Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Does the Prime Minister support the vaccination incentives of cash payments of $200 to Telstra employees and bonuses to Qantas customers? Wouldn't we get to reopen more quickly if the Prime Minister adopted Labor's plan of a $300 incentive payment for vaccinations?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What commercial companies do is a matter for them. But, no, I don't agree that for the 50 per cent of those aged over 16 we should have paid a payment to them, because they understood, they knew Australians were coming forward every single day in record numbers—as we've seen the vaccination rate continue to climb each and every week. Some 1.8 million vaccine doses were administered last week. Per capita that is, over a seven-day period, a stronger rate of vaccination than both the UK or the United States achieved at their peak. That is the rate at which our vaccination program is now performing.

The Leader of the Opposition might want to engage in a cash splash for whatever reason. He would have just written a cheque for $3 billion for things that people were already going to do. That says a lot about how Labor would've managed this COVID pandemic. It says a lot about their judgement. It says a lot about how they managed the nation's finances. They would actually make a payment for things that people were already going to do. But worse than that, as I said a few weeks ago, it is a vote of no confidence in Australians. That's what it is. I have confidence that Australians will continue to come forward, as indeed they are. I'll tell you why they are coming forward. It's because they know, because of the national plan that we've set out, that 70 per cent and 80 per cent vaccination rates will mean they will be able to go forward and live with this virus and not have to live with lockdowns. That's what they know. That's why they're coming forward every week, every day, to all of those points of presence around the country to get their vaccinations. I say thank you to them and that's all they're seeking, and possibly not even that because they know that it's the right thing to do for themselves, for their families, for their communities to get Australia where they want to go.

They're not coming forward for the cash; they're coming forward because it's in their public health interest to do so. They are doing it because they know it's the right thing to do by their communities. It is a cynical position of the Leader of the Opposition to want to use taxpayers' money to issue a vote of no confidence in Australians. They are the values of Labor. The values of the Liberals and the Nationals are to believe in the Australian people, that they want to do the right things in the national interest. They are the policies of our government. I will leave the Labor leader to his policy folly. I will leave him to his policy folly and we will stay with the proven policies and the proven faith in the Australian people. We are standing up for the national plan. Labor seems to be standing in the way. (Time expired)