Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

[by video link] Here in southern Tasmania, where I'm coming to you from today, we've just endured our first lockdown in more than a year. Thankfully, for three days there have been no new COVID cases in southern Tasmania. But it has got Tasmanians talking about our vaccination levels and about why we're in the middle of October and still so few Tasmanians have had their vaccines. I congratulate those Tasmanians who have gone out and got their vaccine—I think we're at 69 per cent with a double dose now, fourth out of the eight jurisdictions in Australia.

Tasmanians are particularly concerned about what will happen when Tasmania opens up when we hit that magical 90 per cent that our state Premier wants, or 80 per cent according to the national plan—we're still not sure what that will be. We understand that our Premier will make an announcement this Friday about what the opening up plans for Tasmania will be. Tasmanians know that we have the oldest population in Australia and, sadly, the sickest population in Australia. We know that our hospital system here in Tasmania is already under great stress. We have a health system that is struggling to cope, whether it be GPs around the state in regional and outer suburban areas, mental health services, hospitals or ambulances. We know Tasmania's health system is not in good shape. We know that in August fewer than half of all patients at the emergency department were seen on time. That is the worst result on record. We know that our ambulance response times are the slowest in the country. We know that ramping at our hospitals is a regular occurrence because we simply do not have enough staffed beds. We know that Tasmanians are already struggling to get the care they need, and Tasmanians are worried that when COVID and the delta strain arrive on our shores we will not be able to cope.

We know that all state and territory ministers wrote to the Commonwealth asking for additional resources and funds, saying they need extra support for their health systems. In my home state of Tasmania this is particularly true. We know that this support is needed. We know that Tasmania can't do it without the Commonwealth's support. Today in question time we heard the Prime Minister say he has spoken to our state Premier. I hope that, when the Premier announces Tasmania's plan on Friday about how we are going to reopen to the other states of Australia, included in that is Commonwealth support for our health system. It simply cannot cope without additional support. The state and federal Liberal governments have now had more than 18 months to get this right. If Tasmania's hospital system fails under the weight of COVID when we reopen, it will be at the feet of the Prime Minister and the Premier. They will be responsible if Tasmania's health system does not survive this reopening.

We've had assurances from the state government that they've purchased more ventilators. We've had assurances that there are enough trained staff. But we also know that the last time we had COVID in Tasmania—on the north-west coast in June last year—the federal government had to call in the Army to deal with the hospitals on the north-west coast because the system could not cope. I hope that, since that time, the state and federal governments have done their jobs. The Tasmanian public is very anxious and very concerned about what it will mean when we reopen the borders here and the delta strain of COVID comes into our state.

Tasmanians, I urge you to go out and get vaccinated. We know that far too many Tasmanians are still not vaccinated, particularly in some of those regional communities and particularly some of the vulnerable groups. We have had to raise particular circumstances to get people access to vaccines. That should no longer be an issue. We know the state government has finally gotten around to getting a bus to visit regional communities, but I urge every Tasmanian to please go and get vaccinated. Once you hear the Premier's plan on Friday, please don't panic—we're doing everything we can to put pressure on the state and federal governments to make sure that our health system in Tasmania will cope, that people will be able to access GPs and that people will be able to access the hospital emergency department when they need it. Far too many Tasmanians are wondering what will happen and whether it will work, and they haven't yet had any assurances from the state and federal governments about how this is going to work. I hope that on Friday, when we get the big announcement about when Tasmania will reopen, the government has done its job. (Time expired)