and that's disruptive but I will just give you some comfort: no-one can understand what you are saying with your mask on. The Deputy Prime Minister has the call. Mr JOYCE E5D Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, but it's hard to get alternative policies when the person who should have been giving them is hiding in the grass at Moranbah. It's very difficult to get alternative policies from a person who is obviously ashamed of— The SPEAKER 00APG Well, you might have to wind it up then if you can't find any. Mr JOYCE E5D One of the big purposes of the Inland Rail is the movement of bulk commodities, and one of the bulk commodities is coal. That's something that the member for Grayndler and that split party which is called the Labor Party—the left and the right—will never ever be able to deliver on. He is a person who does not believe in his own— (Time expired) COVID-19: Vaccination 25 14:16 Dr CHALMERS 37998 Rankin My question is to the Prime Minister. If incentives are a vote of no confidence in the Australian people, why does the plan that he released on Friday of last week specifically mention 'encouraging uptake through incentives'? 14:17 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook I thank the deputy Shadow Treasurer for his question, because the incentives we were referring to were incentives where people who have had their vaccination would be exempted from various restrictions that might otherwise discourage them. That's what we're talking about. I can tell you what we weren't talking about: we weren't talking about $300 cheques and cash payments made to people who have already had the vaccination, whether it is people of great wealth or otherwise, including himself and myself. He wants to send cheques to all of us as well, Mr Speaker. Australians understand the gravity of this national health crisis. They understand the importance of getting vaccinated, and that's why they're so keen to come forward and do so. The Leader of the Opposition is treating this like a game show. He needs to ensure that, when he puts policies together, they won't be ill-disciplined or ill-informed. He should take the opportunity to ensure that he is across this information, as he should be across all of his policies. What this is shows is that, with this Leader of the Opposition, they have learnt absolutely nothing over their years in opposition. It's hardwired, it's in their DNA, to recklessly spend Australian taxpayers' money. Australians remember their response to the last crisis. The SPEAKER 00APG The Prime Minister will resume his seat. The Manager of Opposition Business on a point of order? Mr Burke DYW Yes, on direct relevance. This is a long way from the question. The SPEAKER 00APG I will hear from the Leader of the House. Mr Porter 208884 Mr Speaker, the Prime Minister was asked whether or not a certain policy was the government's policy. He has answered no and is explaining clearly why not. The SPEAKER 00APG The question was about incentives, and the Prime Minister is certainly comparing and contrasting. I will keep listening. I think he has been very relevant certainly up until now. But he certainly wasn't asked about past policies. I will keep listening to the Prime Minister. Mr MORRISON E3L A $6 billion cash splash, which is what the Leader of the Opposition proposes, defies both the economics and the health. It shows a lack of understanding of the crisis being faced by this country. Had he chosen to inform himself, had he chosen to engage and equip himself with an understanding of how these issues are best handled, he would know that. But what I have noticed about this Leader of the Opposition is that he has seen this COVID-19 crisis as a political opportunity. He could have joined the government in ensuring—he could have done this. The SPEAKER 00APG I will just say to the Prime Minister— Mr MORRISON E3L But, no, he has taken every opportunity to snipe and to be negative— The SPEAKER 00APG No, the Prime Minister was not asked about the Leader of the Opposition. The Prime Minister will wind up his answer. Mr MORRISON E3L and to undermine at every turn. The SPEAKER 00APG The Prime Minister! I just said to the Prime Minister he wasn't asked about the Leader of the Opposition; he was asked a question by the shadow Treasurer about policy. It is not an opportunity to give a political assessment. The Prime Minister has the call. Mr MORRISON E3L If negativity is the answer, then Labor is the solution. Centrelink 26 14:21 Ms SHARKIE 265980 Mayo My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Government Services. My constituents are spending hours on hold to Centrelink, only to have their calls go unanswered. Just this morning at the Mount Barker Centrelink office, constituents were locked outside, standing in the wind and the rain, with only four at a time let in despite the very large office space. When Australia was first hit with the COVID pandemic, APS staff were deployed to Services Australia to ensure support was delivered to impacted Australians. The pandemic isn't over. Will the government please reinstate the APS deployment? 14:22 Mr ROBERT HWT Fadden I thank the honourable member for her question. Services Australia has mobilised some 18,000 internal and external staff to ensure calls and claims for the current COVID-19 disaster payment are processed as quickly as possible. As at close of business on Monday, staff deployed to undertake payments include 13,000 internal service delivery staff trained to both deliver this function as well as maintain the critical social security, welfare, child support and health department payments. Over 4,000 other staff have been redeployed. Over 250 staff from across 13 different APS departments and agencies have now been redeployed to Services Australia as part of the Surge Reserve force, and over 600 new employees and personnel engaged by our service delivery partners have also been added to the team. As the member knows, all service centres are open—327 service centres, which is a huge workforce of just under 20,000—to ensure we maintain a significant presence to help all vulnerable Australians. It's important the House also understands that the number of Australians allowed within those service centres is determined by state and territory public health orders. We are required to comply with that. During the last COVID outbreak, state police helpfully, over 200 times, came and ensured Services Australia was indeed complying with that. It is unfortunate we can't use the full space within our service centres, but we are required to comply, in this case, with South Australia public health orders. But that applies right across the board. All service centres are open to deal with, answer questions for, serve and support all vulnerable Australians. I would also like to remind Australians that all major payments are online for them to claim using myGov, which is the biggest authenticated platform in the country. I'm pleased to report to the House that, as at midnight last night, over 1.51 million claims have been received nationally and processed by Services Australia. That includes 1.23 million claims in New South Wales alone, 215,000 in Victoria and 60,384 claims in South Australia, in the member's home state. That's 58,000 unique claims in the member's home state, with the vast bulk of them already granted. Over $31 million has gone to South Australia. It is a difficult time. All our service centres are open. All our call lines are being managed, with people answering them. All payments are online. There is a degree of patience needed; all Australians need to understand that it is difficult for so many Australians. Let me thank the Services Australia staff for what they're doing as everyone puts their shoulder to a difficult wheel. COVID-19: Economy 26 14:25 Dr MARTIN 282982 Reid [by video link] My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer inform the House how the Morrison government is working in partnership with state governments to provide further economic support for businesses and individuals impacted by the most recent COVID lockdown? 14:25 Mr FRYDENBERG FKL Kooyong I thank the member for Reid for her question and acknowledge her experience as a psychologist in small business before coming to this place. I had the opportunity to visit the member for Reid's electorate prior to this most recent lockdown. We visited a business called Papa's Patisserie. They used JobKeeper to keep their staff in work and now they are using the payments and the support that the Morrison government, combined with the Berejiklian government, has provided businesses across New South Wales. Our economic support, including our COVID disaster payments, have been made available to people across New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia in recent weeks. As we heard from the minister, over a billion dollars has already been processed in claims across those states. If somebody has lost 20 hours or more of work, they are entitled to $750 a week, if they're in those hotspot areas. If they've lost between eight and 19 hours of work, they are entitled to $450. And, if someone is receiving income support and has lost eight or more hours of work, they're entitled to $200. This income support that we are providing to households and to families is on top of the business support that we are providing, including in the state of New South Wales where we reached a 50-50 agreement that, if a business has a turnover of between $75,000 and $250 million and their turnover has fallen by 30 per cent or more as a result of the lockdowns, those businesses can be entitled to between $1,500 and $100,000 a week. That is significant business support which will help them get through this crisis. Again, it's a 50-50 split that we have reached with the New South Wales government. Our economic support and our health support totals more than $300 billion, and it has helped cushion the blow of this once-in-a-century pandemic and it has helped see the Australian economy be bigger today than when we went into the pandemic. On the last jobs data we saw 160,000 more Australians in work than prior to this pandemic, and our economic recovery had been stronger and faster than any other advanced economy. So these may be inconvenient truths for those opposite, but the reality is that our economy is resilient, it will continue to grow and it will rebound after we get through this recent crisis. Vaccination 27 14:28 Mr ALBANESE R36 Grayndler My question is to the Prime Minister. Why did the Prime Minister just before question time claim to the Australian people that No Jab, No Pay was not an incentive scheme to improve child immunisation rates? Can the Prime Minister confirm that when he personally introduced the legislation he said the following in the second sentence of his second reading speech: This is an important initiative aimed at boosting childhood immunisation rates. Given the legal consequences of a second reading speech, was he wrong then or today? 14:29 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook I acknowledge the point that the Leader of the Opposition has made. If he was listening to my comments earlier today rather than selectively hearing, what he would have understood is I was saying there was no comparison between child immunisation rates in the country— Opposition members interjecting— Mr MORRISON E3L There is no comparison between the child immunisation challenge that we were facing at that time, which was not want of child immunisation rates being low. It was not at want of that. What we are dealing with now with the COVID-19 pandemic is a once-in-a-century pandemic, where we are seeking to vaccinate the entire population. The point I was making is that to draw a comparison between that and what was occurring at that time is not a proper comparison. So the Leader of the Opposition might be desperately trying to put some clothes on his ill-thought-through proposal. He might be desperately trying to do that, but people see through him. The SPEAKER 00APG The Prime Minister wasn't asked about alternatives. The Leader of the Opposition is seeking the call? Mr Albanese R36 Yes, I seek leave to table a transcript of the Prime Minister's press conference earlier on today where he said, 'It wasn't done necessarily as an incentive— The SPEAKER 00APG No, the Leader of the Opposition won't read from the transcript. He's seeking leave. Mr Albanese R36 I was trying to help him. The SPEAKER 00APG Well, you're not helping me. The Leader of the House? Mr Porter 208884 Leave is not granted. COVID-19: Vaccination 27 14:30 Mrs McINTOSH 281513 Lindsay My question is to the Minister for Health and Aged Care. Will the minister please update the House on Australia's COVID-19 vaccine rollout? 14:30 Mr HUNT 00AMV Flinders I want to thank the member for Lindsay for her work and support for the community at this difficult and challenging time. It's a difficult and challenging time around the world. In the last 24 hours, there were 631,000 people diagnosed with COVID-19. There were 11,000 people who were recognised as having passed as a consequence of COVID-19. We are seeing a new wave driven by the delta strain around the world, even in many countries that have had very high vaccination rates. What we have seen in Australia are the dual tasks of saving lives and livelihoods. It's been a difficult and challenging time, but what we have seen in the last 24 hours, in the last week and in the last month is Australians stepping forward to be vaccinated in record numbers. In the last 24 hours, there were 200,000 Australians who stepped forward to be vaccinated. In the last week, almost 1.2 million Australians stepped forward to be vaccinated. Last month, we saw approximately 4½ million Australians come forward to be vaccinated. Since this House last met, approximately 5½ million Australians have stepped forward to be vaccinated. These are enormous numbers and what they show is that as supply has been made available, as it's been distributed, we are seeing Australians step forward. And they are stepping forward for a simple reason: it can save their lives, it can save the lives of their loved ones and it can protect others in the community. That's the incentive: to save their lives and to save the lives of others. That's the great and serious business upon which we are embarked as a nation, and that is why now we see that, amongst our over 50s, there are 66 per cent of Australians who have had their first vaccination. Amongst our over 60s, it's now 73 per cent and, extraordinarily, already, for our over 70s, we are on the cusp of 80 per cent. Our first two jurisdictions, Tasmania and the ACT, are on the cusp of 50 per cent, with 48.8 per cent of vaccinations at this stage. So Australians are stepping forward, and for a simple reason. It's about saving their lives. It's about saving the lives of their friends and their families. It's about supporting their community—the highest and best reasons for which somebody could be vaccinated. That's why we're a great vaccination nation. It's also why, when we look at what Peter Collignon said today about some alternative approach which could undermine forever vaccination in this nation—it is a bad idea. The idea that next year would you be paying another $3 billion for boosters, and the year after paying for boosters, and would you be paying— (Time expired) COVID-19: JobKeeper 28 14:34 Ms CATHERINE KING 00AMR Ballarat My question is to the Prime Minister, and I refer to his previous answer. How can the Prime Minister—who delivered $13 billion of JobKeeper payments to businesses whose earnings went up, not down, during the pandemic; engineered massive rorting of taxpayer funds through sports rorts and carpark rorts; and thinks paying $30 million for airport land worth $3 million is okay—talk about waste with a straight face? 14:34 Mr FRYDENBERG FKL Kooyong It's a low point in this parliament when the Labor Party believes that the policy and the program called JobKeeper was a waste of money, because it saved the nation. It saved the nation, because the Reserve Bank— Dr Chalmers interjecting— The SPEAKER 00APG The member for Rankin will leave under standing order 94(a). The member for Rankin then left the chamber. Mr FRYDENBERG FKL The IQ of the chamber just went up. The SPEAKER 00APG The Treasurer will withdraw— Mr FRYDENBERG FKL I withdraw, Mr Speaker. The SPEAKER 00APG and he will stick to his answer. Mr FRYDENBERG FKL The Reserve Bank of Australia said that 700,000 jobs, at least, were saved by JobKeeper. We know that more than three million Australians benefited, we know that it helped see the unemployment rate fall to a 10-year low of 4.9 per cent—a 10-year low of 4.9 per cent—and we know that it helped see the Australian economy rebound faster and stronger than any other advanced economy across the world. That is what JobKeeper helped to deliver. I refer the honourable member to the Treasury's own review of the program in June, when it said: It has been well targeted: the payment went to businesses that experienced an average decline in turnover in April of 37 per cent against the same month a year previous … and it went to businesses at which the job separation rate had doubled following the introduction of operating restrictions just before JobKeeper was introduced … I point out that the independent ANAO referred to the JobKeeper program and said the following: The ATO has been effective in managing risks related to the rapid implementation of COVID-19 economic response measures. So there you have it. It's a program that helped save at least 700,000 jobs, supported more than three million Australians and helped see a very strong economic rebound in our labour market and in terms of economic growth—and the ATO has been praised by the ANAO for its implementation—and the Labor Party has the gall to call that program a 'waste'. You tell that to more than 3½ million Australians who know that JobKeeper not only helped save their business but saved their job. Taxation 29 14:37 Mr CONNELLY 282984 Stirling My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer remind the House of the Morrison government's strong record on cutting taxes for Australian businesses, workers and families, and is the Treasurer aware of any constructive proposals being put forward as alternatives to this government's tax policy? 14:38 Mr FRYDENBERG FKL Kooyong I thank the member for Stirling for his question and acknowledge his experience in the Defence Force, with his having served in East Timor before coming to this place. He knows that, as a result of policies that have been adopted and legislated by those on this side of the House, more than 60,000 taxpayers in the member for Stirling's electorate are getting a tax cut and more than 20,000 businesses in the member for Stirling's electorate are eligible to apply for the supercharged instant asset write-off. We on this side of the House believe in lower taxes. We don't just talk about them. We actually deliver them. We have seen passed through the parliament the most significant income tax cuts in a generation. What we are doing, through our legislated tax cuts, is abolishing a whole tax bracket. The 37c-in-the-dollar tax bracket is going. We're going to see Australians who earn between $45,000 and $200,000 a year pay a marginal rate of no more than 30c in the dollar. It's not just income tax cuts that we have delivered and will continue to deliver, including structural reform, but small-business tax cuts. If you are a business with a turnover of less than $50 million your tax rate has been reduced to 25c in the dollar from 1 July. We have also put in place the most significant immediate expensing expanded instant asset write-off initiative. If you're a barista and you want a new coffee machine, you write it all off in year 1. If you're a tradie and you want new tools, you write it all off in year 1. If you're a farmer who wants to buy a new harvester, you write it all off in year 1. If you're a manufacturer who wants to expand your production line, you write it all off in year 1. If you're a retailer who wants a new shop fit-out, you write it all off in year 1. We on this side of the House believe in investment, jobs and lower taxes. And we also believe in initiatives like the patent box, which were put in place in this year's budget, which will see a concessional company tax rate of 17 per cent for businesses in the medical and biotech space so that businesses like cochlear can invest and innovate, and receive an incentive to do so. Our policies are designed to encourage aspiration, to reward effort and to lower taxes for Australian families and businesses. Those opposite only stand for higher taxes. We saw that at the last election—$387 billion of higher taxes. We know they've done a backflip on stage 3, but no-one believes them. Everyone knows they're the party of higher taxes. There's only one party in this parliament that believes in lower taxes, and it sits on this side of the House, it's led by this Prime Minister and it's delivered lower taxes for Australian families and businesses. COVID-19: Vaccination 29 14:41 Mr ALBANESE R36 Grayndler My question is to the Prime Minister. Why did the Prime Minister repeatedly tell Australians that getting vaccinated is 'not a race'? 14:41 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook Why does the Leader of the Opposition continually misrepresent what I have said and the context in which it was said? Throughout this pandemic we have been guided and supported by outstanding medical professionals, whether they be Professor Murphy, Professor Kelly or, indeed, Professor McVernon—who Australians heard from today—from the Doherty Institute, whether it's those who run the Therapeutic Goods Administration or those who run the other expert medical advisory bodies. What we did in this country was not rush the approvals of important vaccines for this country and not put the health of Australians at risk. The Leader of the Opposition would have had us rush the approvals of vaccines that were to be used by Australians. That is what Professor Murphy and I were referring to. Mr Albanese interjecting— The SPEAKER 00APG The Leader of the Opposition! The Prime Minister will resume his seat. The Leader of the Opposition, on a point of order? Mr Albanese R36 Yes, on relevance. The quotes I'm referring to from 31 March, 14 March, the 11 March Today show, the 11 March Sunriseshow, the 11 March doorstop at Sydney Airport, doorstops in Castle Hill and doorstops in Adelaide were all after the TGA approval. The question goes to not the TGA approval but the rollout of the vaccine. The SPEAKER 00APG The Leader of the Opposition has made his point. Mr MORRISON E3L I repeat what I said, because this is what Professor Murphy and I—this was the context. We have ensured that throughout this we have, of course, listened. But those opposite—I remember the Leader of the Opposition doing it back in January and making criticisms of the government as well as we were working through the careful medical process. What we have done as a government is ensure that the vaccines that are available for Australians are as safe as they possibly can be. I notice that the member for Maribyrnong has understood that, because he's been down to the CSL factory to thank the workers that have been putting the AstraZeneca vaccine in place. He could give the address to the Leader of the Opposition, if he wants to go and support the vaccination program— The SPEAKER 00APG No; the Prime Minister is drifting off the subject of the question. Mr MORRISON E3L My point is this: all the way through, the government has sought to get safe vaccines to the Australian people with a great sense of urgency, and to ensure that it's done in a careful, scientific way that is supported by the health advice provided to this government. If the Leader of the Opposition would spend a bit more time promoting the vaccination program rather than promoting himself— The SPEAKER 00APG No; this is not an opportunity to launch a wide political attack. It was a very specific question. The Leader of the Opposition is seeking to— Mr Morrison E3L I haven't finished. The SPEAKER 00APG I thought you had! The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat. The Prime Minister has the call, and needs to be relevant to the question. Mr MORRISON E3L Today we released the Doherty institute modelling, the finest expert scientific modelling on the medical epidemiology of this pandemic. Virtually nowhere else in the world, Mr Speaker, will you find a country that has in the same way diligently looked to set the vaccination targets which are essential to the successful rollout of this program and knowing where— Opposition members interjecting— The SPEAKER 00APG The Prime Minister will resume his seat. I can't hear the Manager of Opposite Business on a point of order on relevance. An honourable member interjecting— The SPEAKER 00APG No, because there has already been one asked during this question. The Leader of the Opposition asked a question. If the Manager of Opposition Business would just resume his seat for a second. The question didn't have a preamble and it was very specific. Whilst I appreciate that the Prime Minister wants to talk about the earlier news conference today and other aspects of the vaccine rollout, he was asked very specifically about a quote that has been used a number of times. Certainly the Prime Minister was very relevant in how he addressed that. I did have those on my left interjecting that he wasn't, but he certainly was in terms of how he was answering the question at the start. The Leader of the Opposition raised his point of order. The Prime Minister has been relevant, but now is not an opportunity to talk about the rest of the vaccine program or any developments that happened today. The Prime Minister. Mr MORRISON E3L I'm simply seeking to make the point that throughout this entire pandemic the government has been guided by the expert medical advice of the best expert minds in the world, whether it's Professor Murphy, at that time in March, where— (Time expired) The SPEAKER 00APG The Leader of the Opposition? Mr Albanese R36 I seek leave to table statements from the Prime Minister on 11 March at a doorstop at Sydney airport, 11 March on Sunrise, 11 March on the Today show, 14 March at a doorstop in Castle Hill and 31 March at a doorstop in Adelaide where he continued to say: 'It's not a race. It's not a competition.' Leave not granted. Exercise Talisman Sabre 30 12:07 Ms HAMMOND 80072 Curtin My question is to the Minister for Defence Industry representing the Minister for Defence. Will the minister outline to the House how the Morrison government is working with strategic partners to secure our region and safeguard Australia's economic recovery and future prosperity? 12:07 Ms PRICE 249308 Durack Can I thank the member for Curtin for her question and acknowledge and thank her for her advocacy for Western Australia's defence industry in particular and her support for the ADF in the seat of Curtin. The Australian Defence Force has a very, very proud history, and the men and women that sign up do so for one reason and one reason alone: to serve our nation so that they can keep Australia safe and secure. Our message to the ADF is: the Morrison government has your back. We are investing $270 billion in our defence capabilities over the next decade to create a stronger Defence Force but also to forge stronger relationships with our regional partners. Over the past several weeks there's been quite the hive of activity in parts of Queensland and indeed around the country, where we've seen 17,000 military personnel from seven nations who have joined with our Australian troops in this year's Exercise Talisman Sabre. Around 8,300 Australian military personnel joined in the exercise, and they proved without a doubt that they are the most well-trained and well-equipped force in the world. Making history, this year's Talisman Sabre also marked the first time that Australian, US, Japanese and UK forces have joined together and worked together from one ship. This demonstrates a level of cooperation that takes years and years to build and perfect but just highlights the depth of our strategic partnerships. I'd like to thank all those who were involved in this year's very successful Exercise Talisman Sabre. Our government continues to create stronger partnerships with our Pacific partners as well. I was reminded just how important these relationships are when I had the honour to formally hand over the latest of the Pacific patrol boats to Vanuatu on Friday in Perth. Despite a very cold and windy day down at Henderson, it really was a joyous event—as they always are, when we join with our Pacific friends and family. I was particularly impressed when we were joined by the local Vanuatu band in Perth, who'd written a song for the occasion. It was very joyous indeed, as was the impromptu hymn performed by the Vanuatu crew. I must also mention the beautifully dressed local Vanuatu women, who were thrilled to be there, and I'm so glad they could join us. But there is a serious side to this event. It's worth remembering that we are delivering to Vanuatu and our other Pacific neighbours the defence capability they need in order to protect their shores for a safer region, and we're building 21 Pacific patrol boats. This is part of our plan for a secure region. A secure Pacific is indeed a secure Australia. COVID-19: Vaccination 31 14:50 Dr FREELANDER 265979 Macarthur My question is to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister has repeatedly said that the vaccine rollout is 'not a race'. My community is in lockdown right now because of the slow pace of the vaccine rollout. Will he now admit that it is a race, it was always a race, and we're losing? 14:50 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook Last week when I spoke at a press conference—from The Lodge, where I was doing quarantine—I made it very clear to the Australian public that I, as Prime Minister, and my government accept responsibility for the rollout of the national vaccination program and where we had hoped to be by that time, the time I gave those comments. I was sorry that we have not been further advanced. I don't step away from that, and those things are not said lightly. But I also take responsibility for the fact that at the beginning of June we put in Lieutenant General Frewen to oversee Operation COVID Shield, which has already seen the rapid escalation of vaccination rates across this country—someone that the Leader of the Opposition has not every spoken to yet, and I encourage him to do so. Through Operation COVID Shield, we are now achieving vaccination dosage rates of more than a million a week. We are achieving results, where almost 80 per cent of Australians who are aged over 70 have had their first dose. In particular, as I'm sure the member would appreciate, those in our aged-care facilities across Sydney and across the country are more than 80 per cent double-dose vaccinated. As a result, during the course of this awful lockdown in Sydney we are, thankfully, not seeing what we saw last year, when it was the Victorian lockdown and we saw the terrible loss of life in aged-care facilities in this country. Putting older Australians first, ensuring that we can get more older Australians first, in the early stage of this vaccination program, is saving lives right now in Sydney. I know the member would understand that and would appreciate vaccination of those older residents first. And I'm sure that he, as a medical practitioner in his own right and of great regard in his community, would join with me in saying that having Australians, particularly across Sydney, going out and getting the AstraZeneca vaccine is incredibly important. And those older Australians need to get that second dose. The ATAGI advice says that you can bring that forward to four weeks. The advances we were able to make by prioritising the most vulnerable and sensitive in our community, particularly those in aged-care facilities in Sydney, has ensured that they have been more protected. Sadly, those we've lost during the Sydney lockdown—particularly those who are older, which is a higher number—are those who were in the community and not vaccinated, those who had had access to those vaccines for some time. So, we want to encourage people to go and get those vaccines. And I thank the member for Maribyrnong for highlighting the importance of the AstraZeneca vaccine, as well as members across the country. It's so important. (Time expired) Biosecurity 31 14:54 Mr ENTSCH 7K6 Leichhardt My question is to the Minister for Agriculture and Northern Australia. Will the minister outline to the House how the Morrison government's landmark investment in our biosecurity systems, including in northern Australia, protects Australian agriculture and assists farmers in maintaining export market access for their produce? 14:54 Mr LITTLEPROUD 265585 Maranoa I thank the member for Leichhardt for his question. He, better than anyone, understands not just the importance of our biosecurity measures in protecting our $66 billion agriculture industry but the key role that northern Australia plays at the front line of securing our borders. That's why it's important to understand that it also protects 'Brand Australia'—the clean green image that we've built up over so many years because of the biosecurity measures that we've taken. That's why it's part of our Ag2030 plan. It's one of the seven key pillars in driving Australian agriculture to $100 billion by 2030. To do that, we're also backing it with cold, hard cash—not only in this year's budget but in the budget in October. We have now put over a billion dollars toward biosecurity measures to make sure that we're evolving as the threats evolve. As these risks sweep across the globe and are now congested in South-East Asia, we are ready. We are ready to evolve our response not only in making sure we play the role of having boots on the ground and more paws on the ground but also in embracing new technology. I've got to say that we're doing that particularly in northern Australia with our Indigenous ranger groups. There are 64 Indigenous ranger groups at the front line who are trapping pests, and looking for pests and weeds that would impose significant imposts on the Australian agriculture industry. An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease alone would cost the Australian economy $50 billion. We now have African swine fever on our doorstep, in Papua New Guinea. It is these rangers who are making sure that we are there to detect pests and disease and to eradicate them if they come to Australia. We're also training new dogs in Darwin to detect citrus canker, which nearly eradicated the nursery industry and the citrus industry in the Northern Territory and gave it a really red-hot crack in Central Queensland some years ago. These are the new investments that we're making on the ground, but we're also investing in new technology, such as 3D X-ray technology. Every one of the 144 million parcels that go through Australia Post will now go through a 3D X-ray scanner, and, if there is organic matter or plant matter, we will find it and we will eradicate it. We're also undertaking a world first with New Zealand. When anyone leaves the shores of New Zealand, we will know what is in their bags before they hit our country. We will know whether they have declared it or not and, if there is anything in that bag that would put at risk our biosecurity, we will be able to deploy the resources to eradicate it. And, if they have not declared it, we are complementing that with new penalties—increased fines and also the cancellation of visas. We have cancelled 14 visas of those who have not declared and who put at risk our biosecurity. We have sent them back on the plane they came in on, and they are not welcome back for three years. These are the tools we are using to empower our biosecurity officers to protect Australian agriculture into the future. COVID-19: New South Wales 32 14:57 Ms ROWLAND 159771 Greenway [by video link] My question is to the Prime Minister. On 24 June, the Prime Minister said, 'I commend Premier Berejiklian for resisting going into a full lockdown.' Now hundreds of thousands of working parents across Western Sydney, including in my electorate, are bracing themselves for remote schooling with no end date. Does the Prime Minister still commend the New South Wales Premier for resisting an earlier lockdown? 14:58 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook As a fellow Sydneysider, my children also are facing that. My children and those across Sydney are all facing that—families separated from each other. That is the terrible business of lockdowns. What we have learnt from the delta variant is that, indeed, at that time absolutely shorter, sharper lockdowns would have been the necessary response, as we've seen from South Australia and as we've seen from Victoria and as, I hope, is the case in South-East Queensland. I notice those opposite are equipped with perfect hindsight, but what I do know from the New South Wales response is that, over time, the delta variant has completely changed the necessary responses. It has completely changed it. And it is indeed true that, for a very long period of time in New South Wales, they were able to manage cases as they arose without having to go into lengthy and extraordinary lockdowns. That is indeed the case. But the virus writes the rules. It was also the case that, earlier in the year when short, sharp lockdowns weren't the necessary healthy response, there were unnecessary lockdowns that would have cost people more than they had to. Mr Dreyfus interjecting— The SPEAKER 00APG The member for Isaacs! Mr MORRISON E3L That is the advantage of hindsight. I am being quite transparent in saying that where the data changes, where the virus changes, we need to adapt our response. Those opposite can be smug in their hindsight and be critical, but no country in the world has got everything right. There are few countries that can claim this: one of the lowest rates of fatality and deaths as a result of COVID-19 in the world and one of the strongest economies coming through COVID-19 in the world. Those countries that have had particularly low rates of infection and low rates of fatalities have also had low rates of vaccination—New Zealand is another example, South Korea is another example and Japan is another example. When it comes to having low death rates and a strong economy, if those are the things that we're desiring to have, then those are what the Australian people are achieving. We will now add a strong vaccination response to that. Australians will come forward because it's in their personal health interests and they will do it because it's in their communities' interests, their families' interests and their national interests. They won't be doing it as a grab for cash. Vocational Education and Training 33 15:01 Ms FLINT 245550 Boothby My question is to the Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business. Will the minister please update the House on how the Morrison government's economic plan is delivering jobs for Australians and skilling a new generation of Australian workers? Is the minister aware of any alternative approaches? 15:01 Mr ROBERT HWT Fadden I thank the member for her question and for all the hard work she's doing in South Australia. This year, the Australian government is investing a record $6.4 billion in vocational education and training—the highest amount invested on record, I think. Of that, $3.8 billion is being invested to fund the government's own skills programs, including employer incentives and, importantly, support for Australian apprentices. Of course, $1.6 billion is going to states and territories—an investment we provide every year through the National Agreement for Skills and Workforce Development—so we can work with and partner with states and territories as we deliver, together, important skills and training for Australia's future. Another $400 million goes to the states and territories via the National Partnership agreements, including JobTrainer, the Skilling Australians Fund and, of course, the Revitalising TAFE Campuses Across Australia initiative, as the Morrison government backs in both public and private provision of vocational education and training. This is an investment that is double the pre-COVID level of $3.2 billion in 2018-19. The Morrison government is backing in the next generation of Australian workers. Building on the $1 billion initiative in JobTrainer, we have doubled down in this year's budget with a further $1 billion, partnering with states and territories to get Australians into training for those priority skills that we need to build our economy. We've also doubled down in terms of apprenticeships, with $2.7 billion to extend and expand the Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements wage subsidy, which is an extraordinary investment in our apprentices. Right now, well over 220,000 apprentices have commenced and are working through apprenticeships with 68,000 employers, which means there are a whole bunch of small employers taking on an apprentice for the first time and giving young Australians a crack. We saw before the latest lockdown in New South Wales that youth unemployment had dropped to 10.2 per cent. That's something we can all celebrate. That's the lowest level since 2009. Collectively, we know as the House how difficult it can be to get youth unemployment down. These measures we're taking are working. There is also a further $149 million over the forward estimates to establish and support a new model for industry engagement in the VET sector. It is fundamental that we as a House get behind what we're doing in vocational education and training. Over four million Australians each year do some sort of VET course, and it's VET that gives vital skills for our economy and will be a key booster as we propel ourselves on the way to the other side of COVID, to continue to build on what has served us to be a great, resilient economy. COVID-19: Vaccination 33 15:04 Ms McBRIDE 248353 Dobell [by video link] My question is to the Prime Minister. Carly is a teacher who lives on the Central Coast but teaches year 12 in Western Sydney. Carly has just had her vaccine booking cancelled so that it can be redirected to year 12 students in Greater Sydney, like the ones she teaches. Isn't it true that, if the government had secured an adequate supply of vaccines at the start of the pandemic, absurd situations like this wouldn't be happening? 15:05 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook No, that's not correct. The federal government provided an extra 200,000 Pfizer doses and 150,000 extra AstraZeneca doses. Indeed, the federal government did not support the initiative to redirect doses away from the Central Coast to Greater Sydney. Through the GP network and the pharmacy network, we continue to distribute those doses directly into the Central Coast. I would encourage those on the Central Coast to go to their GP, to go to their pharmacist who is doing that, because the doses are continuing to be supplied by the Commonwealth government to those who are distributing. I also note that the GPs and the pharmacists are the primary administers of these doses right across the country. The pharmacists are coming online. We had 450 last month, and this month there will be thousands more that will be coming onstream in the middle of August. The Commonwealth government has maintained the supply of doses to GPs on the Central Coast. That is coming directly from Operation COVID Shield. The state government has made a decision to redirect doses from the state clinics and the state hubs on the Central Coast to put them in another part of the state. That is their decision; that is their process for making those calls; that is up to them. But the Commonwealth government has not taken one dose from the Central Coast to put into other parts of the country, because the national vaccination program must work everywhere. Two hundred thousand additional Pfizer doses have been provided to New South Wales. There are a million and more doses of AstraZeneca available for New South Wales to access and put across the state, as they would seek to do. We've got AstraZeneca walk-in clinics that are already occurring in south-western Sydney. We have stood up in south-western Sydney. There's a new Chester Hill GP clinic that has doses, and that's great work. We are targeting pharmacists in those particular areas in south-western Sydney and ensuring they have doses. We are also supporting essential workers working in distribution systems. Food distribution hubs are also getting access to the doses so that we can ensure that those essential parts of our economy can continue to function. This lockdown is incredibly tough for Sydneysiders; it's really tough, and the lockdown will come off once the lockdown works. We will continue to support New South Wales, as we already are, with COVID disaster payments already totalling more than a billion dollars in direct financial support to people across New South Wales to get them through this crisis, plus the fifty-fifty support through the business program, which is three-quarters of a billion dollars a week. (Time expired) National Security 34 15:08 Mr TIM WILSON IMW Goldstein My question is to the Minister for Home Affairs. Will the minister outline to the House how the Morrison government is creating a stronger Australia by enhancing national security to keep all Australians safe? 15:08 Mrs ANDREWS 230886 McPherson I thank the member for his question. I acknowledge his strong interest in national security and the work that he has done to make sure that Australians are safe and secure. We all know that COVID-19 is not the only challenge to our safety and security in a rapidly changing world, the world in which we now live. That's why our government is making sure that our national security agencies have the resources and the legislative powers to protect Australia's critical infrastructure, our businesses, our families and, indeed, our way of life. Over successive budgets, we've delivered record funding to ASIO, the AFP, the ACIC and AUSTRAC. Importantly, we're also ensuring that they have the legislative backing that they need to make real gains in the fight on crime, on organised crime, on terrorism, on countering foreign interference and on improving community safety. It was just a few months ago that we saw the enormous success of the AFP's Operation Ironside, which took out a significant cross-section of the Australian criminal underworld, and that success was predicated on enabling legislation that we introduced in 2018. Our government has a very strong track record on national security. Earlier this year, we passed crucial legislation to improve security at our airports and seaports to prevent criminal infiltration of these vital entry points to our country. We have also put in place laws that will allow us to enter agreements to access data held offshore. This will fast-track the time taken by police and intelligence agencies to obtain essential overseas-held data—and it doesn't stop there. We have a range of bills before the parliament, including for giving police and intelligence agencies more powers to tackle the insidious criminal activity taking place on the dark web, for new extended supervision orders for terrorist offenders, and for the ability to protect our critical infrastructure from both physical threats and cyberthreats. I welcome the support of those opposite for these important national security bills, as they come before the parliament, because now more than ever before we all need to make sure that we are working together in the national interest. Mr Morrison E3L I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper. DOCUMENTS 34 DOCUMENTS Presentation 34 15:11 Mr PORTER 208884 Pearce Documents are tabled in accordance with the list circulated to honourable members earlier today. Full details of the documents will be recorded in the Votes and Proceedings. AUDITOR-GENERAL'S REPORTS 35 AUDITOR-GENERAL'S REPORTS Reports Nos 46 to 49 of 2020-21 35 15:11 The SPEAKER 00APG I present the Auditor-General's audit reports Nos 46 to 49 for 2020-21. Details of the reports will be recorded in the Votes and Proceedings. Documents made parliamentary papers in accordance with the resolution agreed to on 28 March 2018. PERSONAL EXPLANATIONS 35 PERSONAL EXPLANATIONS 15:12 Mr ALBANESE R36 Grayndler I seek leave to give a personal explanation. The SPEAKER 00APG Does the Leader of the Opposition claim to have been misrepresented? Mr ALBANESE R36 I do, Mr Speaker, most grievously and particularly inappropriately by the Prime Minister. The SPEAKER 00APG Then you may proceed. Mr ALBANESE R36 Today in question time the Prime Minister asserted that I had not taken up the invite of a briefing from Lieutenant General Frewen. The facts are these: on 23 June 2021 my office received an email from Nigel Blunden on behalf of Lieutenant General Frewen offering a briefing. On 25 June my office responded, accepting the offer of a briefing. On 25 June, also, the director of the vaccination communication team in the Department of Health responded, saying her team would reach out to start pulling it together 'next week'. I received no further communication between 25 June and 20 July. A communication then offered a briefing during the first sitting week in August. My office responded, agreeing with this. Subsequently, there were attempts to organise a time which was mutually acceptable, where we were all available. At the end of the correspondence from my office to Minister Hunt's office, which has been very professional during this, is: 'I am hopeful one of the following times will suit the COVID-19 task force principals. Tomorrow'—this is as of yesterday—'Tuesday 3 August at 11.30 am or 3.30 pm, or Thursday at 4 pm,' and then an email back from the person: 'Let's lock in 4 pm on Thursday. Invite to follow.' They're the facts, Mr Speaker, and I find the Prime Minister's behaviour completely reprehensible but consistent with his character. MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE 35 MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE Morrison Government: COVID-19 35 The SPEAKER 00APG I have received a letter from the honourable Leader of the Opposition proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely: The failure of the Government to do its two jobs, rolling out vaccines and establishing purpose built national quarantine. I call upon those members who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places. More than the number of members required by the standing orders having risen in their places— 15:14 Mr ALBANESE R36 Grayndler The fact is that this Prime Minister went to the National Press Club at the beginning of this year, and it was he who said his job this year was to fix the COVID issue, to fix the pandemic. He said that was his job. Indeed, he did have two jobs—the effective rollout of the vaccine and appropriate fit-for-purpose national quarantine facilities—and he failed in both. Earlier today, he had the hide to stand up and say at his press conference that this was an enviable success. Well, I would hate to see failure. There are two states in lockdown today: New South Wales and South-East Queensland. Victoria and South Australia have just emerged from lockdowns. There have been 15 deaths. There are 59 people in ICU. There are 314 Australians in hospital. We've had the lowest vaccine rollout in the advanced world and we're struggling to get into the top 80. And this Prime Minister stands up, like he did last year, saying we're at the front of the queue, full of hubris, all the arrogance on display for all to see, and thinks that people won't notice the failure which is there. The fact is that this Prime Minister has been as slow as a wet week when it comes to actually delivering. He said repeatedly that it wasn't a race. It's not a competition. Today he thinks people are goldfish. He's apparently unaware that when you say things in parliament and at press conferences it's recorded. It's there, the record. He's a Prime Minister who objects to the tabling of his own words in this parliament because he doesn't want to be held to account. The fact is that he said it wasn't a race well after TGA approval, and he had received his vaccine already. He had received it, I had received it, but Australians couldn't get it. He continued to say, 'We're at the front of the queue,' when we were way, way, way behind. He said that four million Australians would be fully vaccinated by March. He missed that target by 3.4 million. Missed it by that much! He then said that people in category 1a, aged-care residents, disability care residents and aged-care workers were going to get vaccinated by Easter. We know that now, in August, more than half of aged-care workers have not been fully vaccinated yet. We know the consequences of that. I'm feeling it in my electorate at the moment, at Summer Hill, in the aged-care facility that has a major outbreak as a result of this government's failure. The fact is that this government could have, should have done better. Pfizer approached this government last July, but there had been deals done for more than one billion doses with 34 nations before we actually got our act together to do a deal. They didn't do enough deals with enough companies for enough vaccines soon enough. That's the truth of the matter. And they still continue to prevaricate over that. It's not a matter of hindsight. Chris Bowen was standing up in this parliament and in press conferences with myself and with other members of the Labor Party saying this last year, pointing towards international best practice. But, of course, they always reject anything that anyone other than the Prime Minister, who thinks he knows everything, comes up with. The fact is they were against wage subsidies before they were for them. They said it was a dangerous idea. They were against increasing JobSeeker before they were in favour of it. They were against lockdowns. They were praising Premier Berejiklian: 'Good on you, Premier Berejiklian. New South Wales is staying open.' Remember that? They were the gold standard. We've seen the consequences of their hubris. Now they're against economic incentives. Well, we'll see where that goes. When Australians need leadership, this Prime Minister goes missing. He literally goes missing for days on end. For this Prime Minister, every job is too big and every response is too small. Promises are never delivered and targets are never reached. Now we have horizons, which we know are never reached. Today we've put forward a constructive idea, as we did with wage subsidies. Again it was dismissed instantly by the government, like they did when they dismissed wage subsidies as an idea. This is the same Prime Minister who literally was the minister that brought in No Jab, No Pay in 2016. This essentially pays people who are vaccinated and withholds payments from people who are not. It literally is the same economic incentive. When he introduced it, his second sentence in the second reading speech was: From 1 January 2016, the bill will ensure children fully meet immunisation requirements before their families can access the childcare benefit, childcare rebate or the family tax benefit part A supplement. He said: This is an important initiative aimed at boosting childhood immunisation rates. That's what he said. It's a legal document. This is the basis of it. A second reading speech is a legal document that can be used in a court of law about the purpose of the legislation, and yet he stood at the press conference just before question time and said, 'No, it's got nothing to do with boosting immunisation rates—nothing to do with it at all. Nothing to do with it. No, it wasn't done necessarily as an incentive; it was done as a protection for the children who enter those childcare facilities.' 