Yet another COVID-19 outbreak from hotel quarantine has plunged a state into lockdown. Yet another COVID-19 outbreak from hotel quarantine has closed state borders.
The risk to the health and livelihood of Australians has not gone away, and the Morrison Government must get their act together and treat this pandemic with the urgency it deserves.
But because of their complacency, we’ve seen another outbreak stem from hotel quarantine. If Scott Morrison had built a fit-for-purpose national quarantine system – a responsibility that sits squarely with the Prime Minister – then this outbreak would not have happened.
Some of the people at the centre of this current outbreak were eligible for the vaccine. If the Morrison Government hadn’t botched our vaccine rollout, those people would have been vaccinated by now.
Australians want a clear plan for the future – a plan that gives them clarity and certainty.
It’s now clear for everyone to see that Scott Morrison doesn’t have a plan to beat COVID-19. But we do.
If I were Prime Minister, an Albanese Labor Government would:
- Build new quarantine facilities and expand existing facilities in every state and territory – because it’s time to end the blame game and be a true partner with the states and territories.
- Fix the vaccine rollout and expand mobile and mass vaccination clinics to get as many Australians vaccinated as quickly as possible. We would stop the excuses and get everyone who lives and works in aged or disability care vaccinated. We have the doses and we know where they are. There’s simply no excuse for the delay.
- Start a mass public information campaign to encourage people to get vaccinated, and start a process for considering incentives to achieve that aim.
- Begin manufacturing mRNA vaccines, like Pfizer, right here in Australia. This virus isn’t going away and when it comes to beating it, we need to be able to stand on our own two feet.