Riverina MP Michael McCormack said "there is no manual for COVID-19" while defending the federal government's pandemic response during a live TV panel discussion.
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"There's no manual that you can pull down from the shelf, and say, 'This is what happened last time'," Mr McCormack said on the Q+A program on Monday night.
"We did have it back when the Spanish flu, back 100 years ago, was having such an impact on society.
"But there's no modern-day equivalent that we can actually pull down off the shelf, open up and say, 'Well, this is what we did when this happened. This is what we'll do now because it worked then'."
Mr McCormack also got into a debate with the host, Hamish MacDonald, about whether a Black Lives Matter protest in Melbourne had contributed to Victoria's second wave of infections.
Mr McCormack said the "protest rally" in June was one of three factors that caused the virus to reemerge.
"I'm not sure there's any actual evidence that the Black Lives Matter protest led to this outbreak, though," Mr McDonald replied.
Australian Medical Association president Dr Omar Khorshid told the program that he was "certainly not aware of any evidence".
"But I would agree that congregating in large numbers at the moment does not make sense," he said.
One of the program's topics was about Australians being stuck overseas by international travel restrictions.
Julie Mickler said her husband, Andreas, was given permission to leave Australia on compassionate grounds in July to see his dying father in Germany.
"Unfortunately, his return flight was cancelled due to the cap on international arrivals ... why doesn't the government have a system in place to ensure that people allowed to leave on compassionate grounds can return home again?" she said.
The Micklers also have a daughter with a severe disability.
Mr McCormack said the audience's stories were "heart-wrenching".
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"My heart does go out to your situation. And we're doing everything that we can," he said.
"And, obviously, we're putting the vulnerable cases first and foremost."
Labor home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally said there was "a lot more that could be done here" and the government could allow more airports to cater for international flights during the pandemic.
Ms Keneally also criticised the government for assisting air freight exports while people were still "stranded".
"If you're a sheep or lobster, you get a chartered flight," she said.
Mr McCormack responded that "we've got to protect our farmers too".