'As the person who put that in place, I can tell you why we did it,' he said. Seriously! That person, who is now the Prime Minister, who was the minister who introduced No Jab, No Pay, a direct economic incentive, was deliberately designed, as he said in the second reading speech, from the same motivation—the same economics 1A, which is that economic incentives work. They work, and that's what the studies have shown. That's why the Biden administration is doing it, that's why they're doing it in Europe, and that's why there are all sorts of incentives in the States. But, of course, the government are against it now. I mean, this mob goes into shock when someone suggests spreading funding evenly instead of using it to pork-barrel Liberal and National Party marginal seats. That's essentially the problem here. If only we had got out a colour-coded map so that it only went to designated marginal seats, perhaps they would have got on board and adopted it and pretended, like they do with JobKeeper, that it was their idea. Perhaps they would have done that. They are the party of sports rorts, the party of regional rorts, the party of 'pork and ride'—commuter car parking where there's no train station. They have us believe that they're worried about those issues. The fact is that Australians responded magnificently to this pandemic, as they always do. They look after each other. They look after their families, their neighbours, their community, their nation. Because of a whole range of factors, not least of which is that we are an island continent with no land borders, we were in a very strong position, and that strong position has been squandered. At the same time as we see people attending Wimbledon, going to the Louvre and going about their lives and travelling internationally, what we see in Australia is that position being squandered. In recent times, there's been a focus on the Olympics. The person who said it wasn't a race now keeps trying to speak about gold medals and running. This is what Cate Campbell had to say on Sunday: ... you find out what you're made of when things don't go your way; not when things are working well for you. That's what she had to say. We find out that this Prime Minister never accepts responsibility, always blames someone else, says something different from day to day and thinks that people won't remember, never wants to be held to account, never wants to provide transparency and never wants to provide leadership. Well, if he's not prepared to show leadership, there are people on this side of the chamber who are ready to show leadership—ready to show the leadership that is needed for this country. (Time expired) 15:25 Mr HUNT 00AMV Flinders I am reminded of perhaps the most infamous of the opposition leader's speeches to the National Press Club, when he said that these are serious times, and these need serious people—except for the fact that he was plagiarising a fictional American president who never existed. Having been caught out with that, I am reminded that these are serious times, but this was not a serious intervention today, in policy or in other terms. The idea is that, instead of the reason for people to be vaccinated in Australia being to save their lives and the lives of their friends and family and to protect others in the community, we would retrospectively pay the eight million people who have been vaccinated in Australia to date, we would retrospectively pay the wealthiest Australians, we would retrospectively pay for that which has already been done and we would risk undermining the vaccine program. This isn't just a bad idea, as Professor Peter Collignon said; it's an irresponsible idea and it's a dangerous idea. The reason it is an irresponsible idea is not only that it is paying people for what's been done; it is paying people for what they were going to do in any event. I can disclose to the House today that our latest COVID Shield research is that 79 per cent of people are intending on being vaccinated. That number has gone up again. In addition to that, very significantly, what we see is that we also have a situation where those opposite risk undermining confidence in vaccination. Let me quote the Journal of the American Medical Association: … considerable research shows that payments in some contexts can send the signal that an action is undesirable, unpleasant, or even dangerous and not worth taking based purely on personal benefit. Financial incentives are likely to discourage vaccination (particularly among those most concerned about adverse effects); instead, contingent nonfinancial incentives are the desired approach. Or perhaps I could just quote the health minister here in the ACT, Rachel Stephen-Smith, only a few hours ago, when asked about the opposition leader's proposal: 'For my money, this is probably not the most cost-effective way to do incentives for people. I think a number of your listeners on the text line have indicated that it's actually what you're allowed to do when you're vaccinated that's going to give people the incentive, and that's the conversation that you know is occurring at the national cabinet at the moment.' Professor Peter Collignon said: 'This is bad idea. Currently, judging by long vaccine lines, not enough vaccine is the main issue, not hesitancy.' I'm happy to accept his comments. We accept that, as more vaccine comes in, more is delivered. Further, he said, 'Plus, this may make some needlessly defer getting vaccinated, because they may think if they defer for a few months they're more likely get $300.' Professor Mary-Louise McLaws said: 'Australians are very good at uptaking vaccines—they really are. They reach about 94 per cent'—actually, it's 95.2 per cent—'for children's vaccines.' That is for the zero to five-year-olds. She said: 'I don't think we need it yet. I actually don't think Australians are that hesitant.' Jane Halton said: 'If you look at the US, say, they didn't think about these kinds of incentives until right at the end. So I don't think we should lead with that. Let's call on people's better instincts to do the right things.' The strongest possible reason to be vaccinated is to save your life. It's to save the life of your friends and family. It's to save the life of your community. It's to protect others. To imply in some way, shape or form that this is not worth doing, that it might be unpleasant or dangerous and therefore you need cash is a very dangerous path. Will the opposition be paying for the booster next year? Will they be adding an extra $3 billion for the booster next year? It's a simple question. There's no simple answer. As is potentially likely and as all the medical advice suggests—will they be paying for a booster in 2023? Because, on their logic, once they've established this principle, the moment they stop, the incentive to be vaccinated evaporates, so therefore they are locking in a COVID vaccine payment forever—or maybe they're not, but what is the logic with that? I see the Manager of Opposition Business. I quite like him; I think there's a certain degree of integrity underneath. We go back a long way. He gave one of the most half-hearted interviews of his life today in relation to this. I know his heart is not behind what they are doing, and I commend him for that. He was honest through his intention. Here's what we've done. In the last month, there have been 4½ million vaccinations. Since this parliament met, there have been over 5½ million vaccinations. In the last week, there have been almost 1.2 million vaccinations. In the last 24 hours, there have been 200,000 vaccinations. If that were the United States, that would be the equivalent of over 2½ million vaccines in one day! Then, when we look at that progress, across Australia four million people today are fully vaccinated and over eight million people have had at least one dose—in particular, 41.4 per cent have had that first vaccination dose so far. Then, as we go forward, what we see is that for the over 50s, it's at 66.1 per cent; for the over 60s, it's 73.1 per cent; and, for the over 70s, it's 79.6 per cent. Within a matter of days we will have hit 80 per cent in that age group alone. And all of these things are being done for the right reasons, through the right way, without risking undermining a vaccination program, without calling into account its fundamental purpose, which is to save lives and to protect lives. The opposition are the people who gave us cash for clunkers, and they have learnt nothing since that time. Now we'll look at where Australia is in comparison to the rest of the world. We see a world where, as I mentioned earlier today, there has been 631,000 cases in the last 24 hours, and there has been 11,000 lives lost. To date, well over four million lives have been lost, each one of them a tragedy, including every one of them in Australia. If, at the outset of this pandemic a year ago, it had been said that the world would have reached almost 200 million cases by now, that there would have been 4.2 million lives lost worldwide officially—but according to the World Health Organization it's likely to be two to three times that, so close to 10 million lives lost. In Australia, tragically, we have lost 925 souls. But, in a world where a likely 10 million souls have been lost, 925 is an almost inconceivable national achievement. And every Australian has played their part; everyone has done that. Our health workers are at the top of the list: our pathologists, our doctors, our nurses, our pharmacists—all of the people who have played their role. To do that, it's involved not just one action but multiple: the borders, the testing, the tracing, the distancing—and I do commend New South Wales on, arguably, the most outstanding tracing system in the world. What that has done is help prevent, along with what they have also done with their distancing measures, what could have been thousands of cases on a daily basis. Then, of course, there is the vaccination program. All of these things have come together. Australia's achievements in saving lives and livelihoods are almost unparalleled around the world. At the same time, there have been 4.5 million vaccinations in the last month. There have been 5.5 million vaccinations since this parliament last met, with 200,000 vaccinations in the last 24 hours. These are the real outcomes for this nation, and it's every Australian that is stepping forward. I thank them and I honour them. 15:35 Mr BURKE DYW Watson The Prime Minister loves a photo op but the problem for him is that, when the cameras are on, often the voice is being recorded as well. Today we've seen time and again his comments catch up with him. I might add that one of my colleagues just sent me an article from 9 July: 'Prime Minister backs a pub offering free beer for vaccination'. So free beer for vaccination, the Prime Minister backs. Only minutes before question time, when Kieran Gilbert was asking the Prime Minister about no jab, no pay and about the incentives involved there, the Prime Minister claimed that that proposal which he had introduced—true—used his full authority of being the minister at the time, saying, 'Ít wasn't about increasing the rate.' He just referred to the child immunisation rate, and next sentence, 'It wasn't about increasing the rate.' When he introduced the no jab, no pay bill, what was the second sentence? It was: 'This is an important initiative aimed at boosting childhood immunisation rates.' What are you meant to do with a Prime Minister who just doesn't care about the truth at a time when we need public trust more than ever? At a time when people believing and following what governments say matters, what do we get from this Prime Minister? We get things that are demonstrably untrue. Today, with passion, he says, 'Anyone who thinks that the Prime Minister only has two jobs is not up for the job', and all of his side went, 'Oh yes; hear, hear.' On 24 June, when he was there as the hologram in the corner, what did the Prime Minister say? He said: The fact remains that the two jobs of this government are… They were his own words on 24 June—'Here are the two jobs.' Today he says, 'Oh, if you think it's just that, you're not fit for office.' As far as he is concerned, about himself, he is absolutely right. He's not fit for office. He's failed on purpose-built quarantine and he's failed on the vaccination rollout. I can tell you that the people I represent in this House are going through a hell of a time because of the failures of this government. We've got people right now home-schooling until they don't know when it will end. Home-schooling is hard enough at the best of times for any of us. Think about what home-schooling is like in a part of Sydney where 75 per cent of people speak a language other than English at home. Think about what home-schooling is like in a household where you've got more people than you've got rooms. Think about what home-schooling is like for some people more recently arrived under the refugee program who weren't trained in literacy in their own language. They are now going through this with no end in sight because of the failures of this government. If this government thinks they can just change the facts, side-step and pretend things didn't happen, well just know that they are being watched and people are suffering because of their failures. What's been happening is the community have just moved to pick up the pieces themselves. When the government weren't running vaccination programs, our local doctors just went ahead and did it. My personal doc, my GP, Dr Jamal Rifi, gave up his front yard and the car park underneath his own surgery and just started doing testing and started doing vaccinations because this government wouldn't. A disability provider runs three centres in my electorate—in Lakemba, in Belmore and in Ashfield. All three had positive cases, and he rang me saying, 'I can't get the government to vaccinate the staff; can you organise it?' So my office did. The Exodus Foundation have gone with pop-up clinics as have the Lebanese Muslim Association, the Orion Centre and the Bankstown Sports Club, and we're organising it for Perry Park. People are being vaccinated now, but no thanks to those opposite. Those opposite have failed and the people in Sydney are paying the price for it. In my part of Sydney we are the home of essential workers. They don't have jobs where you can just get a laptop and do it from home. Try stacking shelves from a laptop. Try working in aged care from a laptop. Try working in any of these essential roles from a laptop—you can't. They have to turn up to work. They are turning up—most of them are not yet vaccinated, not because of hesitancy on their part, but because of a failure in messaging from the government and a failure in supply, which this government still doesn't seem to understand. 15:40 Dr GILLESPIE 72184 Lyne This MPI goes to the heart of the biggest issue facing the nation. The vaccine rollout has been ramping up exponentially. As the Minister for Health outlined, we were ahead of the curve in getting agreements in place. Mr Deputy Speaker, do you realise we had 280 million doses of vaccines on order? That's 280 million people. That's about 10 shots for every Australian person. But the best-laid plans were put awry by the European Union blocking delivery of 3.7 million vaccines from AstraZeneca in Europe. Many people have criticised us for not getting more Pfizer. The whole American production was left for America. We had deals with Pfizer, with Novavax, with Moderna. Once we got the supply we delivered. Twelve point six million doses have been delivered. As you can remember, the start of the rollout was full of these supply problems. In the first half month there were only 34,000 doses. But in the last two weeks we have had exponentially increasing doses. There were over a million doses the last month—going up to 1.2 million. It's now nudging 1.4 million in the same period. It is absolutely exponentially expanding. In regional Australia we've had 2,261,000 doses delivered. We've got 1,079 general practices and 108 Aboriginal community controlled health organisations. We've got 59 Commonwealth vaccination centres. We're rolling out in pharmacies much quicker than was originally outlined. Another ramp-up will be seen once we get the community pharmacies. There are state-based systems that are doing megacentres—even in my electorate. The moral of the story is: we have delivered in spades. The $300 incentive cash payment is a thought bubble. It is not a good policy in any shape or form. The main incentive is for people to know that they are going to get—$300 cash giveaways are sort of like the Pink Batts in vaccine land. It's counter-productive. Are you going to give a cash bonus for measles and mumps and for tetanus? For goodness sake, this is an absolute thought bubble. They're criticising us about our quarantine system. We have delivered exponential growth in quarantine accommodation in the Northern Territory. We're entering into MOUs with Victoria. We're looking at a new centre in Queensland and in New South Wales. All these things are underway. We have had a hotel quarantine system that has had less than one per cent of the cases identified. It has worked very well. When you consider over 409,000 people have been through hotel quarantine our quarantine system has only had small breakouts. It is exponentially increasing. If it wasn't for general practices, for pharmacies and for hospital systems with dedicated workers with their shoulders to the wheel, doing this day in, day out—we've even had the flying doctor delivering vaccines. We've had contractors going into aged-care facilities. We've had all sorts of delivery mechanisms. You can see that exponential ramp-up in the delivery of vaccines. I think the plan of getting to 70 per cent and then to 80 per cent will happen a lot quicker, because as more of the GPs who have been enrolled—there are 5,000 eligible and there are over 3,600 pharmacies. You'll see it go through the roof, and that's before we even have Moderna and more vaccines delivered to this country. (Time expired) 15:45 Mr BOWEN DZS McMahon [by video link] It gives me no joy to say that the opposition's predictions on the government's failures on the vaccine rollout have been borne out. This is one area where we would have much preferred to have been proven wrong, but, alas, that wasn't the case. It has been the case, ever since the Prime Minister said we were first in the queue, that the Prime Minister has been spinning, not delivering. He wasn't even at the starter's block. I was amazed to hear the honourable member say just then that the government was ahead of the curve. Nothing could be further from the truth—and they were warned about it. On 28 July last year I wrote an op-ed in the Australian newspaper, pointing out it would be better if the government had more deals providing more options and getting access to more vaccines. At that point they had no deals, whereas the rest of the world was already moving. Even last July we were way behind the curve. If the government had done more deals, if the government had got access to different types of vaccines, Australian people would have better choices and more choices, and we wouldn't be dealing with some of the hesitancy that people are displaying at the moment to one particular type of vaccine. The Prime Minister said during question time that the Labor Party should get more behind the vaccine rollout. This is an absolutely outrageous thing for him to say. Labor members across Western Sydney and elsewhere are encouraging people to take up the vaccines. I've done so consistently in my community, which is at the epicentre of the breakout. The members for Greenway, Blaxland and Chifley joined me on the weekend at a vaccination centre, encouraging people to get vaccinated. The members for Greenway and Chifley have called for more vaccination centres in their electorates. So it is completely and utterly offensive and wrong for the Prime Minister to make that claim, but it's what he always does. When things are going right he politicises it and puts the Liberal Party logo on the ads for getting vaccines, but when things are going wrong he says: 'We can't have politics. It's wrong to politicise this.' He verbals the Labor Party as saying something we have never said. The Prime Minister has failed at the vaccine rollout, and he is being dishonest about it. I want to turn to some of the impacts of these failures, and I want to talk particularly about my own community. The people of Fairfield City, Cumberland and Blacktown City, in my electorate, have responded magnificently in recent weeks. They have been doing it tough and they have been doing the right thing. They have been coming out in big numbers to get tested and vaccinated. They have been dealing—and I say this not as a political point—with unclear rules and rapidly changing rules. The people of Fairfield were told they had to get tested every three days; that was announced with no warning. Then there was three days grace given. Then that rule was changed again to only particular workers. The rules about mask wearing outside the home are unclear. We're told we have to wear masks at all times outside the home but that there are certain exemptions, which are unclear. I say this not as a criticism of the New South Wales government but simply to point out that people are dealing with very complex situations and are doing so magnificently. I represent four local government areas, and at one point there were three different sets of rules across my electorate. I found it difficult to understand and explain, let alone people who are just going about their business and trying to get food on the table. In relation to troops: the troops will be made welcome in my community, but rhetoric about boots on the ground and greater enforcement is misplaced. Troops being involved in humanitarian work and checking on COVID-positive cases is perfectly appropriate and welcome, but that is not what we were told would be happening. I want to pay tribute to the local area commands for the way they are implementing this policy, because it is being implemented in a way which is showing compassion and understanding. I also want to pay tribute to some community leaders who have played a very, very important role in communicating to our community what is necessary to comply with the rules. I want to pay particular tribute to His Beatitude Mar Meelis Zaia, the head of the Assyrian Church of the East, and Archbishop Amel Nona, the head of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Australia, who have been very proactive in talking with their churches about what needs to happen, and also of course to Carmen Lazar from the Assyrian Resource Centre. I want to say something about tradies and construction workers. I speak as somebody who has always supported the health orders, but tradies and construction workers are being unfairly treated here. You can leave our local government area to work in a supermarket, where you'll have much more contact with other people than you will on a construction site. I call on the authorities to fix the situation for tradies and construction workers as a matter of urgency. We'll always comply with the health orders. The construction industry is willing to put arrangements in place to ensure it's safe. Construction workers will get tested as regularly as possible. They're losing out on work to tradies from other areas, and I believe that tradies in Western Sydney deserve better treatment. (Time expired) 15:50 Dr ALLEN 282986 Higgins I'd just like to start by saying that this government has been a strong and certain government that has delivered outcomes for all Australians. The government has been very clear through this COVID pandemic that it's about saving lives and livelihoods. And, as the previous member has just said, the COVID global pandemic has been an incredibly complex, fast-moving, changing situation. I'm very proud of the fact that the Morrison government, in dealing with something as complex and uncertain as this, has delivered certainty and has been able to pivot when pivoting has been required—and we know that pivoting has occurred all around the world. Let's start with the alpha variant last year. We could see that the Australian government had the right approach. We understood from the very start that Australia needed to close its borders, first to hotspots in January and February and then to the world. We knew that that was the right public health action to undertake to save lives and to save livelihoods. We've also been very clear from the commencement of this COVID pandemic that it is about getting the balance right between those two issues. As we've seen with the delta variant this year, we've had to move to a different way of dealing with this virus. When we look at the issue of quarantining, for instance, we know that the world is changing the way it's dealing with international travellers. We know that, as the COVID vaccination coverage increases in countries like the US and the UK, those countries are changing their returning travellers requirements, and we know that that is likely to happen, too, here in Australia. But the first thing to say is that closing our international borders was a strong public health measure that was undertaken, quickly followed by good quarantining measures and contact tracing, then by the move to physical distancing, and then, most recently, by the COVID vaccination rollout. I know which leadership I would prefer to have on this side of the House. I know that the Morrison government is committed to delivering for each and every Australian. To those on the other side, hindsight can be a wonderful thing, but let's talk about what this government has been doing with regard to saving lives and saving livelihoods. We've delivered PPE and COVID testing. We are now delivering a COVID vaccination program that is ramping up at enormous speed. But we haven't done it by taking shortcuts. We've understood that, to bring the Australian people with us, we need to make sure that this COVID vaccine has been through appropriate testing. We know that our Therapeutic Goods Administration, the TGA, is absolutely world-class. We've methodically assessed each COVID vaccine as it has come online, and we've made sure that we've made it available in the right, targeted way, which is ensuring that the most vulnerable in our community are protected. When we look at the UK, we see that the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine rollout is working. For instance, there have been three waves of COVID outbreak in the UK. The second wave had its peak on 1 January 2021. Unfortunately, at that time, before the COVID vaccine rollout in the UK, there were roughly 50,000 cases of COVID—that was before the delta variant—and 1,500 deaths each day. The AstraZeneca vaccine rollout was done with great urgency. Emergency approval was given, understandably; there were approximately 1,500 deaths every day in the UK. If that had happened here in Australia, a country a bit under half the size of the UK, you cannot even imagine how many deaths there would have been. In the third wave that the UK has recently seen, they had a peak of around 30,000 cases of COVID a day. But what they are seeing is a peak that's less than 100 deaths a day. That's terrible, each and every death is terrible, but they've been able to disconnect the cases from the fatality rate. And they've had to do that, because they didn't have the aggressive suppression outcome that we have had here in Australia. So this third wave in the UK has seen a success. We've seen that the vaccine rollout in the UK is working to suppress fatalities in the UK, and that is something Australians should take heart from. We need each and every Australian to go and see their GP, work out which vaccine is right for them, put their arm forward and support the Australian government and its rollout of the COVID vaccine, because that is what is going to get us to the other side of this COVID pandemic. That is what is going to get us out of lockdown. That is what is going to get us back to our normal way of living. I would like to see those on the other side not talk down the government's response, but support and back in AstraZeneca, because it is a vaccine that's TGA approved and that is safe. Go and see your GP, get your vaccine and get the one that's right for you. 15:55 Mr HAYES ECV Fowler Colleagues, I ask you: who would have thought, after 18 months of being in this pandemic, that we would still be experiencing harsh snap lockdowns? This might have been something you would have expected at the start, as the government tried to suppress the virus, but we're experiencing it now. My community in south-western Sydney is now subject to a harsh lockdown. It's been made very clear that the government has really had two fundamental jobs during the pandemic. I know there might be other things that governments do, but there are two fundamental jobs: it has to have a proper quarantine system and a properly rolled out vaccine. On those two assessments it has failed. It has failed miserably. So they should have a third responsibility: they should be apologising to the Australian public. Like many, I was in lockdown last week, and I was certainly glued to my television set. I was thrilled to see the performance of our Australian athletes. Emma McKeon has now become the most decorated Australian Olympian. All the efforts of the Australian team have really made us all proud. It's something that we've seen and something we can celebrate—an uplifting part, particularly during this pandemic. But, I've got to say, when you compare the success of our Olympic team with the race against this virus, it would be like what Malcolm Fraser did previously when he called for a royal commission into the poor performance of the Australian Olympic team. You would have a royal commission into this government, based on their efforts for the pandemic. It's very difficult in my community in Western Sydney, and I know the member for Werriwa, the member for McMahon, the member for Blaxland and other are all going through this out there as well. It's very, very difficult in our communities. This virus escaped from Bondi, when the Prime Minister didn't want to close down the eastern suburbs, and got to Western Sydney. Unlike Bondi, our communities have larger family units, certainly with more people living under one roof. Ours is the most multicultural area of the country, where we receive the majority of refugees who come into our nation, and English is not a first language there. In terms of our workforce, it's basically trades and blue collar. The idea that people can just work from home—we will give you an edict that you will work from home—well, you can't work from home if you are in the construction industry. I know you would know that, Deputy Speaker Wallace, given your background. For tradesmen in our areas, we have little employment opportunity in Fowler. People go somewhere else to work. Tradesmen go from jobs to jobs, construction sites to project sites, et cetera. So simply saying, 'Work from home,' doesn't really work. And if you extrapolate that to educating kids with home schooling—I know my daughter who is a teacher finds that difficult, even with her own kids, let alone doing her year 12 tutorials. But doing that from a background where English is not your first language, and trying to keep your kids up to speed and all the rest of it, is very, very difficult in communities like those I represent in south-west Sydney. The other aspect is that the feeling of anger that's out there is extraordinary. It's not that they're not doing their part to suppress the virus; they are doing that. But family interaction in our community is certainly based on not only the social and the cultural but also the spiritual. Our churches are doing a wonderful job with their communities in looking after not only their spiritual wellbeing but also their mental wellbeing. But we have this feeling of anger because of the way the people of south-west Sydney are being treated in comparison to the way that the people of Bondi were treated and are currently being treated. You only have to look at your TV screen at night to see the difference in policing or, at least, what appears to be a difference in policing in Bondi Beach. Down in our electorates of Liverpool or Fairfield or in my particular area of Cabramatta, it is vastly different. I don't actually see the horses walking along Bondi Beach. I don't see people walking in black riot gear and all the rest of it. Our community is feeling that it has been singled out and that it has been singled out because of a virus that escaped the eastern suburbs because the government failed to close it down early enough. 16:00 Mr GOODENOUGH 74046 Moore The Morrison government has acted swiftly, first and foremost to safeguard the health and wellbeing of Australians in our communities by implementing a vaccination program as we set about rebuilding our national economy by restoring jobs, promoting confidence and, eventually, re-engaging with the rest of the world. As at midnight on 1 August, a total of 12,393,893 doses of the vaccine had been administered, with 76,166 Australians being vaccinated in a single day. In terms of aged care, residents in all 2,566 Commonwealth residential aged-care facilities have received their first and second doses. Similarly, in the disability sector, 16,700 of the 27,236 NDIS participants in residential accommodation have received at least one dose. This represents 61.3 per cent of residents. And 79.11 per cent of Australians aged over 70 years are protected with a first dose, whilst 41.98 per cent have received a second dose. More than 65 per cent of Australians aged over 50 are protected with a first dose, and 26.67 per cent have received a second dose. More than four in 10 Australians in the population aged over 16 are protected with a first dose, whilst 19.23 per cent have received a second dose. The rollout is ramping up significantly. It took 45 days to reach the first million doses but only six days to achieve the last million doses. Vaccine hesitancy remains a concern, as a great deal of misinformation is circulating within the community and on social media. Whilst not a hundred per cent effective against the virus, it is true to say that vaccination is the most effective tool that we currently have scientifically and medically to control the virus and manage the pandemic. Complications caused by adverse reactions to the vaccine are statistically minimal and do not justify hesitancy in becoming vaccinated, as the benefits, arguably, far outweigh the risks. Another risk that the federal government is committed to mitigating for the Australian people is quarantining international arrivals. Current quarantine measures include hotel quarantine and have been agreed to by national cabinet, with the Prime Minister and state premiers around the table in agreement. A total of 409,095 Australians have returned through existing hotel quarantine facilities, with 4,187 COVID-positive cases identified during quarantine. Managed quarantine has been Australia's first line of defence against COVID-19. The Northern Territory's Howard Springs quarantine facility has been expanded to accept 2,000 returned Australians a fortnight—up from 850—at a cost of approximately $500 million. The federal government has supported state governments to construct purpose-built quarantine facilities around the country. In my home state of Western Australia, a thousand-bed facility is being built on a site near Jandakot Airport. The facility, which it is estimated will cost up to $400 million to build, can be operational by next year. Careful consideration was given to selecting the site for a facility of suitable size, with access to an international airport taking regularly scheduled, international commercial passenger flights, in close proximity to a major hospital. The Morrison government is committed to providing this protection for all Australians. In the face of the pandemic, our government, through the vaccine program and quarantine measures, has kept Australians safe and the Australian economy strong. 16:05 Ms STANLEY 265990 Werriwa Over the last two months, most of Australia has been plunged into uncertainty, disruption and crisis as a result of the failures of the Morrison government. That is particularly true of my electorate and the electorate of McMahon. The Prime Minister had two jobs during the pandemic—to vaccinate the population quickly and efficiently and to provide an effective quarantine system. He's failed on both counts, and our community in south-west Sydney has been the hardest hit. Once again, we're fighting a COVID outbreak. With it, businesses are on the brink of closing, workers don't know if they have a job in the next month, and families are scraping by to put food on the table and keep a roof over their head. I've spoken to them, and they are desperate and distraught. Unfortunately, in New South Wales, we've seen delays and unsurprising hesitancy as a result of mixed messaging, leading to devastating consequences. Last year, the Prime Minister said, 'The best protection against the virus is to live with the virus, to live alongside the virus and to open up your economy.' More recently, just days before the New South Wales Premier called the lockdown, he commended the Premier on her resistance to doing just that. Well, look how well that's worked out for Sydney, New South Wales and our country. As with so many inconvenient facts, there is always a new set of talking points from the Prime Minister to spin his way out of a jail of his own making. Yesterday, in the Australian, the Prime Minister was reported as saying, 'The idea that you can just let this rip and ignore it is just not an option. It's fanciful, foolish and dangerous.' At a time of national emergency, when we need genuine leadership, all we get from this Prime Minister are days of long disappearing acts, with occasional spurts of spin, followed by further hiding. This is a prime minister who is out of his depth, and Australians are paying the price. As we've seen time and time again, both here and abroad, COVID-19 and the delta variant will not be eradicated by politics. What will stop the virus is vaccination. But we have a government obsessed with scoring political points, and, as a result, we have bungled the vaccine rollout. We are last in the developed world when it comes to having our population vaccinated, and the delta variant is racing through Sydney and the country. Recent media reports have revealed that the Morrison government met with Pfizer in July last year and was offered as many doses as it needed in January this year. There is still no explanation from the government about why the offer was rejected. The government decided the vaccine rollout was not a race and, as a result, we simply don't have enough supply of vaccines now. The latest outbreak was preventable, but, due to government incompetence, here we are—lives lost, businesses ruined, and people struggling to make ends meet. My electorate is ground zero as evidence of this bungled vaccine rollout. Five weeks ago, a family in my electorate booked their vaccine appointments with their local GP, who'd advertised they were administering Pfizer. Two days before the appointment, they received a text message advising them that the vaccine hadn't arrived. Their appointment has since been rescheduled to later in August. Several members of the household work in retail; another is a school teacher. One of their workplaces was recently listed as an exposure site. They say they feel like sitting ducks. They worry that, without access to the vaccine, it's only a matter of time before they are infected. The government put all their eggs in one basket and now Australians like this hardworking family are paying the price. As Australian borders are effectively closed and Australians are locked down, the world is opening up. Music festivals, art shows and sporting events around the world are returning with huge crowds—a view into a post-COVID world. However, we can't get the vaccine rollout on track. Labor is calling on the government to pay $300 to Australians to be vaccinated by 1 December. Give them some hope. Allow them to be paid so that they can get vaccinated without losing a day's pay. Despite the Prime Minister's recent comments, this is a race. It is a race to stop another lockdown by fixing the vaccination rollout and establishing purpose-built quarantine. Hotels are for tourists, not for quarantine. We've had 28 leaks from hotel quarantine. We are 18 months into this pandemic, and the government still doesn't have a safe national quarantine system. Quarantine is a federal responsibility. We need a network of purpose-built facilities now. It is time that we stepped up. My community needs it, and it needs it now before more people die and more people get sick. 16:10 Ms LIU 282918 Chisholm Australia has turned a corner. It's fair to say that we have had our challenges over the past few months, but now our vaccine program is really hitting its stride. We are administering a million COVID-19 vaccine doses every six days. The latest figures show that one in five Australians aged over 16, including myself, are now fully vaccinated and two in three aged over 50 have had their first dose. In July we increased the percentage of Australians aged over 16 who are fully vaccinated by 11.1 percentage points to 19 percentage points. That is more than double the increase we achieved in June. If we keep this going we will hit the target we have set ourselves. We will move to the next phases under our national plan to chart our way out of COVID-19 and back to normal life. We are getting this done, and it is pleasing to see that the rates of vaccination are increasing all the time. Meanwhile, the government is keeping in place the strict border and quarantine measures that are protecting the health of the Australian community from COVID-19. These arrangements are constantly reviewed, and I have every confidence that Australia's hardworking public servants and health professionals will continue to make improvements on them in the months ahead. The opposition may have short memories but the Australian people do not. They know that it was Prime Minister Scott Morrison's decision in early 2020 to close our borders to China that shielded Australia from the devastation felt by so many other countries around the world. The Labor Party also know this, but they would rather attack and undermine than support the vaccine rollout and support Australians. At a time when Australians need unity from governments at all levels, this morning we were instead treated to the half-baked musings of the opposition leader. He proposed, seemingly off the top of his head, that the government spend $6 billion to pay all Australians, including the billionaire Gina Rinehart, to get vaccinated. I mean, I've heard of middle-class welfare but it's quite rare to see upper-class welfare in action, and from those supposed champions of working people on the other side of the House no less. Unlike the Leader of the Opposition, the Prime Minister has expressed his faith that Australians will continue to step up, do the right thing and get vaccinated. This is a faith that I and all of us on this side of the House share. Australians don't need a payoff. Australia's billionaires certainly don't need one. Australians know it is the right thing to do to protect themselves, protect their families, support the community and support the country. I call on the opposition to get on 'Team Australia' now, to support the rollout, back in the health advice and stop playing on frustration and fear. There is a long road ahead, but Australia's record in saving lives and livelihoods has been working and is world leading. That's what really matters, and Australians should be immensely proud of their efforts. The DEPUTY SPEAKER 265967 The discussion has concluded. BILLS 44 BILLS Water Legislation Amendment (Inspector-General of Water Compliance and Other Measures) Bill 2021 44

