Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

I'm very happy to add to the Prime Minister's answer. As he said, on 10 July, as part of a survey of facilities right across Victoria, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission staff were advised that there had been a first case in St Basil's. They were also advised, as part of that, that the public health unit was responsible. The public health unit in Victoria, as per the agreement between the Commonwealth and the state, has principal responsibility for advising, and, in addition to that, the facility has responsibility for advising. The subsequent time at which that was advised to the Commonwealth was 14 July.

More generally, I think it is important to set out some of the actions taken by the Commonwealth in relation to this. Firstly, with regard to testing, as a consequence of that advice on 14 July, Sonic Healthcare conducted on-site testing on 15, 19, 23, 24 and 28 July, as did Aspen Medical workforce, as clinical first responder, on 16, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 and 30 July. A surge workforce was activated on 19 July to assist with the service. It was supplied from a number of sources, including Northern Health. Personal protective equipment was supplied from the National Medical Stockpile on 15, 16, 23, 24, 25 and 30 July.

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