Thursday 1 July, 2021

Australian Greens Disability spokesperson Senator Jordon Steele-John said it was outrageous that less than 1 in 5 disabled people, and our support workers, in phase 1a and 1b had been vaccinated, more than 4 months after the rollout begun.

Senator Steele-John said the Morrison government should have made a plan to vaccinate disabled people and disability support workers in April when it was revealed that less than 10 per cent had been vaccinated.

The Leader of the Australian Greens, Adam Bandt, has announced the Greens will move in the Senate next week for the Government to revoke its direction under the Biosecurity Act to ban and put in place criminal penalties on Australians and residents returning home from India.

“The ban is racist, it’s possibly illegal, it’s not based on health advice and it must be rescinded immediately.  The Greens will move in the Senate next week to overturn the ban and we believe it will have widespread support amongst Senators.”

The Greens say that the People’s Vaccine Alliance calculation that Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson  have paid out $26 billion in dividends and stock buybacks to their shareholders in the past 12 months is appalling. 
 
“Profit making from Covid-19 vaccines is gross and highlights exactly why we need publicly owned, Government run facilities in Australia”, Greens spokesperson on Health Senator Rachel Siewert said. 
 

The Australian Greens have called on the Morrison Government to urgently prioritise disabled people, and disability support workers, in the national vaccine roll out after it was revealed that just 6.5% of this cohort have received their first dose.

Australian Greens Disability spokesperson Senator Jordon Steele-John said:

"This is absolutely shameful. It's clear that the Morrison government has once again forgotten to include disabled people, and the people who support us, in their pandemic response.

“It’s time for the Morrison Government to step up and show leadership on developing publicly-owned mRNA manufacturing capacity", Greens spokesperson on Health Senator Rachel Siewert said. 
 
“It’s not good enough to say they are doing investigations and scoping studies. How much longer do we have to wait? 

The Leader of the Greens, Adam Bandt, says the National Cabinet agenda should include the Greens’ call for investment in publicly-owned domestic mRNA vaccine production.

The Greens have been calling for publicly-owned vaccine manufacturing for almost a year, and since February have been explicitly calling for Australia to be able to produce mRNA vaccines here. Top scientists and immunisation experts have also argued that Australia should have domestic mRNA production.

The Australian Greens are calling for the establishment of a no-fault vaccine compensation scheme in Australia.
 
“There are already 25 countries around the world, including the US, UK and New Zealand, that have no-fault vaccine compensation schemes in place and it’s time for Australia to join them”, Australian Greens spokesperson on Health Senator Rachel Siewert said.
 
“Having a no-fault vaccine compensation scheme in place will ensure people don’t need to pursue compensation through the legal system in the rare event of adverse side effects.
 

The Greens say the government should use unallocated discretionary funds set aside for COVID to begin work on a publicly-owned domestic vaccine manufacturer. If the government fails to act, the Greens plan to move in the Senate to demand action on domestic vaccine production when Parliament resumes.

The Australian Greens have lashed the Morrison Government’s vaccine rollout, saying that tonight’s announcement of a health advisory to no longer vaccinate many people under 50 would have been avoidable if Australia had a domestic mRNA manufacturing capacity. 

“The government’s rollout is in shambles. This is precisely why Australia should have built domestic mRNA vaccine manufacturing capacity at the start of the pandemic,” Senator Siewert said. 

The Australian Greens are calling for an urgent independent review into the serious and widespread problems with Australia’s vaccine rollout.

“The vaccine rollout for which both the Federal and State Governments have responsibility is having more than so called “teething problems” and these are having real-world consequences with the latest Covid-19 outbreaks spreading in Queensland and threatening in NSW,” Greens spokesperson on Health Senator Rachel Siewert said.