Water Legislation Amendment (Inspector-General of Water Compliance and Other Measures) Bill 2021

Consideration of Senate Message 44 Farm Household Support Amendment (Debt Waiver) Bill 2021, Treasury Laws Amendment (2021 Measures No. 4) Bill 2021, COVID-19 Disaster Payment (Funding Arrangements) Bill 2021, Treasury Laws Amendment (COVID-19 Economic Response) Bill 2021, Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (International Production Orders) Bill 2020, Hazardous Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Amendment Bill 2021 44

Farm Household Support Amendment (Debt Waiver) Bill 2021

Treasury Laws Amendment (2021 Measures No. 4) Bill 2021

COVID-19 Disaster Payment (Funding Arrangements) Bill 2021

Treasury Laws Amendment (COVID-19 Economic Response) Bill 2021

Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (International Production Orders) Bill 2020

Hazardous Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Amendment Bill 2021

Returned from Senate 44 Higher Education Support Amendment (Extending the Student Loan Fee Exemption) Bill 2021, Private Health Insurance Amendment (Income Thresholds) Bill 2021, Social Services Legislation Amendment (Portability Extensions) Bill 2021, Competition and Consumer Amendment (Motor Vehicle Service and Repair Information Sharing Scheme) Bill 2021, Education Legislation Amendment (2021 Measures No. 2) Bill 2021, Narcotic Drugs Amendment (Medicinal Cannabis) Bill 2021, Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response No. 1) Bill 2021, Biosecurity Amendment (Strengthening Penalties) Bill 2021, National Radioactive Waste Management Amendment (Site Selection, Community Fund and Other Measures) Bill 2020, Private Health Insurance Legislation Amendment (Age of Dependants) Bill 2021, Treasury Laws Amendment (2021 Measures No. 3) Bill 2021, Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (2021 Measures No. 1) Bill 2021, Financial Regulator Assessment Authority Bill 2021, Financial Regulator Assessment Authority (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2021, Fuel Security Bill 2021, Fuel Security (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2021, Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2021-2022, Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2021-2022, Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2021-2022, COVID-19 Disaster Payment (Funding Arrangements) Bill 2021, Treasury Laws Amendment (COVID-19 Economic Response) Bill 2021, Treasury Laws Amendment (2021 Measures No. 4) Bill 2021, Hazardous Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Amendment Bill 2021, Water Legislation Amendment (Inspector-General of Water Compliance and Other Measures) Bill 2021, Farm Household Support Amendment (Debt Waiver) Bill 2021, Online Safety Bill 2021, Online Safety (Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Bill 2021, Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (International Production Orders) Bill 2020 45

Higher Education Support Amendment (Extending the Student Loan Fee Exemption) Bill 2021

Private Health Insurance Amendment (Income Thresholds) Bill 2021

Social Services Legislation Amendment (Portability Extensions) Bill 2021

Competition and Consumer Amendment (Motor Vehicle Service and Repair Information Sharing Scheme) Bill 2021

Education Legislation Amendment (2021 Measures No. 2) Bill 2021

Narcotic Drugs Amendment (Medicinal Cannabis) Bill 2021

Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response No. 1) Bill 2021

Biosecurity Amendment (Strengthening Penalties) Bill 2021

National Radioactive Waste Management Amendment (Site Selection, Community Fund and Other Measures) Bill 2020

Private Health Insurance Legislation Amendment (Age of Dependants) Bill 2021

Treasury Laws Amendment (2021 Measures No. 3) Bill 2021

Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (2021 Measures No. 1) Bill 2021

Financial Regulator Assessment Authority Bill 2021

Financial Regulator Assessment Authority (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2021

Fuel Security Bill 2021

Fuel Security (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2021

Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2021-2022

Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2021-2022

Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2021-2022

COVID-19 Disaster Payment (Funding Arrangements) Bill 2021

Treasury Laws Amendment (COVID-19 Economic Response) Bill 2021

Treasury Laws Amendment (2021 Measures No. 4) Bill 2021

Hazardous Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Amendment Bill 2021

Water Legislation Amendment (Inspector-General of Water Compliance and Other Measures) Bill 2021

Farm Household Support Amendment (Debt Waiver) Bill 2021

Online Safety Bill 2021

Online Safety (Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Bill 2021

Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (International Production Orders) Bill 2020

