COVID-19 Vaccination Rollout

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (14:30): I have a supplementary question arising from the answer, and I thank the minister for his answer. In terms of the rollout on the APY lands, if there were concerns or problems that individuals had, would it be the state or commonwealth government that would look at it? When the minister talks about a joint rollout, what exactly are the areas of operational responsibility for each—the state and the commonwealth—in this program?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:31): I would reiterate the basic point that my understanding is that the commonwealth is partnering with Aboriginal community-controlled health organisations. Certainly, the state will partner with Nganampa, and for that matter any other Aboriginal-controlled health organisation that seeks our assistance in terms of the vaccine rollout.

An overarching point that I think needs to be made is that we are very happy to partner with the commonwealth government in the vaccination program, but it is fundamentally the commonwealth government's vaccination program. Australians are very lucky that this is a vaccine preventable disease, that COVID has a suite of vaccines that can deal with the virus. We can be very grateful that the federal government had foresight to procure significant amounts of vaccine, particularly Pfizer and AstraZeneca, which are able to be rolled out now.

We, and the other state and territory governments, are actively partnering with the commonwealth government in delivery of the national vaccination program. It is fundamentally a commonwealth vaccination program and we also, as I said, will be partnering with Aboriginal community-controlled health organisations in that joint effort.