Today I have written to @ScottMorrisonMP urging him to change course on the vaccine rollout. I have been reluctant to publicly criticise the Government on this but after hearing many stories of problems in the rollout in Indi, I feel duty-bound to raise these concerns.

I am making this statement because I want the Government to succeed at this. As the PM has said many times, this is the biggest challenge our nation faces this year. I agree. That is why it is so important we get it right and why we need to address the clear issues we are seeing.

I am also speaking out because in Indi, we have so much riding on this succeeding. Our region was devastated by the prolonged border closure last year. We know that delays in the vaccine mean higher chance of another state border closure. That would be totally unacceptable to us.

I have spent recent weeks speaking to constituents, to doctors, to vaccination clinics and to many former colleagues from my 35-year career as a nurse and a rural health researcher. I believe there are five problems in the vaccine rollout in Indi the Government should act on.

First: GP clinics are not being supported enough. Many are being given the wrong amount of vaccine, they are not getting notice of deliveries & when they order syringes and gloves they need, they often are not arriving. Some GP clinics have pulled out of the program altogether.

Second: smaller regional communities risk being left behind. There are dozens of towns in Indi where there is no vaccination clinic. And there is no public information about when new clinics will start operating. For smaller towns, we need clear communication about this.

Third: frontline healthcare workers are not being vaccinated quickly enough. I have spoken to many frontline workers unable to access vaccines even though they are in Phase 1a. We cannot have hospital and aged care workers unvaccinated going into winter.

Fourth: we need the Government to set a new timeline for completing the rollout. Not having a target is simply not good enough - our agriculture, tourism and hospitality industries need the certainty of knowing when the Government is planning for us to get back to normal.

Fifth: the Government must stop politicising this rollout. To see senior Ministers come out and recklessly and gratuitously criticise state Governments is totally unacceptable. It undermines public faith in the rollout and just seeds conflict and confusion. It needs to stop.

At the same time, the Government's refusal to disclose basic information about, for instance, the number of vaccines of each type that are in the country, is needlessly and damagingly secretive. They need to start treating this as a policy problem, not a political one.

The new advice on AstraZeneca has obviously thrown the Government's plans into disarray and I believe people understand that this was beyond the Government's control. And I commend the Government on its strong decision to follow that medical advice.

But the idea that basing our vaccine program on one or two vaccines would leave us vulnerable to a situation like this was entirely foreseeable. The failure of the Government to secure timely access to a diverse portfolio of vaccines can now be seen as significant and calamitous.

We now need a new strategy. A new timeline. A new target. We need the logistical problems in the rollout to be fixed. And we need all Governments to cut out the politics and just focus on getting the job done.

I have worked with thousands of medical professionals in my 35 years as a nurse. They are competent and committed people. I know that we have the skills and resources we need to succeed at this. And succeed we must. I urge the Government to step up, and change course.