Assent 45 COMMITTEES 45 COMMITTEES Environment and Energy Committee 45 Report 45 16:16 Mr TED O'BRIEN 138932 Fairfax On behalf of the Standing Committee on Environment and Energy, I present the committee's advisory report, incorporating dissenting reports, on the Climate Change (National Framework for Adaptation and Mitigation) Bill 2020 and the Climate Change (National Framework for Adaptation and Mitigation) (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2020, together with the minutes of proceedings. Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e). Mr TED O'BRIEN 138932 by leave—Climate change is one of the world's most challenging and complex areas when it comes to public policy, and that includes here in Australia. What is often left unrecognised amidst the growing ambition to decarbonise Australia's economy is our strong track record in emissions reduction and also in emissions accounting and reporting. The evidence that came before the committee in this inquiry bore out these facts. Australia is not only meeting and beating its international obligations but is on track to beat its 2030 emissions reduction target, and work is already being done to determine a longer-term emissions reduction pathway in line with our commitment to achieving net zero as soon as possible and preferably by 2050. Australia's reporting and accountability framework is world leading, providing quarterly reporting on emissions, annual forecasts and an annual low emissions technology statement. However, no area of public policy is without room for improvement, and the climate change bills proposed by the member for Warringah were welcomed by the committee as a contribution to the discussion. The committee, as it always does, diligently considered the proposed bills and the evidence that came before it from those who made submissions and appeared before the committee as witnesses. In its report, the committee has commended positive aspects of the bills, including requirements to consult with experts and the community in framing future climate policies and the importance of ensuring fair employment transition for those industries and workers impacted by change. The committee also supported better utilising the Climate Change Authority as an expert adviser to government and working towards even greater clarity of future emission reduction plans in advance of this year's United Nations COP26 conference. At the same time, however, the committee's inquiry identified deficiencies in the proposed bills. Let me outline just three. Firstly, the bills proposed a climate change commission which would steer formal policy decisions away from the parliament and the executive to an unelected body. Our system of liberal democracy is well recognised as one of the most mature and well-functioning in the world, and it is imperative that its integrity be maintained. No matter how difficult it is to meet these substantive and political challenges of climate change, we parliamentarians cannot shirk our responsibility to determine the national response. What's more: the Australian people should not be stripped of their right to choose between alternative policy positions at the ballot box. Their voice—the people's voice—especially on an issue as important as climate change, must be protected. Secondly, the proposed climate change commission would replicate work already being done by the federal bureaucracy, including by the Climate Change Authority, and the bills, if they were passed and enacted, would place additional and potentially inappropriate reporting burdens on other Commonwealth agencies. Thirdly, the proposed requirement to reach net zero emissions by 2050 by legislative force, without recognising the importance of addressing the question of how such targets can be achieved, would give rise to a series of risks across the economy and across specific sectors and also for the jobs of hardworking everyday Australians. Does this mean that net zero should not be considered or pursued? No, it doesn't. Indeed, the Australian government has already committed to achieving net zero as soon as possible and preferably by 2050. But it would be irresponsible for a government to legislate for such a hard target on the what and the when without due consideration of the how. It is for reasons such as these that the committee has recommended that the bills not be passed. Climate change is a global problem that can only be solved with a global solution. Australia is making its contribution, a strong contribution, and as we continue to do so we should have confidence that our climate objectives can and should be achieved using our existing, proven and world-class climate policy architecture. In a liberal democracy like Australia's, it would be unrealistic—dare I say naive—to expect a national consensus to emerge where everyone agrees on one specific suite of policies to tackle the issue of climate change. That's not a bad thing, I suggest. Liberalism and its two tenets of democracy and capitalism are a strength, not a weakness. When it comes to tackling a challenge as intractable as climate change, it's what allows open debate on public policy and it's what allows enterprise to consider new and emerging technologies. Lastly, I thank my colleagues on the committee from the Liberal, National and Labor parties, along with the crossbench, who actively participated in and brought a critical lens to this inquiry, and I pay tribute of course to the ever-capable committee secretariat. I commend the report to the House. 16:25 Mr JOSH WILSON 265970 Fremantle [by video link] by leave—I'm glad to make some brief remarks on the tabling of the committee report on the inquiry into the private member's climate change bills, introduced by the member for Warringah, who is also a member of the committee. At the outset, I thank the secretariat for their work in assisting the committee. I acknowledge the effort and application of my fellow committee members under the often very reasonable stewardship of the chair, the member for Fairfax. The bills in question seek to address a harmful policy vacuum that has been created by the present government; namely, the absence of a plan to address climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions in line with the science, in step with the international community and in response to the steepening environmental and economic impacts of inaction. The majority report recommends against the bills. Labor members of the committee believe the bills have merit and should be properly considered, as set out in our additional comments within the report. Australia previously had an effective omni-wide framework for tackling climate change and supporting the necessary energy sector and broader economic and social transition, and that was Labor's Clean Energy Future scheme. It was removed by the Abbott government, making Australia the only jurisdiction in the world to adopt and then abandon a systemic approach to decarbonisation. While the structure and measures outlined in the member for Warringah's climate change bills are not precisely the way that Labor, if elected to government, would tackle this critical and urgent challenge, Labor members of the committee nevertheless recognise that it presents a considered proposal and should be debated in the Australian parliament. To some considerable degree, the bills follow the United Kingdom's approach of legislating an emissions reduction target for 2050, establishing an emissions budget framework to guide progress within five-year periods, and creating an independent climate change commission to advise on science and policy and to monitor and report on outcomes. To the extent that that's the approach of the United Kingdom has taken, it's hard to understand how anyone would argue that approach is somehow incompatible with the basic shape and principles of Australian democracy. In any case, Labor members support the need for the Australian government to adopt a commitment of achieving net zero emissions by 2050—a position shared of course by our international peers, by every state and territory government in Australia and by every significant business and industry stakeholder group, from the National Farmers Federation to the Business Council of Australia. Not surprisingly, that strong consensus was also reflected in the submissions to this inquiry. The principle themes of the evidence to the inquiry were as follows. First, that action on climate change is vital; Australia is clearly not doing enough. Second, there are clear economic and trade benefits of being a proactive and cooperative part of the international decarbonisation effort through the global energy transition that is occurring. Third, that further inaction puts Australia at serious risk, and the longer we delay the more the costs and the risks grow. And, fourth and finally, there is a huge opportunity for Australia to benefit from our advantages in innovation, energy minerals, synergistic industries and high-quality renewable resources of every kind. I note that Labor members of the committee supported six alternative recommendations that were not adopted as part of the inquiry and report. In addition to the recommendation that the bills be considered and debated by the parliament, recommendations also included sensible further steps like undertaking a full assessment of the sectoral costs of climate change. I note there are news reports this week of the ABARES assessment that farm profits have reduced, on average, 23 per cent between 2001 and 2021 because of climate change. It's also worth noting that a successful amendment to the report, from the member for North Sydney, included the claim that the Australian government has committed to achieving net zero emissions as soon as possible and preferably before 2050—when there is no such formal commitment. If there is a formal commitment, then the government should be clear exactly when that was made and what actual weight and imperative sits behind that commitment we have heard often over the last few months. The Morrison government's only present commitment is to reach net zero by the second half of the 21st century—in other words, by 2099. The assertion that there is a commitment to achieve net zero as soon as possible and preferably before 2050 is really just an example of tricky political wordplay. I think we've all had enough of that. Finally, Labor members note that, to a large extent, the policies, programs and supporting agencies referenced during the inquiry as being effective in the twin task of decreasing emissions and increasing renewable energy capacity and energy efficiency were, of course, established by the previous federal Labor government. The bottom line is: under this third-term coalition government, Australia continues to suffer by having neither a national energy policy nor a national commitment to a framework for achieving greenhouse gas emissions reductions necessary to protect Australia from the acutely harmful environmental, economic and social impacts of climate change. I acknowledge the work undertaken by the member for Warringah and her staff in formulating the bills which were the subject of the inquiry. I thank the thousands of Australians who took the time to make their views known, the vast majority of whom called on the Australian parliament and the Australian government to do better in addressing the most enduring and all-encompassing challenge of our time, which is climate change. 16:32 Ms STEGGALL 175696 Warringah [by video link] by leave—The Standing Committee on the Environment and Energy was tasked with inquiring into the climate change bills that I presented in November last year. The committee received over 6½ thousand submissions and had three public hearing days, where some 49 witnesses appeared. Witnesses and submissions were over 99.9 per cent in support of the approach proposed in the bills. As part of the process, the committee reports on the inquiry to the Australian parliament. This is really important, because we desperately need to have a sensible discussion around climate change policy and emissions reduction away from electioneering, where it becomes a pointscoring exercise between both major parties. I must at least start by thanking the committee members for their hopefully open minds to hearing the evidence and hearing from so many across Australian civic society who want better policy on this. I thank the secretariat, who I know worked incredibly hard dealing with the vast amount of submissions, and especially all those who participated in the inquiry and who made submissions, both individuals and organisations. It was vitally important for so many organisations to be on the record for how global warming and climate impacts and all the risks associated are going to impact their sector, and for what they need to see from the government and the opposition by way of good policy. It was unfortunately not possible to reach bipartisan agreement on the chair's final report and the recommendations flowing from the inquiry. Sadly, whilst this kind of inquiry should be capable of bipartisanship and coming together on such an important policy issue, we still saw a divide along political party lines. Despite the evidence received being overwhelmingly in support of the bills, all government members of the committee refused to incorporate the full extent of the support in the main report, even from a point of view of referencing the evidence, in relation to recommendations that were put forward to not only progress the bills but also progress the development of Australian climate policy. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has, on a number of occasions, stated that Australia will not be told by the international community what Australia's climate policy should be, and the member for Fairfax again reiterated the need for liberalism and policy and that this should be left to the Australian people. But here was the opportunity to listen to a really broad section of the Australian public—the Australian civic society, environmental and business groups, industries, unions, health professionals—on what is needed by the government to address the policy issues of climate change, and still the government members on the committee were not willing to acknowledge that better policy is needed in Australia. It was still a question of maintaining the line that we are going to meet and exceed the targets and that we are doing enough. They were deaf to the cries of so many, the pleas of so many, that this policy area needs to shift. It needs to move away from being a political football to an area of consensus, like we have consensus on major health issues, like we have consensus on issues of defence. It is disappointing, and it was disappointing for so many, that political partisanship could not be set aside for a moment to progress this policy area. I believe members of the coalition, in particular the member for North Sydney, are, in fact, embarrassed by the position of the government and its failure to act on climate change. Through the whole committee process, members, like the member for North Sydney, were looking for excuses not to support the approach proposed in the bills. They were looking for reasons to go against the recommendations. The member for Fairfax, in presenting the report just now, talked about a major reason being that we can't hand it to unelected experts to advise government on what good policy should look like. It is strange, when it comes to climate change, to take issue with unelected experts advising government when, for the last 18 months, the government has followed the advice of unelected chief medical officers in its response to COVID and it has had no qualms in imposing restrictions and following the expert advice and establishing an unelected COVID committee for the coordination— The DEPUTY SPEAKER E0D Minister? Mr Sukkar 242515 Leave was granted on the basis of speaking about the report. The member's contribution is now straying a little bit away from the report, the committee's deliberations and how they reached them, so I just call on the member to bring her remarks back to that and perhaps wrap up her contribution. Ms STEGGALL 175696 I thank the minister for that, but I note this is the very point the member for Fairfax made in his speech. The reality is we do need to listen to the independent experts on this policy area. The overwhelming submissions in response to this inquiry wanted that. The main report and the lengthy dissenting report make clear the evidence established the demand and the need for clear policy on this area. A national risk assessment needs to be done, but we need clear adaptation plans to address that and we do need to legislate our pathway to net zero so that the business community, the investment community, industry and also the working communities that currently are facing a very real and significant transition know what that pathway will look like. Putting our heads in the sand will simply not resolve this. This inquiry was vitally important. These bills are needed now more than ever because the government does not have a clear policy in this area. The bills, the subject of this inquiry and of this report, are based and very much modelled on conservative policy in the UK. They are a demonstrated model that works, and I urge the government to look at the recommendations and implement clear policy that responds to the clear need that was identified during the inquiry. It is evident from organisations like the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Industry Group, the Australian Medical Association and so many in our communities that they want clear policy. They do not want divisive policies around this. The core elements of the bills establish that five-yearly budgets for emissions reduction be established. That is something that will provide policy certainty, which is desperately needed. We know that our international trading partners are all committed to this. They are moving forward. It is vitally important, as we move towards Glasgow and COP 26, that we address Australian policy. This bill, put forward as a private member's bill, was put forward with the goal to actually bring together both sides of politics for the benefit and future of Australia long term. This is an area of policy that desperately needs partisan politics to be put aside so that, for the good of the nation and the safety of Australia long term, we have clear policy. It is an existential threat. As the member for Fairfax made clear, climate change and the risks of global warming are existential threats. They are existential threats from the point of view of not only our environment but also our economy. The cost to the economy will be so large. It does not bear thinking about the impact to future generations if they are left with the burden of the last two years with the COVID pandemic and on top of that they are left with an unresolved burden of climate change and global impacts. These bills seek to put in place a sound framework to address these challenges. I urge government members and coalition members to really take on board what their legacy will be if they fail to embrace sound policy that needs to happen. We are seeing it at a state level and we need to see it at the federal level. This report, ironically, paves the way, as we approach an election, for more Independents to try to put forward solutions that are not stuck in political partisanship. I thank the committee for its work. I express my disappointment that coalition members of the committee were not able to put aside political party allegiance and actually address and engage with the very real issues of climate change and the need for a clear policy to reduce our emissions. The DEPUTY SPEAKER E0D Does the member for Fairfax wish to move a motion in connection with the report to enable it to be debated on a future occasion? 16:42 Mr TED O'BRIEN 138932 Fairfax I move: That the House take note of the report. The DEPUTY SPEAKER E0D The debate is adjourned. The resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting. Reference to Federation Chamber 49 16:42 Mr TED O'BRIEN 138932 Fairfax I move: That the order of the day be referred to the Federation Chamber for debate. Question agreed to. Public Works Committee 49 Report 49 16:42 Mr RICK WILSON 198084 O'Connor On behalf of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works I present the committee's report No. 4 of 2021, Referral made May 2021. Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e). Mr RICK WILSON 198084 by leave—Report 4 of 2021 considers one proposal referred to the committee in May 2021. The proposal is for the Department of Defence's United States Force Posture Initiatives Northern Territory training areas and ranges upgrades, with approval sought from the committee to carry out works at Robertson Barracks, Kangaroo Flats, Mount Bundey and Bradshaw field training areas. The estimated cost of this project is $747 million excluding GST. The United States Force Posture program aims to provide essential upgrades to the facilities and infrastructure at these four sites, supporting a range of emerging capabilities and improve work, health and safety conditions for current members of the Australian Defence Force. In addition, the program will enhance the level of interoperability between the Australian Defence Force and partners, including the United States, by increasing opportunities for combined training exercises. The committee was pleased to hear from Defence that a focus of the program had been dedicated to ensuring that the upgraded sites are able to be easily adapted, enabling new and emerging capabilities to be supported as they are rolled out across the Australian Defence Force with little or no future disruption. The committee recommends that the House find it expedient that the Departments of Defence United States Force Posture program proceed. I commend the report to the House. BILLS 50 BILLS Treasury Laws Amendment (COVID-19 Economic Response No. 2) Bill 2021 50

