A number of constituents have contacted me about the data showing low vaccination rates in the City of Sydney and several inner city postcodes.

I raised this with the minister’s office, but the response stated that the data was based on 2019 ABS estimates.

The loss of overseas students, backpackers and migrants/visa holders since the pandemic means that the 2019 baseline figures may not reflect the current population and some media reports reinforce this may be the case for both inner Sydney and Melbourne. Some inner city areas with younger populations have also been late to get vaccinated because they were not eligible earlier but they should have caught up and it is unclear whether this has been reflected.

The data impacts on whether people can travel to South Australia, which will force people from a local government area with less than 80 percent of the population fully vaccinated to quarantine. This could affect families from reuniting over the summer break.

I’ve submitted questions in Parliament about the population data > HERE.