The New South Wales Government’s decision to place the Hunter region into lockdown is a direct result of Scott Morrison’s failures.
The Prime Minister had two jobs this year: a quick and effective vaccine rollout, and fixing our leaky hotel quarantine system.
He has failed, and now the entire Hunter is joining the rest of my constituents on the Central Coast in lockdown.
While it’s clear the New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian waited too long to lockdown the wealthy Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, Scott Morrison was an active accomplice, enthusiastically encouraging her to hold off.
As late as eight days into the Bondi outbreak, Scott Morrison was still on television, urging Gladys Berejiklian to “resist going into a full lockdown”.
He now bears responsibility for what the Hunter and Central Coast are going through right now.
Today we’ve heard the Prime Minister has found an extra 180,000 Pfizer doses for New South Wales, some of which will hit the regions in the week of 16 August.
That’s still 11 days away.
We needed these vaccines yesterday.
It has been insulting and infuriating watching Scott Morrison tell Australians every day to get vaccinated, like it’s a simple task.
If only that was the case.
The problem with the Prime Minister’s vaccine rollout has never been one of demand.
It’s always been about a lack of supply.
There is not a single Pfizer dose available at a Shortland GP.
18 months into this pandemic, it’s clear the Morrison Government has got no idea what it is doing and is playing catch up to address its failures.
The Prime Minister’s complacency and ‘it’s not a race’ attitude has resulted in our region being in lockdown and our health being endangered.
We are paying the price for the Prime Minister’s incompetence.