Treasury Laws Amendment (COVID-19 Economic Response No. 2) Bill 2021

Second Reading 50 16:44 Mr CHESTER IPZ Gippsland I take great pleasure in joining the debate on the Treasury Laws Amendment (COVID-19 Economic Response No. 2) Bill 2021. This bill builds on the federal government's support for the Australian business community in a time that has been absolutely unprecedented in our lifetimes. Before I get to the finer details of the bill I'd like to reflect a little bit on the situation on the ground in communities like Gippsland. As you'd be well aware, before coronavirus became a household name large parts of regional Australia, including my electorate of Gippsland, had endured multiple years of drought, leading up to the black summer of bushfires. The black summer of bushfires caused incredible social, economic and environmental disruption and damage to my community. At their peak, the bushfires resulted in the evacuation of 60,000 people from the East Gippsland community, which obviously devastated the hospitality sector and the visitor economy in my region. To lose their guests during a peak period of visitation had a dramatic impact on their incomes. At that time, disaster payments were provided for people who had to evacuate. There was support for the business community and commitments to build back better to make sure that the infrastructure that had been damaged would be repaired and in fact built back to a higher, more-resilient standard. And I must say, that is still happening. It's ongoing. It's been painfully slow, but it is still happening. Then, quite fortuitously for us, the recovery began. There was an enormous amount of goodwill within the community from people wanting to return to visit the bushfire-impacted regions. So, my hospitality sector, my accommodation providers, experienced an incredible surge in booking numbers—only to be hit by the COVID outbreak in Victoria. So, it's been a rollercoaster ride for the business sector: being open for business and taking huge surges in bookings and having a promised income flow, and then being closed down as lockdowns occurred in the state of Victoria on a longer and more-frequent basis than in many other parts of the nation. So, it is with great empathy, sympathy and trepidation that the community looks on at our friends and family in New South Wales who are experiencing a very long lockdown right now. It does have a major toll on the economy as well as a toll on the social wellbeing of families, people of all ages. And even though a region like mine at many times during the last 18 to 20 months has had weeks and months with zero cases, that region is still impacted by association, if you like, whenever there's an outbreak in Melbourne and a lockdown is applied. For one, it restricts travel of people to our region, but also there is the potential for exposure sites when people who later test positive for COVID have visited those regional locations. We had that experience on several occasions. And I must say, the small business owners who have been exposed in that way and have had to shut their doors and have borne the reputational damage that goes with being an exposure site, have done incredibly good work in keeping their staff and their customers safe. Their business plans—their COVID plans around social distancing, around QR codes and around mask wearing, where appropriate—have ensured that we haven't had outbreaks in my community of Gippsland. The federal government's response over the past 20 months has I think been commendable and, again, unprecedented: the JobKeeper arrangements, the support for the airline industry, the investment in economic stimulus packages for local government for regional development. All those initiatives have come at incredible cost to taxpayers, but they've been critical to ensuring that our economy has bounced back and has been more resilient than perhaps we ever would have expected. But, in particular for the hospitality and visitor economy—the tourism sector—it has come at an enormous cost as well. The loss of confidence among people to want to make bookings and the loss of confidence among business owners to invest in their properties—to commit to future capital upgrades and infrastructure improvements—has really had an impact on the sector. I do fear that, despite our best initiatives and despite the initiatives included in the legislation before the House today, we will lose some of those businesses, who just won't be able to cope with all of these lockdowns, with not only the roller-coaster of emotions but also the roller-coaster of income going up and down. They won't be able to trade their way through it. The government response in terms of income support during the lockdowns, I think, has been extraordinary. When a lockdown occurs, we see Australians who, obviously, face many immediate questions about their income, about what the weeks ahead look like for them and about how they navigate their pathway back to normal life. But, for Australians who are facing lockdowns, we have been working to deliver financial support to individuals and businesses through Services Australia. I want to commend the minister, the Prime Minister, the Treasurer and everyone involved in the ERC for working quickly through some of these challenges. We are seeking to share the costs with the state governments in delivering that much-needed support to small and medium-sized businesses. Keep in mind, in a community like mine, the typical business is a small or medium-sized business. It's a family owned enterprise. It's mum and dad and half a dozen or a dozen staff at best. The more dominant business in those communities is the small enterprise, so making sure that we work with the state governments to share the costs of this much-needed support for small and medium-sized businesses is critical. We know that people who have lost more than 20 hours of work in the previous week can claim $750 and that people who have lost between eight hours—a full day's work—and 20 hours can claim $450. That's the same level of support that we provided with JobKeeper last year. This is intended, obviously, to keep some cash flowing through the households, but it's also an incredibly important part of how we support the business community. Households with cash coming through them are in a position to support their local businesses. But, as much the government has a role to play in supporting the business sector, and I do commend the legislation before the House today, we as individuals also have our role to play. In my community, we have a promotion which we call Putting Locals First, and we need to keep putting locals first. It's about supporting those local tradies. It's about recognising that, if you can go into a local shop and purchase the item you need from the local shopkeeper, that money will flow through your community. It's about going to a local hairdresser, hiring a local tradie or eating at a local restaurant whenever you can, because it multiplies out through the community. It gives that business confidence to hire another apprentice or another trainee. It gives them the capacity, when sporting clubs and community groups walk in seeking sponsorship, to invest back into their community. So, by putting locals first as individuals and making those individual decisions, particularly in times like those of the bushfires or the coronavirus, we can all have an impact with our own salaries in supporting our local communities. One of the things that I've done in my role as a local member—and I'm sure, Deputy Speaker Vasta, if you get the chance to visit my community, you will happily embrace this particular challenge—is the Great Gippsland Pub Challenge. This year I've made a New Year's resolution I'm sure to keep, which is to visit every pub in my electorate and have a meal there to support the hospitality sector. There are 52 pubs in Gippsland; I've got through about 30 now. I'm still in the same sized T-shirt, but I'm not going to guarantee that by the end of the year! The idea is to challenge my constituents to visit pubs, because they're hospitality venues, and support those local jobs as well, and in return they'll get a '100 per cent Authentic Gippslander' T-shirt. If you're ever in my electorate, Deputy Speaker, I'm sure you'd be welcome to join me for a parmie or a steak at one of the fine establishments across Gippsland. So it is a partnership. It's a partnership with the community, but it's also a partnership with the states. We need to keep supporting these business owners to help them get through what has been a very difficult period. We've got to be honest, though. We've got to be honest with the Australian people and have this conversation: governments, in this difficult time, are not going to get every decision right. Our federal government has endeavoured at all times to take the advice of the experts and health authorities, to make decisions to keep Australians safe and to protect lives and livelihoods, but we have to acknowledge that we're not always going to get every decision right, just as some of the state premiers haven't got everything right on every occasion. But we have done better than almost every country in the world, and, as Australians, we should be proud of that. We should be proud of the fact that we've been able to get ourselves to this position, where we have saved lives, suppressed the virus and started the recovery process, even if it has been a bit of a roller-coaster in recent months. What we all have to do is keep following the public health advice, maintain social distancing as required to be COVID safe and, if you haven't already done so, make an appointment to get vaccinated. In relation to the legislation before the House today, it does continue the government's commitment to respond but also lead the recovery process. Under the Treasury Laws Amendment (COVID-19 Economic Response No.2) Bill there are five schedules. Schedule 1 has amendments relating to the COVID-19 economic response payments. That schedule to the bill amends the payments of benefits act to allow the Treasury to make rules for economic response payments to provide support to an entity where they've been adversely affected by a restriction imposed by a state or territory to control COVID-19. Schedule 2 relates to the disclosure of tax information to Australian government agencies to facilitate those COVID-19 business support programs. Schedule 3 allows for the tax-free treatment of payments from COVID-19 business support programs. This schedule introduces a new legislative instrument, making a power in the income tax laws to make eligible Commonwealth COVID-19 business grants free from income tax. It makes sure that the benefits that are being distributed have the greatest impact for the business owners themselves. Schedule 4 is a modification power. This measure will reinstate a power that allows responsible ministers to change arrangements for complying with information and documentary requirements under Commonwealth legislation in response to ongoing challenges posed by the pandemic. Schedule 5 includes the tax exemptions for COVID-19 disaster payments. They are a good range of measures that, as I said, continue the government's commitment to not only respond to the challenges of the pandemic but also help lead the recovery and ensure that Australians can get back to work and back to supporting their families and contributing to the productivity of our nation, which is so critical to our future growth prospects. Finally, in the moments I have left, I think it's important that we count our blessings and be a bit thankful as a nation. We should be thankful for the frontline health workers who have been out there every day during this pandemic. They have been out there every day, undertaking the testing, responding to people's health needs when they become unwell and ensuring that Australia's world-class health system is there for Australians and doesn't become overwhelmed. To our health workers, our nurses, our doctors and the people in the clinics, administering the vaccines or coordinating the program: thank you for the work you've done. Thank you to the shop workers, the people at the front line in those essential businesses. Even when we've had outbreaks in Sydney and Melbourne, where the biggest outbreaks have occurred, they've still been going to work every day, fronting the public and potentially exposing themselves to some level of risk. The transport operators and the truck drivers have been through an incredibly difficult year as well, often facing border restrictions, which to them—and, I must confess, to me as well—must have seemed pretty stupid at the time, being stuck on the side of the road for hours, waiting for testing to occur, when they wanted to continue delivering their loads and supplies around the nation. To people like that, to the medical professionals, to the retail workers, to the truck drivers, to the emergency services personnel, to our police, to our ambulance and fire authorities, to everyone who has been called on to play a role during the COVID pandemic: thank you for the work you've done. Of course, the Australian Defence Force has been called on enormously over the last couple of years. At the outset, I mentioned the bushfires in Gippsland. At the same time, they've been called out to respond to floods and storms and have then undertaken duties in their humanitarian aid and disaster relief capacities, both at home and abroad. Their capacity to respond when required, when the circumstances become too difficult for state authorities, is a capability we should be enormously proud of as a nation, and I thank them for their service. But the pathway out of this, the pathway for us as a nation, is the vaccine program. The Prime Minister has outlined his national plan in great detail, and I have every confidence in his capacity to deliver that with the support of his cabinet colleagues. Our challenge is to keep building hope, confidence and optimism amongst the Australian people and amongst the business community and to make sure that Australians know that their government has their back and that the government is working to overcome the challenges that they face. Without particularly seeking to single out any individuals, I do caution the House more generally that we mustn't talk Australia down at this difficult time. We mustn't be too negative, notwithstanding the challenges of identifying any flaws in the systems that have been put in place. Let's not talk Australia down. Let's keep working together as best we possibly can. The other point I'd make is that COVID cannot be an excuse to not get things done on the ground. COVID shouldn't be an excuse for things not being rolled out in a timely way when we make commitments for infrastructure and community activities. We have been able to deliver 12 million vaccine doses under the program, so it's rolling out. We have got an incredible range of economic stimulus packages available for local governments and state governments. We need to roll them out. We need to get stuff done on the ground. As a local MP, as the member for Gippsland, my absolute commitment is to keep putting locals first and making sure we're all working together, making good decisions and delivering a safer, stronger and fairer community. I thank the House. 17:00 Ms ROWLAND 159771 Greenway [by video link] I rise to speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (COVID-19 Economic Response No. 2) Bill 2021. Labor has been calling for more financial assistance from this government and supports getting money out to communities in lockdown, such as mine. So Labor will be supporting this bill. Along with my Labor colleagues, I have been calling on this government to do more to support the millions of Australians impacted by the outbreak of the COVID-19 delta variant. Western Sydney, including my electorate of Greenway, has been hit particularly hard by this lockdown and by the failures of this Prime Minister. Until recently, we were in the perverse situation where this lockdown was hitting Western Sydney so much harder than last year and the impact on small businesses was so much greater than last year yet the amount of federal government support on offer was actually less. This bill will make several changes to implement support for communities in lockdown. These changes are of course welcome but they are also a concession from the government that, once again, they got the support packages wrong. Unfortunately, they were dragged to it kicking and screaming, and it's too late for too many local businesses in my electorate. Getting support right is critical to ensuring workers are still employed and businesses are still around on the other side of a lockdown. Labor know this absolutely and, though the government had to be dragged kicking and screaming to this point, we will support this bill. As I said, the residents and small businesses of Western Sydney are paying the price for this Prime Minister's failures. Eighteen months into this pandemic they are paying the price for his failures on vaccines, quarantine and timely financial assistance. As a result of this Prime Minister's sheer incompetence—incompetence that is costing the economy billions of dollars each week—residents in my electorate of Greenway are paying the price. Health is at risk, lives are at risk, livelihoods are at risk and small businesses are at risk. The economy is bleeding billions each week. As I travel through the northern end of my electorate in particular, there is an eerie silence on building sites which were once occupied by tradies, where homes are under construction but are surrounded by fences and locked up. As I said, this Prime Minister had to be dragged kicking and screaming to do the right thing by the residents of Western Sydney but, unfortunately, for too many of them that has come too late. It is typical of this Prime Minister, who doesn't take responsibility for anything—who doesn't hold a hose and who said the vaccination rollout wasn't a race. For so many small businesses, the additional assistance that's on offer has in some cases come too late and in other cases is simply not enough. It's also typical of this Prime Minister to show he is completely out of touch with reality and loose with the truth. This is a national emergency, and it needs national leadership that we are not getting. Instead we have a Prime Minister who went around saying the vaccination rollout wasn't a race and then attempted to deny as much in parliament today. We all know that he dragged his feet on the vaccination schedule. We all know that, despite his promise, he failed to get all stranded Australians home by last Christmas. We all know that he has offered incentives for vaccinations and then denied doing so. These empty words and lies are not helping anyone. They are not helping any of the small businesses I represent. They are not helping any of the families in Greenway. People need help—real action, not empty promises or this Prime Minister's delusion and denial. Mr Deputy Speaker, what did the Prime Minister answer during question time today when I asked him if he still commends the New South Wales Premier for resisting an earlier lockdown, as he did on the Sunrise program on 24 June? What did Australia's Prime Minister say today when I asked him about the hundreds of thousands of working parents across Western Sydney, including in my electorate, who are bracing themselves for remote schooling with no end date? I'll tell you what he did. He spoke about himself. That's right: Australia's fully vaccinated Prime Minister, who doesn't live in Western Sydney, made it all about himself. The people of Western Sydney need a competent Prime Minister who is in touch with their struggles, not someone completely out of touch with their everyday reality. One area in which this government demonstrates that it is completely out of touch with the needs of Western Sydney is in the provision of translations of COVID information in the languages that are spoken in Western Sydney. In the Blacktown local government area alone, there are some 180 different languages spoken. And it's not just about getting information translated; it's about socialising that information as well. It needs to reach people who need to understand the rules and the vaccination options available to them. I represent an electorate where nearly half of the households speak a language other than English at home. When I look up some of the information on publicly available government websites, it is actually easier to find specific information in Icelandic than it is in Tamil. This should not be happening. We need to ensure that everyone in our community understands the rules and can access information as readily as possible. It is the case that the vast majority of local residents want to do the right thing, but the reality is that some of these rules are extremely confusing in terms of how they apply in practice, and there is the fact that they have been changing so rapidly. I held a community Zoom meeting last week with hundreds of local residents and there were very practical questions asked, but there was also a high level of confusion in some areas, and these were from people who are predominantly proficient in English. It is hard enough for native English speakers to keep track of the evolving COVID safety messages, let alone Australians for whom English is their second language. Unfortunately, as I said today, neither the New South Wales nor federal government health websites are consistent or comprehensive when it comes to the provision of in-language translations about COVID. The vaccine eligibility checker, for example, isn't translated into the range of languages you would expect it to be given the spread of COVID that has occurred in Western Sydney. As I said, people want to do the right thing. Everyone is grateful to their neighbours for doing the right thing. No-one wants to be locked down and be under the restrictions that we currently have. But, to ensure compliance and to encourage vaccinations, governments at least need to ensure the right information reaches the right people at the right time, so I call on the better use of the resources of government needed to ensure consistent information is given to our diverse communities. I acknowledge the efforts of many local champions in my area with whom I continue to work on outreach and getting the messages out there. Labor haven't been calling on just more financial assistance. We have been calling for more vaccination support—not only more vaccines but also more vaccination clinics. I welcome the recent rollout of walk-in vaccination clinics offering COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccines to everyone aged 18 and over. At present and according to the New South Wales government website, there are several walk-in clinics established in Western Sydney. However, there are no walk-in clinics currently listed in the electorate of Greenway, including in the southern end of my electorate, which has been particularly adversely affected by COVID. I have written constructively to the New South Wales health minister urging him to expand the number of walk-in vaccination clinics in my area to help make it easier for my residents to get vaccinated without needing to make an appointment. I note that, according to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald today, fewer than one in 10 are fully vaccinated in parts of Australia. I quote: Sydney's south-west, at the epicentre of the latest outbreak, has one of the lowest rates of fully vaccinated people in the state ... Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, social disadvantage is a key driver at this outcome. This is part of the reason why Labor has announced its plan to give $300 to every Australian vaccinated by December. There is no doubt that incentives can play a role in getting Australia's vaccination rates up and our lives and our economy going again. Yet this Prime Minister decries this constructive suggestion from Labor, saying it's wasteful. That's right: the same Prime Minister who delivered $13 billion of JobKeeper payments to businesses whose earnings went up, rather than down, during the pandemic, engineered massive rorting of taxpayer funds through sports rorts and car park rorts and thinks paying $30 million for airport land worth $3 million is okay got up in the parliament today and decried the idea of cash incentives for vaccinations as wasteful. The Prime Minister oversees a government that failed to secure enough vaccines, talked down the race that we are in to vaccinate our population and has failed to provide consistent and comprehensive in-language translations about vaccination eligibility in the languages for our diverse communities who need it. He sees fit to talk down the need for financial incentives for Australians to get vaccinated as soon as possible. Australians whose pockets are hurting just as much as their emotions are hurting are far and wide. We need the vaccination schedule to be done much faster. Australians are worth it. It is worth getting our tradies back on the job in Western Sydney. It is worth our children being able to see their friends and socialise and learn as they are used to doing. It is worth being able to conduct a working day that is actually conducive to productivity and efficiency. In my concluding comments, I would like to note that my parliamentary colleague the member for Fenner—and I'm so pleased he's in the chamber—has pointed out this government's historic $13 billion in JobKeeper waste: Some of those big firms that got cheques they didn't need have handed them back. Dominoes, Iluka and Toyota are among them, and together they have collectively handed back around $225 million dollars across 25 firms. But that is a small drop in the bucket of what I'd estimate to be $13 billion of taxpayer money that went to firms whose earnings went up during the pandemic, rather than down. I conclude by saying: Australians are worth it. We are worth getting our lives back to normal as soon as possible, and the pathway to that is getting us vaccinated as quickly as possible. 17:12 Ms STEGGALL 175696 Warringah [by video link] I rise to speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (COVID-19 Economic Response No. 2) Bill 2021. This bill makes the necessary amendments to the legislation to enable the COVID economic response package which has been announced in recent weeks, following the recent outbreak of COVID-19 in New South Wales and around Australia. The consequential lockdowns in New South Wales have been really, really hard, and testament to that is my appearing by video link to represent the people of Warringah in parliament. I welcome the assistance that the Commonwealth government has provided to the businesses and individuals of New South Wales who are being greatly impacted by the current lockdown measures, but I have to say that this support doesn't go far enough. The small businesses have used up all their savings. People—especially small-business owners, especially here in my electorate of Warringah—are at breaking point. They were locked down already during the most profitable time of the year—at Christmas and in the holidays—while the rest of Sydney roamed free. They're confused and distraught, with no end to this lockdown in sight and with case numbers that continue to rise. People are really at breaking point. I feel for businesses, and I'm doing all I can to support them and to advocate for their needs. It is so important that the government hears this message loud and clear. These measures are welcome, but much more is needed. It's not enough. I would say to the Treasurer, who I know is going to address some businesses in Warringah this evening by video link: 'It's not enough. You need to really listen to businesses, to listen to how they are coping, and to understand the cracks. Don't be too proud to think that this is all perfect. You can do better and things can be adjusted. It's important to attend open forums to take questions and really listen to people on the ground for their experience.' Many local business owners have been speaking to me and—like many other members of parliament, I'm sure—I've been attending numerous forums over Zoom to understand their plight and make sure that the issues they're having are conveyed to the government. There are issues with the packages from the state government but the issues are mostly with the federal government's JobSaver program. There's so much confusion and bewilderment for small business about why the government couldn't continue with the JobKeeper plan. It was a system that they knew, that they understood and that worked. It was a success story. If you tightened up the areas of excess and where money had been wasted, this was a program that worked. But now these businesses, absolutely distraught with lockdown and facing all the challenges, have to adjust to a whole new system—and there are issues with that system. The new JobSaver program and the COVID disaster payment actually act as disincentives for employees to actually work where work is available. The fact that the employees now receive a payment when there's been a reduction of hours, and that payment comes directly from Services Australia rather than from their employer, which was what was occurring under JobKeeper, means that it's more akin to a social security payment than a wage subsidy. It no longer ties employees to their employers. Whereas JobKeeper did tie employees to employers financially, this new combination of JobSaver and the COVID disaster payment doesn't have the same effect. For example, a small business that has pivoted and is staying afloat by, for example, serving takeaway still needs to pay staff directly to come in. But, at the same time, staff are receiving the disaster payment and some are, in fact, not making themselves available to work. Small businesses who are trying desperately to maintain their business need to meet their fixed liabilities and, in addition, wages—and it's simply not possible. Fixed liabilities like rent, insurance, stock and energy bills are things that they need assistance with, and the current structure of the program simply doesn't address these things. One large hospitality venue in Warringah estimated that they are about $70,000 a month worse off under the latest package than they were under the supports last year before they even pay wages, which are no longer subsidised. So there really is an issue with the current structure of the package. Some of the wages that they have to pay include wages for COVID marshals and additional cleaners to improve the safety of venues. Another issue that has been raised is the hard thresholds for support. I do agree that there needs to be evidence of reduction of turnover. We simply can't afford to see that kind of abuse of the system where businesses that have not suffered a loss take so much public funds. But I've also got feedback from local businesses that the hard cut-off of a 30 per cent, 50 per cent or 70 per cent reduction to qualify for support is creating an uneven structure. For example, a business that has suffered a 28 per cent reduction gets nothing and yet it is substantially in the same boat as a business who has suffered 30 per cent. Likewise, a business with a 68 per cent reduction receives significantly less than one with a 70 per cent reduction. So I would urge the government to think about these threshold categories, because what you are creating are very uneven outcomes for businesses that are all in the same boat. A more gradual approach to tiers would be welcomed by many businesses. Another issue that has been raised with me is that basing the grants on the payroll liability alone is not an accurate reflection of the cost for a business and the challenges they are facing in staying open. For businesses that have been struggling since the beginning of the pandemic and are operating with skeleton staff it means that their fixed costs such as rent, power, insurance and indemnity—all those aspects—are not covered in the assessment of the level of support they receive through JobSaver. They are simply not being supported to the extent that they need. Staff wages are often only about 20 per cent of the operating costs of a small business. So the government is essentially only assisting 40 per cent of 20 per cent of those costs. That's not enough. So whilst the name of this policy, JobSaver, is nice in theory, it simply won't save jobs, because businesses will not be there when the lockdown finishes. So it's really important for the government to listen and for the Treasurer to listen and adjust this program to take into account the needs. The grants don't reflect all those expenses. Rental support is a major issue so part of those fixed expenses are that rental cost. Many local businesses are calling for a return to the mandatory code of conduct for leasing that was implemented last year. While there are concessions and incentives for landlords to provide the rental relief, and they're welcome, they're not having the desired effect. I see from the ground, from businesses here in Sydney, in Warringah, that are under lockdown, that this is not working. They are still being met with demanding landlords and this is just not tenable for them. Especially if landlords, for example, are benefitting from reductions and benefits themselves and then not passing them on. That really is unconscionable. I appreciate that incentivising landlords is an approach that is preferred but it's simply not enough at the moment. With an extended lockdown period we have businesses here in Warringah that have been shut for five weeks now. We have another three weeks to go. On the numbers announced today it is highly likely we will be in lockdown for some more weeks to come. Businesses will not survive. At the moment the only reprieve is in the form of a deferral of rent where the businesses are permanently suffering losses. The landlords will get their rent back eventually but businesses will not get their lost turnover back. I would urge the government to consider a return to the mandatory code to make landlords come to the table because at the moment many are not willing to negotiate. The current New South Wales regulation only applies from the period of 13 July to 20 August. Ironically the lockdown started on 26 June and will continue beyond 20 August, so national cabinet needs to work to reconsider these time frames. I urge the government to redesign some of these support packages. It needs to provide the subsidy to business owners—such as one-third of cost of rent payment, a third paid to the landlord and a third by the tenant. There are a lot of proposals that have been put forward. There needs to be progress on these issues. A key issue of concern is support beyond the lockdown. There's going to need to be support for a good three to six months beyond lockdown. Many industries and businesses work way in advance and all of their bookings have been cancelled. They will not emerge with a full trading capacity at the end of this lockdown. They need that certainty to know what will happen on the other side. At the moment it is a deadly silence coming from government, from national cabinet, on what happens beyond lockdown. I urge the government to deal with that, to give businesses some certainty. The events industry, for example, takes bookings three to six months in advance. They've lost all their bookings for the remainder of the year and they won't miraculously appear again the other side of the lockdown. Businesses like events, conferences, major sporting events, performing arts are all on their knees. They have already been suffering so much since the start of the pandemic. They are calling for some clear policies, like a COVID cancellation insurance policy, to be jointly funded by the government and the industry so that there can be some confidence for people in businesses in these industries to be able to schedule and plan events, so that if they have to be cancelled they are covered to an extent. This includes mass participation sporting events. They bring huge value to our society. They've been decimated in the last 24 months—even outside lockdown zones because as states shut down borders we simply see events cancelled. We have recently seen the Port Macquarie ironman cancelled with millions lost to the local community but also lost to local charities because so much is erased through our events like this. It really is important to understand. I have met with the members of AMPSEA—the mass participation events alliance. I know they have met with the minister for trade and tourism. I urge him to come up with that plan and that event cancellation policy. Travel agents have been suffering since the beginning of this pandemic—they are still—with no end in sight. Whilst under JobKeeper they at least had some level of subsidy while they processed cancellations they are now left at a loss. They need some certainty. There needs to be further announcements from the government in relation to grants packages beyond the current round, the consumer travel support grants. There really needs to be more certainty. In relation to individuals, I welcome the announcements of the COVID disaster response payment. But it would have been so much better if this could have been announced in a timely way, at the beginning of the lockdown, so people could know they were going to be covered and could comply. Instead what we see is two or three weeks delay in announcing, people still going about with business because they fear for their ability to feed themselves and meet their liabilities, and transmission continuing in the community. It is so important for government to provide certainty. I'm pleased the government has finally given additional support to those on JobSeeker and payments and those who have lost work, especially students, but there are still many that aren't getting access to that. We need to make sure all those individuals in those groups are able to get support. In particular, tradies who, for example, are under 18 and may have left school and lost their hours of work. They are not eligible for the support packages. So there needs to be that flexibility in the programs to ensure that all of those who need help are able to receive that support. The Australian National University has found that people on JobSeeker, with the COVID supplement at that higher rate, were demonstrably more likely to find work when the coronavirus supplement was in place because they experienced reduced poverty and less housing stress. So if we want people in work—and we do want people to work—then we need to ensure they are appropriately supported to be able to do that. So I welcome the measures, but I do urge the government to be realistic. To save jobs, you need businesses to survive. The programs need to be tailored to ensure businesses' needs are met and that they are able to deal with it. It is a shame it is always reactionary policy that is not proactive. We have all been calling for plans and for more proactive policy in providing support. Finally, I thank everyone around the northern beaches for doing such an amazing job at complying with orders and the high levels of testing. Please, please get vaccinated. 