House debates

Wednesday, 26 August 2020

Questions without Notice

COVID-19: Aged Care

3:09 pm

Photo of Scott MorrisonScott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I couldn't have been more relevant to the misleading remarks made by the opposition, which are exactly the same misleading remarks that were made by the previous Leader of the Opposition. He probably did it with a bit more credibility than this one. But what is true is that the government has been increasing its funding for aged care, as I and the health minister, in response to myriad questions today, have been able to demonstrate to this House and the Australian people. There is more funding. There is more than a billion dollars in additional funding, on top of what I've referred to, to go to our COVID response. That is why, despite there being extreme and severe impacts in four facilities in Victoria, and in Newmarch House and Dorothy Henderson Lodge—what happened in Victoria was even worse in those four centres; it was unacceptable. The government has made that very clear. I, indeed, have issued an apology in relation to those four facilities, and that's what's called taking responsibility. What the Leader of the Opposition does seem to have here is a blind spot for what is happening in Victoria. He seems to be the only person in this country who thinks there has been no community outbreak of the coronavirus in Victoria. But that has had an impact right across Victoria, which has got people locked up in their homes at the moment. They are under severe stress and strain as a result of what has occurred in Victoria. We have worked hard to mitigate the impact of that in the aged-care sector—

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