House of Representatives
31 August 2021
I rise today to address the National Health Amendment (COVID-19) Bill 2021. As we know, this amendment facilitates the purchase of important public health supplies, including COVID-19 vaccines, consumables and treatments by amending the National Health Act. Labor will be supporting this bill tonight, because we want it done as quickly and as efficiently as possible. We support this bill because it's important that we consider the broader context of this government's COVID-19 response. That will be in my remarks tonight.
As we've heard many, many times before across this nation, the Prime Minister had two key jobs this year: efficiently and effectively rolling out the vaccine and fixing quarantine. He has failed both. The government's vaccine rollout has been nothing short of a complete and utter shambles. Last year, we all heard the same Prime Minister say that we were supposedly at the front of the queue for vaccines and that it wasn't a race. That idea seems laughable now, after Australians have endured months and months of supply issues. It's clear that we were nowhere near the front, and, as we know, at one stage we were coming last in the OECD. We were told that all aged-care residents and workers would be vaccinated by Easter 2021. Only 45,000 residents were vaccinated by 10 April, with the Prime Minister later abandoning his plans to directly provide doses to aged-care workers. We were never at the front of the queue. How could we be when the Prime Minister adopted the attitude of, 'It's not a race'? It was a race. Labor knew that, and the people of Australia knew that. It's clear now that the real danger was in not rushing and implementing a vaccine 'strollout' instead of a speedy and effective vaccine rollout as the rest of the world has done. Australians have been placed in real danger. The government's complacency has put Australians in a very dangerous position.
I want to conclude my remarks tonight by talking about and calling out the conspiracy theories in this country. It starts in this chamber, here and now, with the member for Dawson and the member for Hughes. They've allowed extremely dangerous conspiracy theories to fester, and it began with the member for Hughes, whose dissent to COVID conspiracy began when he sat on the government's back bench. The member for Hughes, who sits in this House and has all the privileges and responsibilities that come with it, has continually stated that he does not believe in the efficacy of vaccines and has made repeated false claims about the dangers of COVID-19. The member for Dawson, in this chamber, this week seconded a private member's bill to undermine our vaccine and undermine our health in this country. On Monday morning, I was in this chamber when that happened. The member for Dawson has appeared at antilockdown rallies alongside signs with vile and defamatory messages and where many participants wore shirts with the letter Q on them, a reference to the conspiracy theory QAnon.
The member for Dawson is not alone in these dangerous views. Tonight, I call out Senator Matt Canavan and Senator Gerard Rennick, from my home state of Queensland, who have also used their platforms to undermine the important public health measures that have kept us safe. This is not freedom of speech; it is dangerous speech. It must stop, and the Prime Minister is the only one who can stop it. The Prime Minister has time and time again not taken his responsibilities seriously. He had a responsibility to deliver safe and dedicated quarantine, yet he decided to let the Queensland government pick up his slack and build it themselves.
Tonight, I call out the member for Hughes. I call out his dangerous messaging that he is spamming Australians with. Residents in my electorate have received revolting text messages—dangerous text messages—from the member for Hughes. This is my message to the member for Hughes and the United Australia Party and its founder and overlord, Clive Palmer: stop misleading the people of Australia, and stop delivering dangerous health messages to the people of Australia. We all want to be out of lockdowns. We all want this nightmare to be over. It will not be over if they keep peddling their mistruths, dangerous conspiracy theories and myths that have been debunked and destroyed by health professionals across the globe. For the entirety of our country to be receiving this dangerous message undermines our health response to the most insidious pandemic that this country has ever seen. I am pleading with members in this parliament, for the privilege that they have in standing here, to use their voices wisely. I know it's only a fringe, but that fringe is growing, and we need to say that enough is enough. Tonight, I'm using my voice to call it out and to demand an end to it.