17:27 Ms WELLS 264121 Lilley [by video link] I rise to speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (COVID-19 Economic Response No. 2) Bill 2021. As I speak, millions of Australians are in lockdown, including in my electorate of Lilley in the north side of Brisbane. I am joining parliament for the very first time virtually from Nundah today. In my community, frontline health workers at Prince Charles Hospital are working night and day treat people with COVID. We now have six testing sites on the ground here in our electorate testing north-siders, with umpteen more administering vaccine doses to keep us safe. Aged-care workers are protecting our senior citizens who are most vulnerable to the disease—and for insufficient pay, I would add. We have retail workers and service workers here on the north side at places like Westfield Chermside, Woollies at Sandgate, Aldi at Toombul and Coles at Stafford who are continuing to work and to put their own health and safety at risk so we can buy groceries and feed our families. Healthcare workers, nurses and GPs are doing their bit to get as many jabs in arms as possible. Their receptionists and other healthcare workers are bearing the brunt of the Morrison government's bungled vaccine rollout. The common thread uniting north-siders and all Australians is that no matter where they are, where they live or what they do for work, all we want is for our pandemic recovery to succeed, and to succeed as quickly as possible. Today we are debating a bill to implement administrative arrangements to support communities that have recently been locked down. Of course I welcome any financial support for workers and businesses in Lilley who are struggling because of COVID. But lockdowns like the one in Sydney and the one we are experiencing here in Brisbane right now have been made necessary by the Prime Minister's failures to deliver on vaccines and fit-for-purpose quarantine facilities—failures which are hurting workers and small-business owners and are costing the economy hundreds of millions of dollars a day. Roughly $300 million a day is the price that Australian workers and small businesses are paying for his incompetence. The government's failures on vaccines and quarantine are putting lives, jobs, the economy and the recovery at risk. The Morrison government had two jobs throughout COVID: to roll out the vaccines as efficiently as possible and to make sure that our borders are safe, with fit-for-purpose quarantine facilities. Sixteen months into this pandemic, we are the last in the OECD for vaccines, and there wasn't a dollar in the latest federal budget for fit-for-purpose quarantine facilities. The Morrison government may not be pulling the trigger on lockdowns, but they are the ones responsible for them. A few weeks ago I spoke with Dr Conor Calder-Potts at Shaw Road Medical Centre in Wavell Heights about how we can improve the vaccine rollout in our electorate. In March 2021 Dr Calder-Potts applied to become a clinic to administer the AstraZeneca vaccine. He increased his clinic's infrastructure, purchased extra vaccine fridges, hired more nurses and found more space to vaccinate people. Shortly after that, the Morrison government announced that patients should contact their GP to book a vaccination. There was a small problem: GP clinics hadn't actually received any GP doses yet and did not know how many doses they could receive or how many patients they could book in to be vaccinated. The consequence of this policy blunder was that medical receptionists and nurses were copping abuse from confused and frustrated Australians who were receiving mixed messages while they were just trying to do the right thing. Shaw Road Medical Centre had to wait almost two months before they finally received their allotment of AstraZeneca doses. Their capacity in the clinics was about 700 vaccines per week, but they were given only 150 vaccines per week. That is 25 per cent of their potential realised. Since ATAGI changed their advice regarding AstraZeneca, demand for Pfizer is growing, but the clinic is yet to receive any Pfizer doses whatsoever. The latest reports that the clinic has received are that they are only likely to receive Pfizer doses in September or October, if at all. As Dr Calder-Potts said, 'As a GP, I think the best way for us to escape this pandemic is to vaccinate Australia. Unfortunately, we haven't received the vaccines to be able to do that, and I hope the vaccine rollout will improve in the near future so that we can move forward and vaccinate everyone.' Since COVID-19 reached our shores in 2020 we have seen 26 leaks from hotel quarantine, which have wreaked havoc in our communities. The solution to this problem is just common sense: we need fit-for-purpose quarantine facilities. Hotels like the Novotel at Brisbane Airport and Eagle Farm were built for tourism, not for quarantine. So, I welcomed the federal government's agreement to work with the Queensland state government to finally build a fit-for-purpose quarantine facility in South-East Queensland. This is urgent infrastructure for which federal Labor has been calling for some time. However, I am extremely disappointed in the lack of community consultation with my community before the Morrison government decided to leak their decision to the press. Because neither the Prime Minister nor the Deputy Prime Minister could not be bothered to do their due diligence and consult with the people of Pinkenba, I thought I would bring the feedback from Pinkenba, and more broadly, to the parliament here tonight. During the winter break I doorknocked Pinkenba Village to listen to the feedback of Lilley locals about the proposed quarantine facility at Damascus Barracks, near Brisbane Airport. I followed up that day's doorknocking by attending the Pinkenba Community Association meeting at the Trade Coast Hotel. Overall, Pinkenba locals agreed that the Damascus Barracks is well situated, and they welcomed the proposal. But it's not a done deal yet, and there are some really important issues that we need to resolve first. Dr Richard Alexander from the Pinkenba Community Association said that the Damascus Barracks is a logical site but his major concern is that the site is heavily contaminated with asbestos. So, for the safety of quarantined residents and workers, it is paramount that 100 per cent decontamination of this site occurs before the site is fit for occupancy. And for the Pinkenba site to be an effective and safe operation, critical issues of air quality, noise levels, human rights concerns, health and infection control, time, cost and the site's potential future use need to be addressed. These issues can be resolved, but it will take time and money to do so. Not only do Lilley locals want the best quarantine facility that meets the health and wellbeing needs of its staff and residents; they also want to make sure that the facility provides economic and social use opportunities into the future. Rob, the president of the Pinkenba Community Association, raised a great point during the meeting: that we have the international cruise terminal in Pinkenba. So, in the future, this quarantine facility could be used for disease outbreaks onboard international ships. It's really important that the Morrison government engages with the community, to maximise local benefit and, wherever possible, to ensure that all manufacturing and supply opportunities come from local businesses. We have such a proud history of local manufacturing on the north side, particularly in places like Eagle Farm and Pinkenba. Dr Alexander was also worried about transparency. He suggested that a community person should be involved in the consultation, construction and management committee process, to make sure that the building and the ongoing running have some community input and transparency—much like the community has on major works by the Brisbane Airport. I think this is a great idea, and it came about by their representative actually going and listening. I encourage the Morrison government to do the same. Gary told me that we have a responsibility to look after people with COVID, and it's clearly not working well in hotel quarantine. He thought that Pinkenba was a great fit, but was frustrated by how long this seems to have taken. An agreement hasn't even been reached yet between the state and federal governments. We've been in a national emergency for over a year now but the Morrison government has not acted with urgency when it comes to international quarantine. The best time to build a fit-for-purpose quarantine facility was a year ago, but the second-best time is right now. It is time that the Morrison government stepped up, did their job and injected some urgency into building a fit-for-purpose quarantine facility at Pinkenba. At every step of the COVID crisis, Labor has called for crucial financial support to protect jobs and the Morrison government have been dragged along, kicking and screaming. The changes in this bill are welcome but, 18 months into this pandemic, workers and businesses are still paying the price for the Prime Minister's failures on vaccines and quarantine, and for the Morrison government's decision to cut JobKeeper prematurely. Getting support right is critical to ensuring that people are still employed and that businesses are still around on the other side of lockdown. Australians need certainty, not continued policy changes and policymaking on the run. This bill is a concession from the government that they, once again, got these support packages wrong. Since March 2020 I have called for specific, targeted support for our 6,600 aviation workers here in my electorate of Lilley, whose livelihoods have been decimated by COVID-19 through no fault of their own. I wrote to the Prime Minister and to the former Deputy Prime Minister about this and I've spoken in the parliament about this at least half a dozen times. I have even met with the now former Deputy Prime Minister on this very issue, in person in parliament. At every step of the way I have been ignored or shrugged off by the Morrison government. Yesterday, the new Deputy Prime Minister hosted a press conference to announce further support for the aviation industry. Great! But how many times do I have to say that support for the industry is not the same as support for the workers? Qantas has received $2 billion in financial support from the federal government, including $200 million in JobKeeper. With $2 billion in his pocket, Alan Joyce tried to outsource the jobs of 2,000 baggage handlers last year—a decision which, on Friday of last week, was found to be illegal by the Federal Court. This morning, not 24 hours after the Deputy Prime Minister announced further unconditional support for the aviation industry, Alan Joyce announced that he will be standing down a further 2,500 workers. This is exactly why public money given to giant private companies like Qantas should only be given on the condition that this taxpayer money will be used to keep local workers in their jobs. The Prime Minister has Alan Joyce's number on speed dial. He now needs to pick up the phone and tell Alan Joyce that any taxpayer support given to Qantas must be used to keep workers in their jobs here on the north side of Brisbane. I thank the House. The DEPUTY SPEAKER 265979 The question is that the amendment be disagreed to. I call the member for Dobell. 17:39 Ms McBRIDE 248353 Dobell [by video link] I rise to speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (COVID-19 Economic Response No. 2) Bill 2021. I have lost count of the number of times I have spoken in this House about the failures of the Morrison government during this pandemic and the devastating impact it's had on the community I represent on the Central Coast of New South Wales. As a pharmacist and local MP, I am deeply concerned. The Prime Minister likes to try to shift blame whenever he can, but there's no getting around the fact that the biggest failings of this pandemic response are squarely his responsibility. The government is responsible for aged care, the vaccine rollout and hotel quarantine. And what have we seen? Tragically, 685 lives lost in aged care, 28 leaks from hotel quarantine and Australia rated dead last in the OECD for fully vaccinated adults. This is a prime minister who won't accept responsibility for anything. He doesn't take responsibility for the leaks from hotel quarantine and doesn't take responsibility for the botched vaccine rollout. I'd like to go back to when the rollout first began, in February. My electorate on the Central Coast was completely overlooked. The nearest hospital hubs announced were the Hornsby and the John Hunter in Newcastle. When nurses at the front line of COVID and other healthcare workers in my community were told they would be among the first to get vaccinated, the nearest hubs were based at the RPA, Westmead and Liverpool, meaning workers would have to travel, in their own time, over an hour and a half to be protected and to protect those people they were looking after. We're now 18 months into this pandemic, and, once again, I find myself asking the Morrison government to explain why the people on the Central Coast are being left behind. Just last week, six months into this rollout, I launched a petition with my Labor colleagues calling for a mass vaccination hub on the coast. There are now three hubs in Sydney, which are welcome, one in the Hunter at Belmont and one being set up in Wollongong—all important as part of our national response to this global pandemic. But there are still no plans for a hub on the Central Coast, in a community where one in five people are aged over 65—and we know the greater risk older Australians are at if they catch COVID-19. We've had recent active cases, including a healthcare worker at a local hospital, and fragments in sewerage. This is urgent. It gets worse. Many people on the coast have just had their long-awaited Pfizer vaccine appointments cancelled, in yet another example of this government's botched rollout. Locals received text messages or emails across the weekend saying that their vaccine had been redirected to year 12 students in Sydney. That's after they had already been forced to wait more than 60 days to get an appointment in the first place. That's after they've been forced to spend six weeks in lockdown, with no end in sight, and after they've been repeatedly told by the Premier that vaccination is the way out of this lockdown. It just does not make sense. This wouldn't be happening if the Prime Minister had done his job and secured enough vaccines earlier for all Australians. What's even more frustrating is that some of my constituents who have had their appointments cancelled are high-school teachers who work at the various schools in Sydney where these vaccines are being redirected to students. Many of them are frontline healthcare workers who are yet to be vaccinated. They are people like Ana, a high-school teacher living on the coast who teaches in Sydney. She told me: 'Since the stay-at-home orders, I feel I have done my bit. I have only travelled to and from work to provide supervision to students whose parents are essential workers. I have also continued to work with students who need access to the college facilities to continue their work on HSC major work projects. After countless attempts to make a booking I have managed to secure a booking for the Pfizer vaccination at Gosford Hospital on 2 September.' Then, on Sunday, Ana received a message telling her that her appointment would have to be rescheduled, because the vaccine was being redirected to year 12 students in western and south-western Sydney. In her words: 'To say that I'm angry with the New South Wales Premier is an understatement. I was recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes'—this was in late April—'and, as soon as I was diagnosed, I was advised by my GP to get the Pfizer vaccination. To be informed that my vaccination will now be cancelled is upsetting. All I can ask is that all current bookings for Pfizer be closely examined rather than all being redirected to year 12 students. I need Pfizer.' Then there's Catherine, recently diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer and currently undergoing chemotherapy. Her oncologist has recommended the Pfizer vaccine between her second and third rounds of chemotherapy, before, in his words, her immune system becomes too weak to handle the vaccine. She tried to book in for a vaccine everywhere on the coast, and even tried the Homebush vaccination hub in Sydney, but hasn't been able to get in any earlier than September. She said: 'I don't understand. I'm severely immunocompromised. My time frame is so short. My doctors have advised Pfizer for a number of reasons, and I can't find anyone to assist me in getting this vaccine. I spend hours on the phone. I check the website eligibility regularly when it's not crashing. The earliest appointment I can get is 15 September, but my doctors tell me it's likely my blood count will be too low by then. I literally don't know what else to do. To fight one disease is enough. To not be able to fight the second and be at high risk, if I ever contracted COVID, both astounds and upsets me and my family immensely. We are considered Greater Sydney for lockdown but not for to access for vaccines.' These are just two of the many people in my community who have been devastated by the botched vaccine rollout, and none of these people would be in this situation if the Morrison government had done its job and secured enough vaccines for everyone earlier. We wouldn't be facing months of lockdown, which is a major financial burden for local businesses and workers who haven't been given enough support to help them get through. There are people like Nicole, who was working as a casual autism swim instructor, but she hasn't been able to work since lockdown and is ineligible for the disaster payment. She told me: 'I'd like to know how I'm supposed to support myself and three teenagers on a JobSeeker payment of $683 per fortnight. I'm scared I won't be able to pay my rent and bills over the next month in my current financial position.' That was the situation for Nicole, and there are others who are missing out on financial support altogether because of the government's eligibility criteria. There are people like Ben. Ben is a musician studying for a Bachelor of Music at the University of Newcastle. Before COVID, he supplemented his youth allowance with live performances. He told me: 'Many of us are sole traders and don't earn enough to reach the tax free threshold of $18,000, which makes it very difficult for us to be granted a government payment such as the New South Wales business grant, which can only be handed out to a businesses with an income of $79,000 or more. These lockdowns have made it extremely difficult for us to secure work and to keep ourselves financially stable with the limited government support available in our industry. When these lockdowns first came into force, our whole industry was essentially destroyed overnight. Gigs that were planned for several months down the track were all of a sudden cancelled on us. The effect these lockdowns have had on our industry will mean a slow recovery for the live music scene and will be felt for many years to come.' Other micro businesses are in a similar position. I heard from a beauty therapist who told me her business was under the threshold for support. She found out through social media that her business would have to close, with a few hours notice. She scrambled home and tried to rebook clients. She told me being forced to seek government support for the first time in her life was challenging, confusing and frustrating. And the uncertainty about the length of the lockdown was adding to the stress of her situation. While her partner in this business did qualify for support, some five weeks into the lockdown he's yet to see any money come in—five weeks in a lockdown with no support coming through. Deputy Speaker, people on the north of the coast are struggling. They've been left behind for far too long, and this government has failed to support them. Before I finish, I want to turn to mental health and the serious mental health impacts of this pandemic, which has sometimes been described as a shadow pandemic. But we know about the link between financial distress and mental health crisis and the tragic consequences. I saw this working in adult mental health inpatient units, where a relationship breaks down and someone finds themselves unable to pay their mortgage or find money for the rent in a business. They end up in financial distress and a mental health crisis and then in an acute inpatient unit. What we know, and what peak bodies like the Black Dog Institute and others have said, is that one of the most effective mental health measures that this government could make is to introduce more robust financial support. And coupled with that financial support is the necessity to keep an employee linked to their employer—a genuine wages subsidy. Because people need financial support and they also need job security. They need to know they've got a job to go back to. I also want to touch on pharmacists and their role in the vaccine rollout. The Prime Minister mentioned this today. I have heard from so many pharmacists who are just exasperated. Like me, they're trained immunisers, they're ready and they've been prepared. They put in expressions of interest back in February and welcomed the health minister's announcement earlier in the year that they'd be part of the rollout. But up until now very few of them have been part of the vaccine rollout. In my community, they've only been able to start this week. What we know is that in countries across the world where pharmacists have been involved in the vaccine rollout they have seen higher rates of vaccination. We know that in some countries we've seen rates of 60 or 70 per cent where they've relied on a network of pharmacists and GPs who are known in their local community and who are trusted. In communities where there's no other health support, there's often a pharmacy there. While I welcome pharmacists' involvement in the vaccine rollout, I am so disappointed, as are pharmacists across Australia, that their skills and expertise weren't drawn on earlier. They've just been sidelined, waiting to contribute, to do their bit to help with the vaccine rollout. Just to finish, I want to go back to my community and the two failures of this government to provide proper financial support. The backbone of my community comprises tradies and microbusinesses. So many of them have found themselves ineligible for financial support or, if they are eligible, waiting weeks for any financial support to come through. For workers who have lost their jobs and, in the absence of JobKeeper, who don't know if they'll have a job to go back to, this is a desperate situation in my community that the government either hasn't recognised, doesn't care about or isn't willing to do something about. The other part is the vaccine rollout. From the very beginning, the Central Coast of New South Wales has been overlooked. It has been left behind. In a community where one in five people are aged over 65 and are at significant risk if they contract COVID, this is a serious concern to me as a pharmacist, as a trained immuniser and as a local MP. Just this week, we've seen Pfizer vaccinations redirected without consultation from a community like mine to western and south-western Sydney. What has this meant for the people that I've mentioned? Teachers with type 1 diabetes are unable to get a shot when the students they teach are being prioritised over them. It has meant a mum with advanced ovarian cancer, who is trying desperately to access a Pfizer vaccine, between her second and third round of chemotherapy, has been unable to do so. This is not good enough. This government's botched vaccine rollout is putting communities like mine and those across Australia at risk. All of this was avoidable. It could have been prevented if the Prime Minister and the government had just done their job and secured more vaccines for all Australians at the very beginning. The Prime Minister says it's not a race, but it is, and it's one we're losing. I conclude by going back to where I started. I asked the Prime Minister in question time today—when I asked him about Pfizer vaccines being redirected from the Central Coast to Sydney, what did the Prime Minister say? Again, he dodged, shifted responsibility and was unwilling to help. He said that he disagreed with the Premier of New South Wales's decision and that it was a state government decision. Prime Minister, this isn't about blame shifting. This isn't about dodging responsibility. This is about the health and wellbeing of all Australians in a global pandemic. Our community deserves better. 17:52 Ms TEMPLEMAN 181810 Macquarie I rise to speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (COVID-19 Economic Response No. 2) Bill 2021. Listening to the speeches in this place today, it does feel like we live in two different worlds. On our side, people have been speaking about the pain and distress that our constituents are experiencing now, and yet I have heard so little of that from the other side. I don't know if it's that they don't know it, don't see it or just don't want to talk about it. It has been really stark. Listening to the member for Dobell and her plea that pharmacists get brought in—I'm looking forward to that rolling out, because we have very similar problems in the Blue Mountains and the Hawkesbury to those that she describes on the Central Coast. I absolutely support getting this bill through parliament. I support whatever financial assistance there's going to be to help people. But it is week 6 of the lockdown. In the last week, the conversations I've had with individuals and small businesses have been those of despair, because so many have not yet seen a cent of support come through to them. These are tough, resilient people. We've been through fires; we've been through floods; we've had the first lot of COVID. But this last wave has been more profound. I heard the Prime Minister say a couple of weeks ago, 'People have built up a buffer in the last six months.' I don't know where he has been talking to people. Perhaps that's big business, but for small businesses in my community in most sectors, particularly hospitality and anything involving tourism, there's no buffer. That buffer's gone, and this wave is really hurting. I've had people in tears. It's not unusual for my office to have people describing their distress in emails, and phoning us and having conversations. They are literally in tears, partly because of the confusion about the payments and the lack of clarity in this system. They have to wait on the phone for hours and hours, particularly with Service NSW, to see if they meet the very strict eligibility criteria for the business stuff. They can't apply for the Commonwealth COVID disaster payment until they know for sure that they're not going to get the state one. These things don't work together; they work against each other. As I was coming into the chamber, I had people messaging me, saying, 'I have just spent another four hours on the phone waiting' or 'I've just spent a couple of hours on the phone; they told me yesterday that I was eligible, but nothing has come through.' I really can't stress how profound this financial anxiety is that's been created, and the Prime Minister bears responsibility for it. I know he's tried to pass business off and say, 'That's for the states,' but, in the end, he's had to come on board and recognise that the states are not going to provide the sort of support that's needed. I'll talk about JobSaver in a moment. When I'm talking about small businesses, I want to clarify that I'm not talking about businesses with a $50 million a year turnover. Some of them are microbusinesses. They're sole traders, partnerships and family businesses. They might be mums running businesses while parenting. They might be older workers who've chosen self-employment. They're tradies, creatives, people trying to turn their passion into a steady income. They are the people who are really struggling, and the system the government has chosen is fraught for them. The first grants offered by the state were never going to be a targeted and appropriate response to the start of what everyone could see would be a long lockdown, and the JobSaver program falls short. It doesn't even keep the positives of JobKeeper, and it creates a whole lot of other gaps. What gets me is that they've had 18 months to get this system right. This is not just something that happened yesterday. This is something that we had an opportunity to respond to over a year ago and look at that response and say, 'How could we have done it better?' That's what a decent government would have done. That's what a competent government would have done. But it's not what this government has done. There was a whole lot of, 'Oh, great, we got through that; there's nothing to worry about now mate, she'll be right; let's all sit back and relax.' That complacency is causing enormous stress in the electorate of Macquarie. What we're seeing is not a plan but something that's being done on the run. It's being announced at media conferences and sometimes updated within 24 hours to try and plug the gaps. Then we don't see any detail for weeks and weeks and weeks. Or, in the case of the legislation today, we've got legislation to make good what was an ad hoc announcement that the Prime Minister made around the disaster payment not being taxed, which is quite different to JobKeeper, and that's one of the things we obviously have to fix today. If you run a business the way this government has rolled out financial support, you'd be out of business; you wouldn't deserve to be in business. Sadly, the consequence of this could be that some businesses in my area go out of business. It will be a failure of this government if they don't survive through this COVID wave. They've been through fire, flood, COVID and another flood. I've just never seen people as strung out as they are now, and we're not in the harshest lockdown areas. Parents are supervising schooling at home. Teachers are teaching remotely but also planning to be back in the classroom. Seniors are isolated. They're losing those important incidental community contacts, like the chat you have when you go shopping, which they're told they're not allowed to have anymore. Construction workers had to suddenly secure their sites and abandon work. Builders tell me that a two-week shutdown is going to take weeks to recover from because of the time lag of materials, which were already in short supply and times pressured. They do an intricate job, and there are lots of moving parts. If you get one bit wrong, the rest falls apart. The small microbusinesses that don't meet the criteria might have been affected by bushfires and never been able to recover, or they might have grown significantly since 2019, so they don't look like they've suffered as much as they actually are. For tourism, people like the coach drivers and the family companies owning coaches and mini buses have been left abandoned anyway. This is another nail in the coffin, because the support is so confusing and that makes it really hard for people to plan their spending. In fact, that's having a flow-on consequence to restaurants and cafes. They have valiantly switched to takeaway. Some of the smaller ones are telling me they're quite busy, but many can see that there just isn't as much money in the community as there was last time we went through this, which is why the Prime Minister's comment that people have built up a buffer just does not ring true. Many of these businesses are paying extra overheads because they're repaying the extra on their deferred mortgage or loan from last time. They are really stretched. The demand for emergency food is up and there's your evidence that people are doing it tough. Every single service I've spoken to tells me they're seeing people they've never seen before, who have never needed to reach out for help. Much of this is because of the Morrison government's failure to work with New South Wales to ensure that the support was there right from the starting, not week three or five, or, as we are now, week six. This has also taken a huge personal toll. I have got the family trying to get a visa in a locked down city for a rising javelin star so she can take up her US college scholarship. I've got the apprentices under 17 who are missing out on any financial support. I've got the people who lost a job right before lockdown and they have seen not a single extra cent on the JobSeeker payment. I've got people like Chris who is a music teacher. He has lost hundreds of dollars in income but less than the minimum eight hours a week. He now has to find a way to pay his mortgage. I've got the mum who's worried about the mental health of her daughter, locked down on her own and working from home in the inner west. There is Rochelle, who is a wheelchair bound woman. She is a very strong woman but she requires special care. Without access to her usual hairdressing salon she can't have her hair washed. The advice she was given by the New South Wales government was that she could lie on the grass to do it. The parents and early childcare operators are each in a terrible position with the voluntary waiver of the gap fee, but there's not a cent of support for the centres to provide it. Then we've got flood victims whose repairs had to stop when they were so close to being able to go back home five months after the floods. So much of this could have been avoided had the Prime Minister just done his job—in fact, his two jobs. We wouldn't be here if he had done the things he needed to, if he hadn't been complacent during summer, if he'd used the time to make good progress. We needed the dedicated, purpose-built quarantine facilities happening. The delay in doing this has literally cost lives and livelihoods. And he needed to get us enough vaccines and enough variety of vaccines to be able to vaccinate us—lots of us. I will finish by talking about the reality of trying to get a vaccine in the Hawkesbury or the Blue Mountains. There is the most cumbersome and flawed booking system that's about as effective as the COVID app. It's no wonder a clever software developer has created a shortcut site to help people find appointments at the big vaccine hubs—although sadly it doesn't cover my electorate. Instead, people are sharing tips, and many are resorting to either waiting until September or October for an appointment, or travelling into the more intense hotspots if they can get an appointment to get to a hub. But we need our own hub. Constituents are reporting cancellations of appointments for Pfizer in order for the year 12 students in the real hotspots to be protected. They understand that, but they want to know when we going to be able to have it. People can't fathom why you can't get an AstraZeneca appointment when everyone is saying there is so much of it washing around. The bottom line is it's a mix of supply issue but also a workforce issue. Both councils have offered to set-up a hub but we still need the people. The confusion of the proclamations by the Prime Minister—the Friday night, breathless announcements that either induce panic or are unintelligible don't engender confidence that we're going to see the things we need to see so that everyone can be vaccinated. It is hurting the mental health of my community and it's hurting people financially. We had an advantage. It was squandered by this government, by this Prime Minister. While we in the Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury recognise how lucky we are to be able to exercise in a World Heritage area, what we also know is that things are tough and they're tough for our neighbours. Of course, this is a time for us to be grateful. But, if ever there is a time for us to walk in someone else's shoes, now is the time. We think of those with very harsh lockdowns. We urge this government to do the right thing. Pull the finger out. Let's get this vaccination program rolling out properly. 18:05 Ms BUTLER 248006 Griffith Australians have been plunged into uncertainty and disruption because of a leaky quarantine system and a slow vaccine rollout. It's certainly the case in my electorate, on the south side of Brisbane, that people are now going through a lockdown, and that lockdown can be laid squarely at the feet of the Prime Minister, who had two jobs this year and has managed to botch both. His two jobs were a speedy, effective rollout of the vaccine and a safe and effective national quarantine system. He has botched both. Australia has seen 27 leaks from hotel quarantine and, as a consequence of that, numerous lockdowns, with families separated from loved ones, yet it's still not clear what it's going to take for this Prime Minister to step up and do his job. We saw that question time today, where he was defensive and belligerent and was not willing to face up to the shortcomings of his government's vaccine rollout and of quarantine. We have seen that in his unwillingness to consider constructive suggestions put forward by Labor as well. That's because this is a Prime Minister who refuses to take responsibility. He doesn't hold a hose. He says it's not a race. It is a race. He needs to start acting like it. Labor has called on the government to lift its performance in the race to vaccinate the nation. The Morrison government should make a one-off $300 payment to every fully vaccinated Australian, as Labor has proposed. This would be another incentive for Australians to be fully vaccinated. It would deliver a much-needed shot in the arm—pun intended—for businesses and workers who are struggling from lockdowns. Frankly, the cost of this incentive payment pales in comparison with the cost of lockdowns. The current lockdowns are costing billions of dollars a week. That's what the current economic cost of these lockdowns is. Of course, there's a substantial human cost in terms of the feeling that people have, the uncertainty, the anxiety. It's a very, very difficult time for mental health. It's a difficult time for households and families; it's a difficult time for people who are home schooling; and it's a difficult time for frontline workers, who are once again leaving the home at a time when their sacrifice is allowing this country to continue to run. We're now 18 months into this pandemic. But only 15 per cent of Australians are fully vaccinated. We're the last in the developed world when it comes to the vaccine rollout. We're the last in the developed world when it comes to having our population vaccinated. We're lucky to crack the top 80 in the whole world. There are still people in the vulnerable priority categories in our country who are yet to be fully vaccinated. We've got a full-blown national emergency on our hands because the Morrison government failed to do its job properly. Despite what the Prime Minister would have people believe, this is a race. It's a race that Australia is losing under the Morrison government. That's why the government should seriously consider Labor's constructive proposal for an economic incentive. The Prime Minister immediately refused to consider it. He ruled it out, just like he did with our proposal last year for a wage subsidy, which you will remember he said was a dangerous idea. Back then, after his initial knee-jerk refusal, the Prime Minister changed his position and accepted our wage subsidy proposal. And so JobKeeper was born. Let's hope the Prime Minister changes his position on today's proposal for a vaccine incentive, just like he did last year on wage subsidies. After all, it's pretty rich for the party of No Jab, No Pay to argue against economic incentives to boost vaccination rates. The now Prime Minister was actually the social security minister who introduced the No Jab, No Pay laws in 2015. In doing so, in the first sentence of his second reading speech, he said: This is an important initiative aimed at boosting childhood immunisation rates. That was the purpose of No Jab, No Pay. The Prime Minister has either forgotten how economic incentives work and forgotten his previous support for them, or he is just being cynical and hyperpartisan. I think it's the latter, especially since the government's own COVID response plan, released only a few days ago, includes measures encouraging uptake through incentives under phase B. The idea of using incentives to increase vaccination rates should be a priority. Labor will work constructively with the government, as we have long done, about how best to implement this important incentive. Lockdowns, made necessary by the Prime Minister's failures on vaccines and quarantine, are costing the economy around $300 million each day—every lockdown, including the one affecting my electorate, which is in South-East Queensland, right now is a direct consequence of the Morrison government's failures. Every lockdown is happening because the Prime Minister hasn't done his job properly. As I said, the economic damage is billions of dollars a week. This is the price workers and small businesses in my electorate are paying for the Prime Minister's incompetence. At the same time, the Morrison government's stubborn refusal to bring back JobKeeper—without the rorts, mind you—means that one of the supports isn't there. That's just more stubbornness from the government: they just don't want to admit that they were wrong on JobKeeper and the decision to end it pre-emptively. The Prime Minister's failures on vaccines and quarantine are putting lives, jobs, the economy and the recovery at risk. They're being held hostage to the bungled rollout, and that needs to change. Workers in local businesses in my electorate are suffering, as I said—and they're not the only ones. Everyone in our community has faced disruption from the lockdown. I feel like this is almost missing attention because we are so focused on the big issues, but community groups, schools, not-for-profit and childcare centres—all of these organisations that are part of the glue that holds our communities together—are suffering too. It's like Camp Hill school, which had to cancel its fun day. I know that the P&C had been working towards that for months and months, to get that under control. Or, on a bigger scale, Brisbane State High School had to cancel 'State High Day', which was planned to celebrate their centenary year. It's like my nine-year-old son's footy club and every other sports club that had to cancel games at short notice. I know there are so many other community groups and schools whose long-planned events have been affected. On the same day in my electorate, just as there were everywhere across all the lockdowns, there were brides and grooms whose weddings were affected, there were mourners whose ability to go to funerals was affected and there were people who couldn't see family on their birthdays. There's a big cost to the delays and the stuff-ups; it's a big economic cost and it's a big human cost as well. The Prime Minister's insistence that this is not a race, and his failures on vaccines and quarantine, have direct, immediate and serious consequences for Australians, including those in my electorate affected by the South-East Queensland lockdown. I want to say a big thank you to Queenslanders in my electorate who are doing everything they can to keep people safe. Thank you for wearing masks; thank you for getting vaccinated when vaccines are available to you; thank you for staying safe at home if you can; thank you for going to work if you need to do so because you're an essential worker; thank you for getting tested, even when your symptoms are only very mild; thank you for continuing to support local businesses, where you can, to help them make it through this difficult period; and thank you for checking on those in your community who might be doing it tough—caring for mental health is part of the health response to this pandemic. Thank you to everyone for pulling together to help our communities get through this. 18:13 Ms RISHWORTH HWA Kingston [by video link] I am very pleased to speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (COVID-19 Economic Response No. 2) Bill 2021. Of course, Labor will support these changes—just as we have been constructive throughout this pandemic. But, unfortunately, again, and like so many of the government's responses in this pandemic, it seems that they've been ill prepared and delayed in their response. Often during this pandemic, the government has seemed surprised that COVID is still with us and they seem surprised that lockdowns continue to happen. This is despite Treasury having predicted in the budget papers that there would continue to be lockdowns. Since we were last in parliament, there have been lockdowns in Melbourne, lockdowns in South Australia, lockdowns of course through that whole time in New South Wales and lockdowns in Brisbane. So the Morrison government shouldn't have been surprised and therefore scrambling for a response for how to support communities. Of course these lockdowns come as a result of the Morrison government's failure to sort out quarantine and to roll out the vaccinations. Now we're seeing both the health and economic consequences of that around the country. The bill before us today does provide legislation that enables support to be implemented, particularly during the lockdown currently happening in Greater Sydney. The changes will ensure that both business support and COVID disaster payments will receive tax-free treatment. As I said, obviously Labor will support this, but we are 18 months into the pandemic and it is disappointing that the government has not learnt from some of the gaps that have appeared. One of the areas where the government just can't seem to learn that support is needed is in the early learning and care sector. This sector is critically important to the running of our nation, but we've seen the early learning and care sector in Sydney be left behind during this current lockdown because this government just doesn't seem to understand how it operates. Early learning centres are considered essential services. Through this whole pandemic, early learning centres have been keeping their doors open, and educators have been turning up to work. This ensures that our doctors, our nurses, our health professionals, our hospital cleaners, our police officers—just to name a few—can go off to do their essential work and have a safe place for their children to go to, to be cared for and to be educated. I want to take this opportunity to again thank all our early educators, all our early learning centres and their directors, and everyone who has worked so hard to support families over the last 18 months. You are all essential workers, and Australia couldn't keep functioning without you. Right now, families in Sydney are doing the right thing. They are keeping their children at home during this lockdown, and they are not using early learning services. The government was slow to act on calls to ensure that these families would not be legally required to pay the gap fee, to ensure that, if services could, they would waive the gap fee for these families. Understandably, families in Sydney who are doing the right thing and keeping their children at home don't feel it's fair that they are being charged fees during this lockdown and exhausting all their allowable absence days. Labor called on the government to give early learning services in Sydney an exemption in relation to the waiving of these gap fees. And, of course, belatedly, the government responded. But what they've done is only a half-baked measure. While they've allowed centres to waive the gap fees, they haven't provided extra support for centres to be able to afford this financially. This has led to a really big dilemma. The government, as is the case many times during this pandemic, has put the responsibility back onto families. So services are now faced with a difficult decision. Do they give families a break from fees, perhaps stand down educators, perhaps stop paying educators and sustain huge losses? Or do they continue to charge the gap fee to ensure that their businesses remain viable? This is an impossible choice, because families deserve to have fee relief, but childcare services still need to pay rent and still need to pay wages. It's been estimated that family fees can comprise up to 40 per cent of the total revenue for childcare services. Giving families fee relief is a big deal for many services. According to the Morrison government, the problem is that, in some cases, the services haven't lost enough income to qualify for business support. When the government introduced its COVID support package for Sydney, many early learning centres were ineligible because their income hadn't dropped by 30 per cent. According to the Morrison government, losing 30 per cent of income is not good, but losing 25 per cent in early learning is okay. The centres still have to keep their doors open and they still have to take the children of essential workers, but they don't get any extra support. I've been contacted by families and services from all over Sydney who are suffering. Some families are still having to pay fees because their centres just can't afford to give them fee relief, and other centres are giving waivers but struggling to keep their doors open. Other providers have not been eligible for this COVID payment, not because they haven't had a severe enough downturn but because they have a higher turnover, above the threshold determined by the Commonwealth and New South Wales. Many are non-profit providers. There are providers such as KU Children's Services and Goodstart Early Learning which turn over above the threshold to qualify for the business support payment. Despite a huge drop in revenue, they are now being penalised for running a large number of centres. Once again, they are still expected to keep the doors open and are still expected to take essential workers' children and care and educate them but are deemed by the government of not being worthy of support. Providers are telling me that in some parts of Sydney attendance levels are down to below 20 per cent. This is particularly the case for outside school hours care. This is having a huge impact and I am concerned that many of these providers may not make it through to the other end of this extended lockdown without government support. What is particularly baffling about the government's response and particularly baffling about the belated ability to waive fees for families and the lack of understanding of the sector is that this has happened before and the government responded with a package. During the prolonged Victorian lockdown last year, the government waived fees for families and introduced a financial support package for early-learning services that allowed them to stay open for essential workers, allowed them to survive on low attendance and allowed them to waive the gap fee for families. There was a dedicated $6 million fund for out-of-school-hours care, recognising the significant impact that the lockdowns were having on out-of-school-hours care, but also recognising the importance that these services played for essential workers. That wasn't that long ago. That was just last year. But, as I said in my introductory remarks, it seems that the government have amnesia. They've forgotten about what may have worked in the past, they've forgotten that this has happened before and that the early-learning sector is a unique sector that needs essential support to keep going. I don't know whether it's amnesia or whether this is deliberate, but it is incredibly frustrating for families that have services saying that they can't waive the gap fees—services that are trying to do the right thing but cannot keep their doors open. Providers want to keep their doors open to serve essential workers. Families need fee relief. The government have a playbook that they used in the prolonged Victorian lockdown. I urge the government: please talk with the sector; please listen to families and implement a support package that supports our early-education sector and ensures that early educators stay connected to this important profession, because we know that they are already experiencing a shortage of educators, who left in the last prolonged lockdown. We don't want to see that happen again. I urge the government to respond quickly and swiftly. They don't need to reinvent the playbook. The playbook is there; they just need to follow it. I urge the government to start listening. 