Simon Birmingham calls on Australians to get vaccinated now, says no more excuses

The federal government has called on unvaccinated Australians to get the Covid jab immediately, saying this excuse is no longer acceptable.

Federal Finance Minister Simon Birmingham has said Australians have no excuse anymore to put off getting a Covid vaccine.

Speaking at the 1000-bed quarantine hub being built in Western Australia, Mr Birmingham said the sooner everyone gets vaccinated the quicker borders will open up again and families who are separated from loved ones can be reunited.

“The most important task right now is to drive vaccination rates, and the silliest thing I hear anybody say around the country right now is that they’re waiting to get vaccinated. Don’t wait, vaccines are in plentiful supply, the number of locations to get vaccinated continues to increase as we bring more pharmacies online alongside doctors and state run hubs and clinics,” he said. “Get it done as quickly as possible so that we can meet those maximum vaccination targets. And in meeting those targets, then I hope and trust that states and territories can work through careful, considered reopening plans.”

Finance Minister Simon Birmingham.

Speaking about the Bullsbrook quarantine hub near the Pearce RAAF base, Mr Birmingham denied the centre would become a white elephant as Australia moved towards quarantining at home.

“This facility will be here to respond to the next health crisis, to the next international humanitarian crisis, to the next bushfire crisis, potentially,” he said.

Mr Birmingham was asked if the centre would be a “white elephant”, given the federal government had announced vaccinated Australian arrivals would start being able to quarantine at home from next month.

“The West Australian government under our agreements will operate it as a quarantine facility. But then it will maintain Commonwealth ownership and be available to meet all manner of different crisis situations in the future and provide us with that enhanced capability. What Covid-19 has taught us all is to expect the unexpected to be prepared for different challenges, and this sort of facility will give us that preparation in the future.”

WA Health Minister Roger Cook.

It came as WA Health Minister Roger Cook flagged the reintroduction of potential new rules for residents when the state’s hard border reopens.

Masks and capacity limits at hospitality venues will be among the changes described by Mr Cook as the government says it will only reopen the border once vaccination targets for eligible residents reach 80 and 90 per cent.

“In the future, we will have a situation whereby we have our borders play less of a role in our public social health measures,” Mr Cook said. “We need to have a public conversation about what it looks like when those borders come down completely.

“It means in Western Australia that we’ll be looking again towards masks playing a role in our lives,” he sad. “We will need to look again to potentially limiting the number of people at particular venues, at pubs, restaurants, large venues and so on.”