Liberal MP Andrew Wallace says Victoria’s lockdown is not due to the Morrison government’s poor execution of vaccinations or hotel quarantine systems.
He said state governments are “responsible for public health” and denies the federal government doesn’t have a “national strategy” to deal with the recent outbreaks.
“The federal government has done absolutely the heavy lifting when it comes to providing support to businesses around the country,” Mr Wallace told Sky News.
He said the states agreed to handle quarantine separately at the beginning of the pandemic and it should remain their responsibility to contain outbreaks.
“It was agreed at that meeting that state governments would be responsible for organising the quarantine for people coming into this country in hotel quarantine.”
A Sunshine Coast hinterland town has been left unable to reach emergency services after experiencing their second phone outage in just five months leaving elderly residents very concerned.