18:23 Mr DICK 53517 Oxley Labor is, of course, in support of the measures outlined in the Treasury Laws Amendment (COVID-19 Economic Response No. 2) Bill 2021, which will assist with money and support for communities in lockdown. I want to pay tribute to all of the families and small businesses in the south-west of Brisbane and Ipswich that I represent that are currently dealing with the latest lockdown, courtesy of the Morrison government. We are a constructive opposition and will continue to be. That's why we're supporting this bill tonight. But we would not be doing our job as an opposition if we did not call out the obvious failures that have put us in this position, and I would not be doing my job as the member for Oxley if I did not hold the government accountable for the damage that their failures have wrought upon the local community that I proudly represent. It must be acknowledged that these measures are made necessary by the government's failures on their two key jobs this year: rolling out the vaccine and implementing a safe and effective quarantine solution. These failures are costing the economy hundreds of millions of dollars each day and billions of dollars each week. In my electorate of Oxley, it's dearly costing the families and small businesses that I represent. There's a real human cost to the government's failures. Just last Friday, before this lockdown was announced, I visited a small business in my electorate—the Middle Park Bakery Cafe. They'd invited me along to celebrate the launch of their new coffee venture. Tony and the team were excited about the future of their business, and they were hopeful that the devastating lockdowns were a thing of the past. They should have been right to hope. They should have been right to put their faith in a federal government to do the two jobs they had this year: roll out the vaccine and fix our quarantine system. The very next day, as we all know, along with all of South-East Queensland, millions of Queenslanders and tens of thousands of businesses were plunged into lockdown. The evidence shows that quick responsive lockdowns are the best way to control the outbreaks of delta—and I applaud the Queensland government for their quick action—but the reality is that this should not have been necessary. We should not have been seeing this deadly virus leaking out from hotels that were designed for tourists, not quarantine. We should not be faced with outbreak after outbreak while our community is left completely vulnerable by dismal vaccination rates. We're near last in the OECD. We are losing the 'Vaccine Olympics'. We are coming almost stone last in the 'Vaccine Olympics', and that is not good enough. How does this government not hang its head in shame? How do they stomach turning up to the chamber and bragging about their failed pandemic response? We will be supporting these support mechanisms that allow our community to deal with this. This side of the chamber is a positive opposition. We are a constructive opposition. It's pretty clear that the announcement by the Leader of the Opposition today, which will give confidence, economic security and reward to those Australians doing the right thing, should be supported by the federal government. Federal Labor is proposing a $300 one-off payment for all Australians who get fully vaccinated by 1 December. Our economy needs a shot in the arm, and the small businesses and families that are struggling through lockdowns need a shot in the arm. It's pretty clear that our vaccine rollout needs a shot in the arm. That's exactly what the Leader of the Opposition has laid out with our positive plan. We're a positive opposition with constructive ideas. Just for once could the government put aside its partisan blinkers and start listening to ideas that are on the table. If this isn't a good idea, I ask the government: 'What is your plan? What is your plan to raise vaccination rates in this country? What are the incentives that the so-called Prime Minister of this country has announced? Where are they, what are they and how will we get the vaccination rates up in this country?' I know, from speaking to businesses and families today who have warmly welcomed the $300 vaccination injection into the community and into our local economy, that they are crying out for a government to start leading. Here is a plan on the table by federal Labor. Here is a positive, constructive policy. It's time the government started listening to ideas and delivering a real plan to help Australia get through this pandemic. 18:28 Mr ALBANESE R36 Grayndler Labor will support this legislation, the Treasury Laws Amendment (COVID-19 Economic Response No. 2) Bill 2021, to provide financial assistance to Australians who are enduring lockdown. Ten million people in New South Wales and Queensland are in lockdown right now, and it's not that long since Victorians and South Australians were locked down as well. We know from the Treasurer's statement today in a press conference that lockdowns across the country can cost $3.8 billion a week. That's a massive impact. I just did a Zoom call, hosted by the member for Werriwa and our shadow energy minister, Chris Bowen, with people in south-western and Western Sydney. There, we were talking to those communities directly about the difficulties that they are having at the moment: the difficulties because people are losing their jobs, the difficulties because people don't have an income and the difficulties because of the very strict restrictions that are in place. That's why, as soon as these restrictions were in place, we called for support. The government reluctantly, bit by bit, changed the support for people—four times in one week. We had four different announcements out there. One of the issues that came up in the consultation with those communities in south-west Sydney just an hour ago was the confusion that's out there about what support is available. We know that so many Australians are not going to get support. Too many Australians are either directly or indirectly impacted by these lockdowns because of the nature of their work and the nature of where they live, too, because we know that people who aren't living in lockdown areas can be impacted by the economic impact of a lockdown. I certainly heard that in Queensland. Whether it was Bundaberg, Maryborough, the Sunshine Coast, Cairns, Mackay or Rockhampton, all those communities are impacted by the fact that New South Welshmen and Victorians aren't able to travel to those communities. We know that's having a massive impact in the electorate of Gilmore and the electorate of Eden-Monaro, surrounding the ACT. The pundits tell us that this could be the best ski season ever. There's only one thing missing—skiers. They can't travel. That's having an enormous impact on those communities as well. There's been a tale of two political movements today in this House, because we think there are weaknesses in this legislation. We think there isn't enough support in this legislation. We think people are missing out under this legislation. But we'll support it because throughout this pandemic we have never let the perfect be the enemy of the good. When people have needed support we have been there, offering to provide that support. When ideas are put forward, those opposite say no. This is a government that is acting like an opposition in exile and that doesn't recognise the responsibility it has. This is a government that rejected the idea of wage subsidies and called them a dangerous idea. The only time the government changed its mind was when the queues formed around the block of Centrelink offices right around the country. Only then did it move, and, when it did move, of course, it left out the arts sector, the university sector and casual employees. Too many people were left behind by the support that was there. The Prime Minister had two big jobs this year: the rollout of the vaccine and national quarantine, and he botched both of them. On the rollout of the vaccine we know that we're still under 20 per cent, languishing at the bottom of the developed world with the rollout numbers and struggling to get into the top 80, let alone the gold medal position that the Prime Minister likes to talk about. On quarantine, when our Olympians arrived back this morning, where did they go? Howard Springs, because it is safe, because it's purpose built and because people are separated; they're not sharing ventilation. They went there because it's a safe place for them to go. But where are other people going? They're going into hotel quarantine. The current lockdown in South-East Queensland is a direct result of another failure of hotel quarantine. The lockdown that spread from Sydney's eastern suburbs is a direct result of a failure that occurred there as well, and yet this government refuses to move. Labor proposed wage subsidies. We also opposed the early withdrawal of JobKeeper. We said that, if the mechanisms had been put in place, and if a business was under the same conditions that allowed JobKeeper to be applied, it made sense to keep the mechanisms there, to keep that relationship between employers and employees. So we do welcome these measures, even though they should have come much earlier. The fact is that this always was a race, which is why we were absolutely determined to advocate for getting five or six vaccines last year—getting enough deals with enough companies to get enough supply early enough. That is the other part of the problem that we've seen. We continue to be in circumstances where vulnerable Australians are really doing it tough. I say this: in my electorate today, 19 older Australians have been hospitalised. They're aged-care residents in Summer Hill. They were infected because an aged-care worker had not been vaccinated. This government said that they would all be done by Easter. It's now August, and 19 of my elderly residents, vulnerable Australians, have been let down by this government. How is it that we've reached August and aged-care workers still aren't vaccinated? How is it that disability care workers aren't vaccinated? How is it that there are still some aged-care residents who've been unable to receive vaccines? How is it that we raised in question time today a fact about a real person—a real teacher in a real community in the Central Coast—who had their appointment for a vaccine cancelled because that vaccine is being transferred to a student, perhaps even a student at a school that they might teach at in Sydney? How is it that this has been bungled so badly by this government? When we have put forward a constructive idea, as we have today for a $300 payment for Australians, we have had all sorts of opposition from the government. They've rolled out some academics to talk about how this doesn't work. I say to the government: you need to get out more. You need to come to my community and walk around and ask people if a $300 cash payment will make them more likely or less likely to get the vaccine. I just spoke on triple J, on Hack, and one of the text messages that came in that the announcer read out was from a young person who said that she's waiting for Pfizer but that if there were a $300 payment she'd get AstraZeneca tomorrow—after consultation, one would assume, with her doctor. The fact is that there need to be incentives put in place. That's why incentives are a part of the Prime Minister's four-phase plan. They're a part of phase B, which was announced just last Friday. That's why the Chief Medical Officer, Paul Kelly, said that that was the case. That's why, around the world, you have a range of mechanisms, even lotteries in some countries. I was reading today about how, in some communities to our north, you can go in a lottery to get a cow. Incentives in order to change behaviour are something that is used around the world. That is why they were used by the then social security minister, now Prime Minister, when he introduced the No Jab, No Pay program for childcare payments and family assistance. At the time, in his second reading speech, he said it was because of the need to increase immunisation rates amongst children. It's extraordinary that this government has just rejected a constructive idea. I don't write off all hope for them, because they did the same on wage subsidies. They did the same on lockdowns. When parliament last sat, the Prime Minister was standing at this dispatch box congratulating Gladys Berejiklian for not locking down, for leaving everything open. And we know how that worked out; that worked out with Sydney still locked down as a result of the failure to move early enough. And we've seen the opposite in real time. This isn't an academic exercise. We're seeing Victoria and South Australia—one Labor government, one Liberal government—locking down early enough to make a difference, and the Palaszczuk government once again protecting Queenslanders, as they have the whole way through, in spite of the Prime Minister's quite sad campaign where he went to Queensland and campaigned alongside Deb Frecklington, criticising the Palaszczuk government for a whole week. That's the only time he's ever spent a week in Queensland, I've got to say, as a member of parliament. I've had an opportunity to spend a fair bit of time in Queensland in recent times, and I certainly enjoy the company of Queenslanders. They're straightforward people. They're straight talking. The Prime Minister has a different thing to say every day and even contradicts himself on what he has done as a minister, which is what he's doing when it comes to the incentives that we're putting forward. So we will be supporting this legislation. We say to the government: 'Do your usual thing: adopt the idea that we've put forward today, then claim it was yours.' That would be the consistency that this government applies to these measures. And that will be okay, because we're prepared to support anything that is positive and that makes a difference. Quite clearly this government is struggling with any new ideas. We're pleased that it adopted some support for individuals suffering from these lockdowns—as a result of pressure from Labor, it must be said, and also from Labor and Liberal state governments. We saw Brad Hazzard's comments on Sunday. We've seen Dominic Perrottet also put forward advocacy for increased support. It's a pity that it takes such strong action in order to get this Prime Minister to ever move his position, to do what is right and to do what is necessary. 18:42 Mr CONROY 249127 Shortland It's a privilege to follow the Leader of the Opposition and his contribution on this topic that is, really, the most important issue this country faces. I'm going to use my time speaking on the Treasury Laws Amendment (COVID-19 Economic Response No. 2) Bill 2021 to shine a national light on the situation of my constituents on the Central Coast, who are in a lockdown directly because of the incompetence and arrogance of the Morrison government. Let there be no mistake: my constituents know the reason they are in lockdown. Australians are smart and more than aware that this government had two key jobs this year: to sort out the national quarantine arrangements and to ensure a smooth rollout of the vaccine. It has failed totally on both of those. As a result of that, 30,000 of my constituents in Shortland who live on the Central Coast are now in the sixth week of a lockdown. That's 30,000 constituents who have had their jobs imperilled by this government's incompetence, 30,000 constituents who are having to home-school their kids and 30,000 constituents who have had their health endangered because of this government's incompetence. I want to speak directly to those people today. Lake Macquarie is the largest saltwater lake in the Southern Hemisphere. For those who live around it, like I do, it's a stunning place and it's a real privilege to live there. I echo the comments from the assistant minister; it is beautiful. But the lake has become a cruel border for many of my constituents. Some of the suburbs in the southern part of the lake, such as Gwandalan and Summerland Point, are in the Central Coast local government area and are therefore subject to the lockdown, while they can see suburbs directly across as little as 500 metres of water who are living lives relatively free from restrictions. These are suburbs that are literally on the shores of Lake Macquarie, but, because they're in the Central Coast LGA, they join other suburbs, such as Lake Munmorah, San Remo, Doyalson, Buff Point and Budgewoi, that are in lockdown. This is causing huge distress for my constituents and huge confusion. For example, one mother contacted me. Her family lives on the Central Coast, but her child goes to Hunter Sports High, which is in Lake Macquarie. The child can attend school and even train and play football for the school on weekday afternoons but is not able to travel into Lake Macquarie or Newcastle on the weekend for their teams. This is a small example of the two classes of constituents in Shortland at the moment. But the impact on businesses, quite frankly, doesn't respect that border. The impact on businesses is massive. For example, I heard from my constituents Christine and Greg Smith, who own Charmhaven Newsagency. Christine had to self-isolate for 14 days after serving a close contact. This has put incredible strain on her business as well as on her personal life. Christine has said: 'I have to stay in my bedroom while Greg is home. I prepare my meal before he gets home, then he has to do his meal.' Last week I chatted with Rodney King, who is the owner of the very well-known Hunter business, Kings Coaches. Their business is down a staggering 90 per cent compared to pre-COVID periods. I spoke to Rodney, and he was incredibly brave and honest and forthright, but he is struggling to see a way through for his business, which is a business that does a great service for my community. If you look further north, for example, during the school holidays, my wife and I took our two kids up to Nelson Bay and went on a whale-watching cruise. It was a beautiful day. We got to see many humpbacks breaching in the pristine Pacific Ocean. But we were on a boat that normally takes about 200 people. This is their peak season. Normally there are 200 tourists, mostly from Sydney, on that boat. There would have been 15 on that day. I just can't think of the devastation that that business suffers. Then there are the repercussions of the vaccine rollout on people's health. I have the privilege of having the Hunter vaccine hub in my electorate at the old Belmont Bunnings site. Just two weeks into its operation, Pfizer vaccines are now being diverted from this hub to western and south-western Sydney for year 12 students. My constituents are generous people, and they obviously don't begrudge the HSC students being vaccinated in the eight most affected lockdown LGAs, but the most basic point is that this diversion need not have happened if the Commonwealth had sourced enough vaccines in the first place. People who have lost their appointments are rightly distressed about it. Deb is an essential worker from Belmont, and she emailed me the following: 'I'm an absolute wreck. I've been on an emotional rollercoaster since receiving a text to cancel my first Pfizer jab at the Belmont mass vax clinic. To say I'm angry is an understatement. To make matters worse, when I get online to try and rebook, I can click right through to December and there are no appointments available. And, to add salt to my wounds, every time I turn the TV on, there is Gladys and the Prime Minister telling me, "Get vaccinated, get vaccinated."' I've also been contacted by Mary-Anne Jennings, the principal of Saint Kevin's Primary School at Cardiff following the redirection. Mary-Anne says, 'My staff are very upset because their appointments have been cancelled; yet, as teachers, we are essential workers.' That's another example of my constituents wanting to do the right thing—in this case, the teaching profession—but they are being held hostage on this government's Pfizer rollout. To make matters worse, many of the Belmont vaccine appointments were going to people on the Central Coast because, for whatever reason, the New South Wales government does not have a mass vaccination hub on the Central Coast, despite there being 300,000 people locked down there right now. So people on the Central Coast are making appointments and travelling up to Belmont. All their appointments have been cancelled, including those in priority 1a and 1b. Just imagine it! These are the people that this government said should be vaccinated by March. They promised they would be vaccinated by March. They finally get an appointment for a vaccination in August, September or October, and the Liberal state and federal governments are causing their appointments to be cancelled. This is a disgrace. There was a much simpler way. If they couldn't fix the Pfizer supply, which this government should have done, they should have done what occurred in the UK, which was to double the length between the first Pfizer jab and the second, so that those in the Hunter and Central Coast who were booked in for their first dose wouldn't have had to be cancelled. My office and I and many volunteers have been ringing constituents in the Central Coast to see how they're going, to just check up on them and to offer assistance. I've been touched by the response. People are incredibly brave and incredibly supportive of the community effort to get through this vaccine rollout. They are loathe to complain and they are grateful for the call, but these people know whose fault this is. They know why we're in this predicament. They hold the Prime Minister directly responsible for them being in the lockdown. One response—in a typical Australian fashion—was, 'Of course, it's a bloody race.' So I'll finish on this: this is a government that has failed in its two jobs—the vaccine rollout and national quarantine. There have been 28 breaches of national quarantine, causing 11 million Australians to be in lockdown right now. The Australian people know that this federal government has failed them. They are in their sixth week of lockdown in the southern portions of Shortland, as part of the greater Sydney region, because of this government's incompetence. This needs to be fixed urgently. 18:51 Dr HAINES 282335 Indi I rise to support this bill, the Treasury Laws Amendment (COVID-19 Economic Response No. 2) Bill 2021, which will allow the government to stay true to its commitment to offer business support payments in communities subject to major COVID breakdowns. This bill is a good one but it could have come much sooner and it doesn't provide much certainty for businesses and workers about the level of support that they can expect from the Treasurer either. It took this government over three months after the end of JobKeeper in April to decide on its economic support arrangements for those whose incomes were ripped away overnight by entirely foreseeable lockdowns. Even when they did announce a policy in June, it had holes right through it which left regional Victorians behind. To be eligible for the support payments offered to Victorians back in June you had to be locked down for over seven days and live or work in a Commonwealth designated COVID hotspot. So when the Victorian government lifted the lockdown for regional Victorians early, after seven days, but kept Melbourne in lockdown, the regions totally missed out on any support. If you lived in my electorate of Indi you'd know that a lockdown in Melbourne has untold impacts on local tourism, hospitality and accommodation services. Many of these small businesses and workers contacted my office in total distress as their balance sheets and bank accounts dwindled, with no federal assistance in sight. One constituent, a casual worker at a boutique hotel near Wangaratta, had lost at least $1,500 in wages in just over a week. I wrote to the Treasurer to urge him to change the rules, and I spoke loudly in this place calling on him to do the same. It's pretty simple: support should be available to everyone suffering a reduction in income because of the pandemic. That was the rule for JobKeeper and that should be the rule now. The Treasurer has yet to reply to my letter. The government did nothing after that June lockdown to reassure regional Victorians that it would do better next time. So when Victoria re-entered lockdown 2½ weeks ago, the hairs on the back of my neck stood straight up. Four months after the end of JobKeeper and six weeks after the government rolled out its hotspot support package, full of holes, absolutely nothing had changed. The communities of Indi were on the edge of their seats during that press conference in July waiting to see how many businesses would close and how many workers would be stood down. We had to wait 24 hours to find out what deal the Treasurer had struck with the Victorian government. That's no way to treat communities doing everything in their power to fight this pandemic. The impact on their mental health is enormous. That's no way to promote economic certainty and confidence. That lockdown situation was entirely foreseeable and so was the government's lack of preparedness. Thankfully, this time some of the holes have been plugged: $600 a week for all Victorians who lost 20 hours or more; $375 a week for all Victorians who lost between 18 and 20 hours; $3,000 for hospitality venues across the state; $2,000 for small businesses; and up to $15,000 for our precious alpine businesses who are on the verge of losing a second ski season. I was also pleased to see small businesses that don't have an annual turnover of $75,000 access the individual payments. While $600 isn't a lot when you're a little newsagent in Violet Town or a clothing store in Yackandandah, it's sure better than nothing, which is what these brave businesses got last time. As the Mansfield District Business Association put to me two weeks ago, in an impassioned letter, 'The initial one-size-fits-all approach through JobKeeper worked very well last year. Our businesses now need a similar level of support and certainty, along with more-targeted industry and regional base support. We're not getting that right now.' Local business is built on certainty. There's nothing in this bill that gives small business and workers certainty about the support they're likely to receive—and when—from this government should the next lockdown come along, and it will. This bill also leaves the door wide open for the Treasurer to play politics and favourites on a lockdown-by-lockdown basis, and that's the last thing any government should ever be perceived to be doing. Parts of the regional economy are haemorrhaging—they're still haemorrhaging. Economic modelling of the last 12-day lockdown shows that our alpine resorts—those of Mount Hotham, Mount Buller and Falls Creek—lost over $112 million in visitor expenditure. The $15,000 from the state government, and zero dollars from the Treasurer, will hardly touch the edges. The impacts stretch right into the north of Indi, too, where new border-bubble restrictions will come in overnight and punish communities like Wodonga all over again. Families who live in Wodonga could meet at the pub for a meal, but if their nanna lives in Albury, well, she'd have to stay home. Matt Daly from Posh Plonk in Chiltern said that half the bookings for his business last weekend were from Albury. Well, that will now need to be made up for by Victorians. Cyril Cox, who owns The Other Place, a cafe in Rutherglen, says that these new restrictions are just another nail in the coffin for him. He'll have to reduce staff hours and reduce his expectations for his business. Last lockdown, Cyril lost a $7,000 catering job and had to wait seven weeks to get $2,000 in support. And just this evening a local restaurant owner on the border told me he'll lose 30 per cent in revenue overnight from lost patronage from New South Wales. This bill does nothing to ease the concerns of cross-border businesses and workers like these, because they're not in lockdown, but they're absolutely feeling the economic brunt of public health orders coming out of Melbourne and Sydney alike. We lived through 138 days of hard border closure last year, and I refuse to let our communities go back to where we were, blocked from crossing the border for critical services like medical appointments and from being alongside their dying loved ones. I, together with my community, fought long and hard to get the border bubble, which kept our communities intact and kept many small businesses alive. They are calling out tonight for more support, right now, particularly on the border. The Treasurer is just not seeing or hearing them, and I call on him to do so. What's worse, this bill tells these businesses and workers very little about how the Treasurer will show up and provide support when future lockdowns almost inevitably strike. Our businesses, our community members are incredible. They're doing everything they can. They've supporting each other. They're getting out. They're getting vaccinated as best they can. But they can't live with uncertainty, and the one thing that could be certain in this time of great uncertainty is surety from the government about how they will be supported in future lockdowns—not uncertainty; they need certainty. 18:58 Mrs ELLIOT DZW Richmond I too rise to speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (COVID-19 Economic Response No. 2) Bill 2021. It's obviously so important to make sure that the money and the security is there, but at the same time we have to look at the reasons we're in this situation today. It's because of the Prime Minister's and the government's inaction, failure to roll out vaccines and failure to have quarantine facilities that we are in this devastating situation right across the country. As we've said, Labor supports the bill. It's important to get that money out to communities in lockdown and also to support those people who have been impacted by the lockdowns. In regions like mine, people who work in industries that have been affected by the reduction of people in our areas desperately need support. Businesses are suffering. The workers are suffering. They need urgent assistance. Particularly for border communities like mine, it has been a challenging time. We're in this very confusing situation for locals, and we're in that situation because the Prime Minister failed to do the jobs he was supposed to do. That's the reason—that's what locals say to me all the time, 'We're in this chaos because of the Prime Minister's failures.' As I said, he failed to get enough vaccines, bungled the vaccine rollout and then didn't establish quarantine facilities. That's why we're in this dire situation. We have called, time and time again over the past 12 months, to fix this situation urgently because it's having massive health and economic ramifications right across the country. Indeed, it's now costing the economy about $300 million each day. That's the price Australians are paying for this Prime Minister's incompetence. Make no mistake: the Prime Minister's incompetence is putting the economy, lives and jobs at risk. This is an ongoing crisis that's still not being addressed and the nation has been plunged into uncertainty and so much disruption. As I said, the Prime Minister had two jobs this year and he has failed at both. He's a Prime Minister who fails to take responsibility—he always blame somebody else about something. Prime Minister: just start doing your job! Start fixing this problem! He has consistently failed the nation. He has failed people right across the nation. We now only have 15 per cent of Australians fully vaccinated because of the Prime Minister's failures. We have been calling on the Morrison government to fix this bungled rollout, to deliver quarantine facilities and, of course, to provide the one-off $300 payment to every fully vaccinated Australian. Doing that would make such a difference, it really would, in terms of meeting those vaccination targets. The faster they're achieved then the faster the recovery is as we emerge from the lockdowns. So we would really like to see the government adopt our proposition of that $300 payment to every person who is fully vaccinated by 1 December, and yet the Prime Minister just continues to shirk all responsibility. We're asking him to listen to this idea and to take action. We'll keep putting forward really constructive solutions like this. This would be another incentive for Australians to be fully vaccinated and it would also deliver much-needed assistance for those businesses and workers who are really struggling in the lockdowns. In terms of COVID in New South Wales: the failure of the New South Wales Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, to lock down Sydney early enough has also plunged my region, the North Coast of New South Wales, into ongoing chaos. This aversion that the Liberals and Nationals have to lockdowns is now causing this rolling chaos across the nation, and we're living with the consequences of their inaction—because the New South Wales Premier failed to lock down early enough. Make no mistake: this situation is an absolute disgrace and it really shows the people of the North Coast of New South Wales that, when it comes to the Liberals and Nationals at all levels of government, we are the forgotten people. They show this time and time again. As I have previously said to the House, we saw last week—in a move of utter contempt—the New South Wales Premier taking our already limited supplies of Pfizer from regional New South Wales and redirecting them to Sydney. All throughout regional New South Wales they're being taken back to Sydney. I have been contacted by so many people who are distressed, frustrated and angry and who are having their appointments cancelled. So many have to wait for months and months. As I said earlier in the House, I am calling on the Morrison government, the Berejiklian government and their agencies to come clean and tell us how many they have taken from our region. How many Pfizers do we actually have? Our community just wants the facts and yet we don't ever seem to get them. We have been left vulnerable again by the New South Wales Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, who failed to lock down Sydney early enough. The Premier also failed to designate a New South Wales border zone to protect us and the Premier failed to have adequate COVID compliance checks at Ballina airport. We have been consistently in the situation where the New South Wales Premier and the New South Wales government have failed to give us timely information about local cases and exposure sites. People don't know what's happening; they're just not coming clean. Again, the North Coast community has had to pay the price for the failures of the Prime Minister and the New South Wales Premier. It's a situation that's an absolute disgrace and it does show that we are the forgotten people under the Liberals and Nationals. Whether it's at a federal level or at a state level they're consistently failing our community. As we've said, this is why we're in this situation. The Prime Minister has to start taking responsibility and start doing his job. This crisis must be fixed. We have seen this bungled vaccine rollout and we've seen no quarantine facilities which are adequate in place. This must be fixed—there's an urgency here for the health of people across the country and also for our economy to be able to rebuild. I urge the Prime Minister to act; we need to fix this situation urgently. 19:04 Mr KEOGH 249147 Burt [by video link] Australians have been plunged into uncertainty and disruption because of a leaky quarantine system and a slow vaccine rollout. The Prime Minister had two jobs this year: a speedy and effective rollout of the vaccine, and quarantine. He has failed at both. This is a Prime Minister who refuses to take responsibility. He doesn't hold a hose; he says it's not a race. Well, the Olympics are on and the Prime Minister could learn a thing or two from our athletes. It is a race and it's time to start acting like it. The starting gun was fired long ago, but the Prime Minister is only just getting his shoes on. The government are keen to pass legislation that they only provided to Labor fewer than 24 hours ago. This legislation is required to immediately pass in order to provide urgent support to affected communities. Lockdowns like the ones in Sydney and Brisbane at the moment are necessary because of the Prime Minister's failures on vaccines and quarantine. They're costing our national economy hundreds of millions of dollars a day and billions of dollars a week. We won't stand in the way of providing urgent support for Australians. In fact, we have been calling for it for months. Labor of course support getting money out to communities in lockdown and we will support this bill. Australian workers and small businesses continue to pay the price for the incompetence of the Prime Minister and his government. Their failures on vaccines and quarantine are putting lives, jobs, the economy and our nation's entire recovery at risk. Australians need greater certainty and comfort that support is there when needed, not well after it's already too late for too many. On Friday, the Prime Minister announced that disaster payments for Australians in lockdown wouldn't be taxed—a change from how JobKeeper was set up and different to every other measure. Meanwhile, the official guidelines from the Treasury, the ATO and Services Australia said these payments would be taxed. At the moment, the government's left hand has no idea what the right hand is doing, so how on earth can Australians have confidence in the government? This bill will make several changes to implement support for communities in lockdown. There are five schedules put forward in this legislation, but there is nothing on the table to support businesses or individuals who have suffered losses outside the lockdown areas. Why is there no support for businesses and workers who suffer through shorter lockdowns like in WA? Things aren't all hunky-dory for businesses just because they are outside of a locked down CBD. Where is the support for the tourism businesses who lost potential income the second capital cities started going into the lockdowns? We need a national approach from Scott Morrison to provide assurance for our nation's 2.4 million Australian small businesses. States making the hard calls for lockdowns swiftly to stop the spread of the new COVID delta strain within their states and into others should be supported by the federal government, not disadvantaged for taking action and seeking to look after their residents. Without a nationwide approach, we will see continued uncertainty for millions of Australians who own, operate or are employed in various industries. The recent outbreak, right as school holidays got underway, was disastrous for small tourism businesses. For many small tourism industry businesses, the school holiday income that they were going to rely on has gone right down the gurgler. Also, these same tourism businesses are operating at significantly reduced capacity due to staffing constraints brought on by the lack of a seasonal and backpacker workforce. This is an issue that won't be rectified in the most part until borders reopen. To be clear, the borders are keeping us safe. The problem is that we can't change that until the vast majority of Australians are fully vaccinated, and we still have no idea when that will be, how it will work or if it is even possible without clarity on the vaccination rollout. Australians understand the need to pull together and make sacrifices during these difficult times, but they want to know our national government has their backs to. Labor has called on the Morrison government to urgently offer a national small business survival package that includes rental support, support to retain staff so they can reopen easily after lockdown, and debt relief to help small businesses avoid a debt trap. So the changes in the legislation put forward today are welcome, but we must ask: why are businesses and workers still paying the price for the Prime Minister's incompetence? Why do we not have an effective vaccine rollout or an effective quarantine program? And why on earth was JobKeeper cut long before the need for it dried up? It's been 18 months. You'd think surely they would have it all in hand by now. A better targeted and better understood replacement for JobKeeper should have been in place long ago. This legislation is a mere concession from the government that they got the support packages, and indeed their management of the COVID-19 pandemic, awfully wrong. We must get the support right. It's critical to ensuring workers are still employed and businesses are still ticking over on the other side of a lockdown. Be it due to lives lost, illness or business closures, Australians have lost far too much in this pandemic, so let's get it right, government. 