Former Greens Leader and Senator for Victoria Dr Richard Di Natale will deliver his valedictory speech to the Senate this afternoon by remote video link. He will highlight serious failings in Australian politics to deal with the issues Australian people care about and outline a prescription to rejuvenate our democracy. 

Greens Leader Adam Bandt and Health spokesperson Dr. Richard Di Natale have called on the Morrison government to drop the spin and take real action on a COVID Vaccine.

The Greens say the government’s “big announcement” of a vaccine deal with AstraZeneca has turned out to have little substance and the government has also failed to join the COVAX global vaccine initiative despite the Prime Minister saying the world needs to share the vaccine.

Quotes attributable to Greens Leader Adam Bandt:

Greens questioning in the Senate COVID Committee today has confirmed the Morrison government has failed to join the COVAX global vaccine initiative despite the Prime Minister saying the world needs to share the vaccine.

Under questioning by Senator Richard Di Natale the Secretary of Health confirmed the government had not signed up to the main international effort to secure vaccine access globally, nor contributed a single dollar.

Quotes attributable to Greens Leader Adam Bandt:

Dr Richard Di Natale, Australian Greens health spokesperson, is today calling on the Prime Minister to adopt an elimination strategy for COVID-19 to keep restrictions in place until the rate of community transmission reaches zero. 

"It's now time to commit to eliminating COVID-19 from the community, and give Australians some level of certainty in the face of this pandemic."

"We have already eliminated the virus in some states, which has allowed people to resume doing many of the things they love and provided some certainty for the business community," said Dr Di Natale.

Local Greens MPs for Melbourne, Adam Bandt and Ellen Sandell, have welcomed the government’s decision to expand the number of supervised injecting trial sites, including in Melbourne, saying the Greens had repeatedly pushed the government to relieve the pressure on Richmond residents by expanding trial locations.

The Greens were the first political party to advocate for the supervised injecting facility trial.

Young people will be guaranteed a job, secure income, and free education under a new Greens recovery plan to restart the economy and build ‘a better normal’ after the coronavirus economic shock.

The vision for a debt-financed recovery reaffirms the government’s role in responding to the crisis, and rejects the austerity approaches offered by the Liberal and Labor parties, charting a course for a government-led recovery that extends Australia’s world-class social services, instead of slashing funding for education, healthcare, and the environment.

The Australian Greens have called on the government to establish publicly funded vaccine manufacturing capacity in Australia to ensure any COVID19 vaccine is available to all Australians.

A recent Defence science technology report outlined in today’s media has warned of a shortage in vaccines in Australia during a pandemic because of the lack of production capacity in Australia.

The Australian Greens have condemned US President Donald Trump’s announcement this week that the United States will withdraw critical funding from the World Health Organisation (WHO), and cautions the Australian government from signalling any similar action.

As the international body responsible for coordinating the world’s response to pandemics like the current COVID-19 crisis, it is critical that governments maintain their financial commitments to the organisation. 

The Australian Greens have called for a pause on health insurance premiums during the COVID-19 crisis, and for the government to redirect the private health insurance rebate into the public system to assist in delivering critical care.
 
“Australians should not be paying premiums for a product that can’t be used for its primary purpose, especially when millions of households are facing challenging financial circumstances,” Dr Richard Di Natale, Greens health spokesperson said today.