19:10 Dr MULINO 132880 Fraser [by video link] I begin by acknowledging the difficulties that so many people in so many communities around our country are experiencing at the moment. Of course, in doing so I acknowledge the fact that the residents of my community in the electorate of Fraser experienced these difficulties for four long months and have experienced them in subsequent lockdowns since then. What makes this all the more difficult to watch in other parts of the country is that so much of what we are seeing around Australia at the moment was foreseeable and avoidable. What we experienced in Victoria between July and October last year should have sent a message to this federal government that so many risks, which were a result of its inaction, needed to be acted upon. What were some of those risks? Well, what we saw in Victoria last year was an outbreak that took a great deal of sacrifice on the part of our community to manage, an outbreak that was a result of a breach of our hotel quarantine system. The lesson that should have been learned back then was that our hotel quarantine system wasn't fit for purpose. In my community, here in Fraser, we had a great number of people who experienced a huge amount of mental health distress and economic distress. Sadly, we experienced the deaths of many people. What we saw in Victoria at that time was a four-month-long process that took the whole of our community an incredible amount of sacrifice to overcome, and almost all of it was the result of a single breach of hotel quarantine. Tellingly, it was at the end of that exhausting process for this community, in October 2020, that the Halton report came out and made very clear that hotel quarantine is not fit for purpose and that our country should not rely on hotel quarantine for managing the risks associated with people necessarily returning to our country. This was not a risk that was unforeseeable. This was not a risk that was beyond the control of the federal government. This was not a risk that was beyond the responsibility of the federal government. This is a responsibility that lies at the heart of what it is our federal government should be doing for our community. As the Leader of the Opposition has pointed out on so many occasions, this government has two jobs. The first of those jobs is to provide a fit-for-purpose quarantine system. The second of those jobs is the vaccination rollout. As I have indicated, what we are seeing is that our quarantine system is still not up to scratch almost a year after that long lockdown commenced and over a year after so many people in the Victorian community suffered from the results of a breach of that system. It is a system that is still no better prepared for the return of people from overseas than it was back then. We often say that this government isn't up for the race, that this government is too slow when it comes to vaccination. But it is entirely the same situation when it comes to the quarantine system. What we have seen over the last year is the government ignoring the recommendations of the Halton report. What we have seen over the last year is the government being completely reactive when it comes to the necessary improvements we need to see in the quarantine system. We see a government that waits for state governments to come forward with proposals and then decides whether or not to accept them, rather than taking the responsibility it should be taking on and coming up with its own plan for making our quarantine system more rigorous. This government often makes the assertion that our current hotel quarantine system is 99.99 per cent secure, which is a classic case of lies, damned lies and statistics. It's a complete misrepresentation of the kinds of risks that our hotel quarantine system is imposing on our country. A far better representation of the risks that the current situation is imposing on our country is a recent academic study, which doesn't look at the entire pool of people coming in—which of course includes uninfected and infected people—which shows that out of every 250 infected people coming through that system one leads to an outbreak. It is that statistic which clearly indicates why it is that our country has experienced over 25 outbreaks as a result of the hotel quarantine system. What we have is a situation where over a year since that major outbreak occurred we still haven't seen material action by this government. We still haven't seen a major strengthening of the quarantine system. Any proposals that have come forward have been as a result of actions, ideas and proposals coming from state governments, which is entirely inappropriate given that, as I indicated earlier, this falls squarely within the Commonwealth's responsibility. The second of the two jobs that the government had, of course, was the vaccination program. This, again, is an example of where the Commonwealth is a laggard when it should be aiming to be on the podium. Again, we find ourselves near last in the OECD. We should be aiming to be near the front of the queue. This is a claim, again, that the government has made on a number of occasions. The government will say that there have been some unforeseeable road blocks in its program but this is entirely not the case. As a number of members of the opposition—including the Leader of the Opposition and including the shadow minister for health at the time Chris Bowen—indicated on many occasions the government was not procuring a sufficient diversity of vaccines. This is what's lying at the heart of the problems that we face as a nation. Indeed, the Minister for Health, in the MPI earlier today, conceded that what is lying at the heart of the problems we face at the moment is supply site constraints. That is entirely due to the fact that—just one example—we didn't take up opportunities to procure as much Pfizer as we ought to have. We can go back—and I've got pages of quotes here from members of the opposition, including the Leader of the Opposition and the then shadow minister, indicating back as early as January 2021, or back in 2020, that a greater diversity of vaccinations should have been procured. On 3 January 2021 Chris Bowen said, 'The government needs to get more vaccines out as quickly as possible, that is the key.' In January 2021 Chris Bowen indicated that, 'Scott Morrison told Australians that we were first in the queue for COVID-19 vaccines. He wasn't telling the truth then.' It is absolutely clear that on many, many occasions the risks associated with putting all of our eggs in one basket were highlighted by members of the opposition and that those claims weren't given sufficient attention. What we see now is the result of that inaction. If we go to March 2021 Phil Gaetjens, the head of the Prime Minister's department, said, 'Logistical issues and the slow pace of the rollout are just noise. In fact, there is a very strong signal that the vaccine is going okay.' So, when it should have been clear that this vaccine rollout was way behind schedule, when it should have been clear that we didn't have sufficient diversity of vaccines, we were getting strong signals from the top of this government that there was no problem. Even to this day, there's far too little acceptance that supply side constraints have largely arisen as a result of insufficient diversity of vaccines. It is this dual problem of an insufficient rigor in our quarantine program and an insufficient diversity in vaccines which is directly creating an unnecessary exposure to lockdowns. It is those lockdowns which are now causing so much economic hardship and so much human misery. Again, it is the government's own documentation which shows the direct link between lockdowns and the economic prospects of this country. The government's own budget papers point to the fact that the number of lockdowns one assumes has a direct impact on economic growth prospects and on employment levels. Of course, there are far more impacts on the community than just GDP numbers and employment levels; it's the human toll that so many speakers have talked about—so many speakers from Sydney, so many speakers from other parts of New South Wales, so many speakers from Queensland. As I've indicated, I can empathise, and people from my community can empathise, with what people are going through. What makes it all the more galling is that all of this suffering was so avoidable. Lessons should have been learned from what other parts of the country went through, what my electorate went through, and lessons should have been learned from the warnings that members of the opposition gave, that the shadow minister gave for months and months late in 2020 and that the Leader of the Opposition gave. We find now that our economy is experiencing $2 billion a week in costs as a result of lockdowns. As speakers on this side have indicated, we will support this bill. We will not stand in the way of measures of support that are so needed by the community. We will also, of course, be constructive. As the Leader of the Opposition has indicated, we have developed proposals which we believe supplement, add to and complement measures that the government is putting in place, which include the $300 payment to incentivise people to get the vaccine. It beggars belief that this government rules out, out of hand, dismissively, constructive suggestions as if it's got everything under control, when we're ranked towards the bottom of the OECD with little prospect of that ranking moving up. As the Leader of the Opposition has pointed out on a number of occasions, incentives, whether they be financial or otherwise, lie at the heart of many governments' vaccination programs. So we will support this bill. We will also make constructive proposals when it comes to what else the government should be doing. We hope, as the Leader of the Opposition indicates, that, like with other measures such as wage subsidies, the government eventually come around and accept that proposal, even if they need to do so after a gap in time and even if they eventually need to claim that it was their idea. But we can't forget that what's underlying the current problems we face, what's underlying our current need to go into lockdowns and, unfortunately, what may require other parts of our country to go into lockdowns in the future is the fact that we still don't have fit-for-purpose quarantine systems. It is the fact that we still don't have a vaccination program rolling out with sufficient speed to give us the coverage so that we can avoid lockdowns. We see a government that is still reacting to proposals from state governments all too slowly. We still see a government that doesn't have sufficient urgency. There have been all too many analogies with the Olympics this week and the fact that we lionise and celebrate the achievements of so many Australians overseas who are pushing themselves to the limit. This government should be doing the same. This government should be pushing themselves to the limit in their service of this country, because we are facing a national emergency. Our country rightly celebrates what our athletes are achieving overseas. We should expect the same excellence and the same urgency from our government with something that is so important. Nothing is as important in terms of the welfare of our people at the moment. So we support this bill, but we need to see so much more being done. We need to acknowledge that the reason for this bill is government inaction when it comes to their two key jobs: quarantine and vaccination rollout. The government need to urgently address those underlying problems and not just deal with the symptoms. 19:25 Mr HILL 86256 Bruce I'd love to make a contribution on the Treasury Laws Amendment (COVID-19 Economic Response No. 2) Bill 2021, but I think we're about to have the adjournment kick in, the minister has to sum up, and my predecessor—one of the most brilliant men in this place, a man with a PhD in economics—seems to have confused 15 minutes with five minutes, so I'll hand over to the minister. 19:25 Mr MORTON 265931 Tangney Firstly I'd like to thank those members who've contributed to this debate. Schedule 1 to the Treasury Laws Amendment (COVID-19 Economic Response No. 2) Bill 2021amends the payments and benefits act to allow the Treasurer to make rules for economic response payments to provide support to an entity where it is adversely affected by restrictions imposed by a state or territory to control COVID-19. This measure gives effect to the government's commitment to assist any state that is unable to administer its own business support payments in the event of a significant lockdown imposed by a state or territory between 1 July 2021 and 30 December 2022. Schedule 2 to the bill amends the information-sharing provisions of the Taxation Administration Act 1953 to allow the ATO to share data with Australian government agencies for the purpose of administering a relevant COVID-19 business support program. Relevant business support programs are those that have been included in a declaration by the Treasurer for this purpose. The Treasurer can make this declaration by legislative instrument if satisfied that the program responds to the economic impacts of COVID-19 and supports businesses that have had their operations impacted by public health orders. Schedule 3 to the bill introduces a new power in the income tax laws that enables, by legislative instrument, eligible Commonwealth COVID-19 business grants to be declared free from income tax. States and territories are also able to apply for the same tax treatment where they have grant programs focused on supporting small and medium businesses facing exceptional circumstances related to COVID-19. Schedule 4 to the bill extends the operation of a temporary mechanism introduced in 2020 which permits responsible ministers to allow electronic signatures for relevant documents in response to the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic. Schedule 5 to the bill makes COVID-19 disaster payments received by individuals from the 2020-21 income year onwards free from income tax. I commend this bill to the House. The DEPUTY SPEAKER 74046 The original question was that this bill be now read a second time. To this the honourable member for Rankin has moved as an amendment that all words after 'That' be omitted with a view to substituting other words. The immediate question is that the amendment be disagreed to. Question agreed to. Original question agreed to. Bill read a second time. Message from the Governor-General recommending appropriation announced. 19:28 Mr MORTON 265931 Tangney by leave—I move: That this bill be now read a third time. Question agreed to. Bill read a third time. ADJOURNMENT 76 ADJOURNMENT Allergy and Anaphylaxis 76 19:29 Ms KEARNEY LTU Cooper [by video link] I'm speaking from my electorate on the land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation, and I pay my deepest respects. I want to bring to this House's attention the seriousness of the issue of allergies and anaphylaxis. Anyone who has seen a child have a sudden and severe allergic reaction to food will know the horror and fear it can bring. My son would flare up if I simply kissed him after I had eaten peanut butter, so severe was his allergy. My brother nearly died from an asthma attack after visiting a house that had been freshly painted, with paint fumes thick in the air. I myself suffer with giant urticaria—better known as hives, but 'giant urticaria' sounds more dramatic. It's not as severe, but, if I do have an attack, I feel very unwell. I find it painful and it looks horrendous, being covered in large red welts. It certainly keeps me from work and unproductive, like so many who, as a result of allergies, require health care, medications and time away from work and life's activities. More and more, we're beginning to understand complex allergic disease. Sometimes multiple allergies are experienced at once. For example, a child with a peanut allergy will often also have eczema, allergic rhinitis or hay fever, and asthma. Poorly controlled asthma in a patient with food allergy is a risk factor for life-threatening and fatal allergic reactions. There has been significant increase in the complexity and severity of a range of allergic diseases over the last couple of decades. Allergic diseases are amongst the fastest-growing chronic diseases and public health issues in Australia. They currently affect more than four million Australians. The Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy together with Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia led a team of experts and those who live with the experience in developing a national allergy strategy. They describe an alarming state of affairs with what is an urgent and serious chronic disease problem for Australia. They have reported that, over the last two decades, almost 20 per cent of the Australian population have a confirmed allergic disease, and this prevalence is increasing. Hospital admissions for anaphylaxis have increased fivefold. Recent studies show that 10 per cent of infants have an immediate food allergy and five per cent of adults may be allergic to one or more drugs. Drug allergy induced anaphylaxis deaths have increased by an alarming 300 per cent, and drug allergy induced anaphylaxis presentations have trebled. There are often misunderstandings about allergy and a temptation to label any medically unexplained illnesses as being due to an allergy, indicating a lack of education about the condition. Up to 15 per cent of people believe they have a drug allergy but don't and, therefore, are denied treatment with an indicated drug. This lack of public awareness about the impact and appropriate management of medically confirmed allergic diseases can result in the use of potentially unsafe alternative tests and therapies. Patients are often referred to a succession of different medical specialists, resulting in confusion and poor treatment. It's been reported that chronic allergies like eczema or atopic dermatitis can result in depression and even suicide amongst sufferers. GPs, pharmacists, dietitians, allied health professionals, nurses and specialists are all important in the need to tackle this problem and they, along with consumers, are calling for a nationally coordinated approach. The rapid and continuing increase in the prevalence and impact of allergic diseases on the health system and the quality of life of patients and carers and the economic costs demand this. I thank Dr Preeti Joshi and Ms Maria Said, co-chairs of the National Allergy Strategy, and their colleagues Associate Professor Kirsten Perrett and Dr Jennifer Koplin from the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, and Jill Smith and Sandra Vale from the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy for meeting with me a couple of times now to discuss the need for a national approach. I also thank the many people in my community who contact me—families and individuals who suffer terribly with chronic allergies, many of whom are constantly in fear of anaphylaxis. In 2019, the federal parliament held an inquiry into this issue, and, in 2020, the health minister accepted all the recommendations from the inquiry. In particular, his government announced support for establishing a national centre for allergies and anaphylaxis, clinical research into food allergy treatments and establishing a national register of anaphylactic episodes. I urge the federal government to take the necessary steps to start the implementation of a national allergy strategy for Australia. COVID-19 77 19:34 Mr ALEXANDER M3M Bennelong [by video link] I'm speaking in this adjournment debate today from Epping, in my electorate of Bennelong. This perverse sentence underlines the new normal of these last two years. That a parliamentary debate could be conducted from anywhere but the chamber was unheard of before 2020 and that I'm speaking from one of the lockdown suburbs in my electorate that is only half locked down speaks to the bedlam that has accompanied this latest Delta outbreak. It was only a handful of weeks ago that we all stood in this chamber and, looking at the state of the country, we were happy to deduce that the worst of COVID was behind us. It seemed that the state-wide lockdowns and border chaos of 2021 was settling down into a predictable series of three-day snap lockdowns and isolated cases that didn't lead to broader outbreaks. The case that had visited five barbecue shops in Sydney in June led to more questions about which barbecue was bought rather than a fear of a broader community transmission. In June, we didn't realise how good we had it. Just two days after returning from Canberra, the world turned upside down for Sydneysiders, and from this vantage point in the middle of a two-month lockdown it's hard to recall the optimism we all held that this would only be for two weeks. Now two months may be optimistic. Through the last month we have seen the virus hotspots jump from east to south-west and restricted areas followed, recently increasing from just three to eight. The latest changes included the local government area of Parramatta, which includes a number of suburbs in Bennelong, including Epping, where I'm holed up now. This lockdown is tough for all Sydneysiders, but there is a particular level of difficulty with living on the border of a restricted LGA. Those of us in Epping and Ermington have the same restrictions as the rest of Parramatta with the fraction of the cases currently. But it is imperative that we abide by the orders and stay out of nearby Ryde. Meanwhile those on the western side of the city of Ryde find themselves unable to get to their nearest shops, which may be on the other side of the hard boundary in Epping. Eastwood has it toughest of all, with the boundary sitting just one block away from the central shopping district. Throughout this lockdown, I've been calling on local people to keep an eye on the New South Wales Health website to ensure they are always on top of the local restrictions, and I issue that callout again today. We must continue to obey these restrictions if we are to have any hope of beating this insidious virus. The other tool in our arsenal, of course, is the vaccine. I'm proud to say that, as of last week, I'm fully vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine—and, if you're my age or older, you should be too. I was delighted to be standing next to the Prime Minister this time last year at AstraZeneca's headquarters, just down the road in Macquarie Park, as we announced our first vaccine deal, and I remain completely confident in the vaccine's safety. I got in line to get the jab as soon as I was eligible and, with the health guidance change recommending that the second jab at an earlier date was now possible, I brought forward my second appointment. The whole process has been simple, painless and well managed by local doctors and the New South Wales government. More importantly, I know that getting vaccinated is the first step to reopening and life returning to normal. I cannot stress enough the need for everyone to get out there and get vaccinated with whatever jab you can get. The vaccines are safe and they will keep Australia safe. If we can follow the health orders and get vaccinated we'll hopefully be through this soon. In the meantime, the most important thing we can do is to stay positive. The gold medals in Tokyo have been a much-needed boost to our national morale, and the remaining Olympics and Paralympics will hopefully keep us going. But please make sure you reach out for help if you need it, utilise the COVID buddy system and keep an eye out for your neighbours. With these three things together we will get through this situation. Mayo Electorate: Positive Ageing 77 19:39 Ms SHARKIE 265980 Mayo I was delighted to recently host two positive ageing forums, in Mount Barker and Victor Harbor, in my electorate. Mayo is the oldest electorate by mean age in South Australia. The needs of older people living in our community, including the aged-care system, has been a significant priority in my work in the parliament over these last five years. I believe that positive ageing is far broader than aged care. For me, this is one of the most pressing matters facing us, as the proportion of older people grows. We have a wealth of amazing elders, who built a thriving community and represent one of our greatest assets. Their skills, experience, energy, goodwill and knowledge are resources that my community and the positive ageing forums aim to tap into and foster. With such events there are so many people to thank. Our venues, Cornerstone College in Mount Barker and Investigator College in Victor Harbor, were so helpful and kindly allowed us the use of their sports and arts centres during the school holidays. While special guest Ita Buttrose AC was sadly unable to attend, impacted by the travel restrictions in New South Wales, we were very fortunate to have been able to attract some brilliant local speakers. I'd like to thank each of our speakers in turn for their generosity in sharing their knowledge and experience: Mr Ian Henschke, the chief advocate for National Seniors, generously gave his time to present at both forums; Mr Graeme Goodings, an Australia radio and television journalist and a much-loved South Australian, shared his personal story of overcoming bowel cancer; Ms Carolanne Barkla, chief executive of Aged Rights Advocacy Service, guided participants through advanced-care directives and what elder abuse looks like; Lynn Field, from Dementia Australia, spoke about dementia and living with dementia in the community; Ian Yates, the chief executive of Council of the Ageing, spoke to the south-coast audience on the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality And Safety—it was great to hear from Ian Yates on behalf of COTA; and, on the south coast, Maggie Beer, iconic South Australian and author, enthralled us with her insights on the need for nutrition, flavour and ultimately pleasure in food for people of all ages, whether you're cooking for one or living in residential care. I'd like to thank the wonderful local speakers: Joanne Lauritsen, deputy CEO of Grandparents For Grandchildren South Australia, who talked about what they're doing to support grandparents who are in the role of parents; Geoff Edwards, from the University of the Third Age, Adelaide Hills U3A, spoke about how their organisation is keeping positive ageing at its heart; Belinda Sheldrick shared with us how we can demystify self-managed aged care; Valerie Lillington enthusiastically spoke and sang about the 'Victor Challenge', which is Valerie's idea for recognising our older people with a Duke-of-Edinburgh-style scheme; Deirdre Henderson shared her experience of caring for a family member with dementia with support from Dementia Australia; and Dr Jenny Slape, Hills author, spoke about creating a culture of respect that connects and cares for people with personalised dementia care. I'd like to especially thank our generous sponsors who provided participants with nourishing goodies and goodie bags. We had the best goodie bags—better than any show or organisation has ever seen before. Jurlique provided a beautiful lavender mister for every person who attended and encouraged people to visit their farm gate and have a farm tour; The Yoghurt Shop; Beerenberg family farm provided beautiful jams, which was a lovely treat for everyone; Mountain Fresh Fruit Juices—every bag had a fruit juice that was made in Mount Compass; Bunnings Mount Barker provided reusable shopping bags; and Ceravolo Orchards, which, again, is another fantastic Mayo business, provided us all with delicious local apples. Each of the forums had an associated expo. I can't list them all, but thank you to all of the organisations who had a stall, who listened to people and who did such a terrific job. I'd also like to thank the volunteers in my electorate who helped get this happening and did the registrations; local mayor Dr Moira Jenkins, for her acknowledgement to country; and Mount Barker Mayor Ann Ferguson, who also did an acknowledgement to country as well as providing Anzac biscuits. Thank you to everyone who was involved. I look forward to doing more of our positive ageing expos. COVID-19 78 19:44 Dr ALLEN 282986 Higgins So many of us have come together to support our fellow Australians as they compete on the global stage at the Tokyo Olympics this past fortnight. We have seen inspiring sportsmanship, breathtaking comebacks and Olympic and world records smashed. Our Australian Olympians' skills and determination, not only to face the challenges that COVID has presented but to push through it all, get to the other side and reach that goal of being at the Olympics, have been simply inspirational. That's why I'm wearing this green and gold scarf today; it shows the true grit and determination that is so fundamentally Australian. But it's not only athletes who have been showing grit and determination over the last year. It's everyday Australians, who have faced this global pandemic and its terrible consequences together. Importantly, it's the frontline workers—workers who are getting up each and every day to support our fellow Australians, whether it be at the checkout and helping Australians with their groceries through lockdown; or the testing clinics that have dealt with hundreds of thousands of people in a day across our nation; or the vaccination hubs that are now delivering more than 200,000 vaccines per day; or our GP and hospital workers, identifying and caring for those who are seriously ill with COVID. They're all delivering healthcare services and care for our community through this pandemic. There are so many who are working behind the scenes to bring this pandemic to its knees. They too are our local champions; they too are our national heroes. It's like the pathologists, doing our testing; our contact tracers, who are racing to stop the spread of COVID through the community; or our public health advisers, getting the strategy right for 'Team Australia'. I've been proud to be part of the National COVID-19 Health and Research Advisory Committee, which has met every single week since the pandemic began, co-chaired very ably by local constituent and CEO of the Doherty Institute, Professor Sharon Lewin, and the Commonwealth's Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Professor Michael Kidd. Over 90 health and research experts in their fields have worked together, often in their own time, to deliver expert, informed and evidence-based advice that has been vital to the federal government's successful COVID response. Just like our Olympians, we all have the power to control the outcomes of this race by stepping up and pushing through. We can all put our shoulders forward and get vaccinated when it's our turn. Locally, in my electorate of Higgins, I am so proud that that's just what is happening. Dozens of local GP clinics; our local hospital, Cabrini; and our local mass COVID vaccination clinic at the Prahran Town Hall, which is run by Star Health, are all working hard to ensure they vaccinate as many as possible quickly and safely. Star Health recently set a new PB—personal best—passing 8,000 COVID vaccines administered in a week. Congratulations! I know that you have set an even higher aspiration as vaccine supply now accelerates into Q4 right across the country. As Australians, we should all welcome the news that the Prime Minister has secured the support of our premiers and chief ministers around the country to keep moving forward in our fight against COVID through the announcement of a national four-step plan. This plan now has clear vaccination targets to drive us on and to bring the rollout home for Australia as modelled by the Doherty Institute, that we heard from today. Right now we're in the suppression phase, where the only way to stay ahead of the new delta strain is to have quick and short lockdowns. We now need 70 per cent of our adult population to get vaccinated to move to the next phase, when we can start saying goodbye to lockdowns. When we hit 80 per cent, lockdowns should become a thing of the past. We heard today from the Doherty Institute experts in Melbourne that we can now safely take these steps and not fall over again and run out of control, as we have seen in other countries that have tried. To all Australians who want to finish this race a little faster: we can all contribute to the speed-up of this rollout. Australians: arm yourselves. See your GP about getting vaccinated. Let's finish the job and bring this virus to its knees. My plea to those opposite is to get behind this. Now is not the time to play politics; use your platforms to bring supporters across the political divide along on a winning strategy for Team Australia. Senior Australians 79 19:49 Mr HILL 86256 Bruce Amidst the disaster that's facing the nation now, with most of the country locked down or suffering other restrictions due to the Prime Minister's failure on vaccines and quarantine, we've heard a day of demented and often deluded government speakers telling us that somehow the government's failure is Labor's fault. It really is astounding. But, amidst the despair and the despondency that is palpable in my community and much of the nation, I want to talk about something else and call out the government's escalating attacks on older Australians. We've had eight years of attacks, budget after budget, on pensioners from this government. We've had an aged-care crisis, which remains unaddressed and unresponded to. We've had Medicare rebates cut for critical hip, hand and shoulder surgeries, snuck in under the cover of COVID for 1 July, and they now want to force aged pensioners onto the cashless pension card. We shouldn't be surprised. The royal commission into aged care revealed a national disgrace. At some level, every Australian should be ashamed of what was in that report—how we've treated our vulnerable Australians and older citizens. 'Neglect' it was called. It revealed shocking mistreatment: maggots crawling out of wounds, nearly 50 per cent of older Australians in care not receiving enough nourishment and food, drugs given to sedate people because there are not enough staff, staff not being paid a living wage, and 28,000 senior Australians died waiting for a home-care package at the right level, too scared to go into care. The government's response was an insult to older Australians. They didn't even touch the recommendation that said you need a nurse on duty for 24 hours a day. Let's not worry about that! There's nothing for staff wages, but $3.2 billion is given to the nursing home providers, with no strings attached. It's the kind of response you give when you actually don't care about it and don't want to make a response. We shouldn't be surprised, because this bloke, the Prime Minister when he was the Treasurer, cut nearly $2 billion from aged-care funding and is now running around pretending he didn't do it. The latest plan is a new low: the cashless pension card. Eighty per cent of a person's pension would be put on this privatised card. The government and a private company would control when, where and how pensioners can spend their own money, what kinds of shops they can shop in and what they can buy in those shops. They've even got a secret technology working group committee with the big banks, Australia Post and all the big retailers, trying to work out how they can do product-level blocking to control exactly which products people could buy. It's disgraceful. Pensioners would only be able to shop at shops approved by the government. There wouldn't be enough cash to go to the Dandenong Market in my electorate and buy cheap food—which is how people survive—buy second-hand goods off the internet and give a bit of money to the grandkids. There would be no meals at the local RSL. A private company would see how much people spend, how much they have in their account and what they buy. This is privatisation by the Liberals of the social security system. They've already wasted $70 million of taxpayer money on this. That's $5,200 for every card that's been issued so far, with a lot more to come. This is going to be a cash bonanza for the private company, and the government wants to put it out wider. At one point I heard the minister yell out, 'It's a scare campaign.' Government members try and scurry away from this and deny it. Well, the Prime Minister said himself that the pension is a welfare payment. A headline on Sky News said the Prime Minister was 'eyeing a national rollout of the cashless debit card'. The minister said: We are seeking to put all income management onto the universal platform ... the cashless debit card. The government introduced legislation into this House last year that would force aged pensioners onto the card and they want to pretend that they didn't do it. The consequences are horrendous. There are shocking reports of people whose rent hasn't been paid and their utilities haven't been paid. There is the shocking tale from the member for Gilmore of a woman who literally had to ring the private company to beg for permission to be able to shop at a shop that sold a bra the right size for her, and then she had to send photos of it in for the audit. Disgraceful! There is a Liberal agenda to expand this scheme. Labor will fight the government's plan. A Labor government will scrap this scheme. We'll cancel the contract with the private company and we will repeal the legislation so this cannot happen again. We will fight privatisation. As I said, it comes after eight years of attacks at every budget. Budget after budget, the Liberals attack aged pensioners. Last year, they froze the pension—not even a 5c increase. They refused to index the deeming rates, they tried to cut the energy supplement, and they did a dodgy deal with the Greens political party to kick 370,000 part-pensioners off the pension, which was a $12,000 loss for many part-pensioners. We will fight them every step of the way. (Time expired) Bass Electorate: Ravenswood Heights Primary School 80 19:54 Mrs ARCHER 282237 Bass Think back to your favourite teacher as a child, the one who had a lifelong impact on the person that you are today. I can think of several, notably the late Bruce Fairfax, who instilled in me a great love of literature and poetry, taught me about the strength of the human spirit and the power of kindness, and gave me a passion for lifelong learning. The evidence shows that, beyond what we learn in an academic sense, schools play a vital role in shaping our character, imparting values such as curiosity, achievement, benevolence and citizenship. This year I've had the great pleasure of getting to know a vibrant, energetic and passionate principal who is dedicated to ensuring the students of his school community are uplifted and know their worth as young citizens. Jason Gunn was appointed Principal of Ravenswood Heights Primary School in October last year and from day one has strived to create a school environment which all children and the wider school community can be part of. I grew up in Ravenswood, and I know firsthand the undeserved stigma sometimes associated with the area and the school. Of course, like any area, there are challenges that exist, particularly in relation to socioeconomic disadvantage, but Jason refuses to put these challenges in the too-hard basket and is instead committed to providing all children who walk through the door with a sense of pride and belonging. It's a great privilege to be invited to attend school events, and in April I attended a very moving remembrance ceremony at Ravenswood to mark Anzac Day. Bringing together staff, students and family members and featuring a wonderful music and drama presentation, it was without a doubt the best assembly I've ever had the fortune to attend. As Jason said afterwards: I don't think I've ever been in a school where I've been so proud of the people in the school and that goes for everyone from our groundsmen to our assistant principal to our teachers and importantly, our students. Further expanding on his passion for students to explore the creative arts and to improve their love of learning, Jason engaged street artist KreamArt to work with students to transform part of the school's exterior into their very own creative precinct. The project aims to help kids achieve success through creativity. It features colourful messages and a mural including the school's values of respect, growth and aspiration. I was able to view the finished masterpiece while on my latest visit to the school last week, and it is brilliant. This mural is just the beginning of a whole-school project, with each class from kindergarten through to grade 6 to create their own mural across the school. The school community are throwing their support behind the initiative, which is helping to drive a love of learning and a sense of belonging. During my visit last week, I was also delighted to see the number of wonderful pieces of student work up on display in the corridors of the school. Refusing to accept the rhetoric that artwork should not be displayed as it would only get destroyed, Jason and the teaching staff have filled the hallways with amazing creative pieces which, in no surprise to Jason, have remained untouched. While we know the important role the creative arts play in a child's development, we also understand the significance playgrounds can have on a child's emotional, social, mental and physical wellbeing. Play equipment can also help develop coordination, strength and motor skills, which is why school playgrounds are so important. Unfortunately, Ravenswood Heights has not had the benefit of great play equipment, with the school's grounds having been very sparse for many years. Jason responded quickly to this challenge too, spending his own time out of hours building the school's only sandpit—the first time that some students have ever had the opportunity to play in one inside or outside of the school. I'm grateful that the state education department has now recognised the need of Ravenswood primary, and I understand that funds will be made available for new playground equipment, hopefully this school term. I thank former minister Jeremy Rockliff for responding so quickly and positively to my advocacy after Jason raised it with me earlier this year. Jason has a bold vision to make his school the best in the state, and, with his courage, determination and infectious enthusiasm, he is well on the way to achieving his goal. To the grade 6 leadership students who I had the pleasure of meeting with again last week: I was so impressed by your maturity, your kindness and your passion for the school. A very special thank you to leaders Gypsy and Brody for representing me at one of our local Anzac Day events earlier this year. To Jason and the wonderful Ravenswood Heights teachers and staff: I hope that you never doubt the difference you're making in the lives of your students now and into the future. House adjourned at 20:00 NOTICES 81 NOTICES