Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health. Will the minister update for the House the Morrison government's health response to the coronavirus pandemic?

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

I want to really thank the member for Goldstein for his question and also for the initiative which he, along with other members in this chamber on both sides, has taken to support local communities by encouraging community groups and assisting them as they support older Australians or isolated Australians. I think it's been an immensely human and important move, and it's been one that people on all sides are pioneering and practising in their own electorates.

The central approach within our health response, as I mentioned earlier, is twofold. The first part is to reduce the rate of infection or to help contain the virus, and the second is to increase the capacity. In terms of reducing the rate of infection, there are four core elements. The first is what we are doing with regard to the ring of steel around our borders. That is well known. The second is our testing regime, which is at the global forefront. Earlier today, the figures provided by the national incident centre were 313,000 tests so far and a positive rate of just under two per cent. What that actually means is that we are testing widely and broadly and that we are getting a representative outcome from our testing.

That allows us then to go to the third element, which is the contact tracing and finding all of those who have been in contact and therefore are most at risk. This is about ensuring that the thing which the Prime Minister and Professor Murphy talked about yesterday—reducing these community transmission cases, finding them and mopping those up—is given the best chance moving forward. The more we can do that, the further we can reduce the rate of infection.

Then, of course, perhaps most important of all is the social distancing and self-isolation, which Australians have been practising magnificently. We have all, sadly, seen in our own electorates what that has meant in terms of normal engagement and what it has meant with regard to the way we've been able to go about our lives. But what is so contrary to our nature is so fundamental to our future. So those actions which Australians are undertaking, and which I know they will continue to undertake over Easter, are saving lives and protecting lives. Each one of us can save a life by isolating and maintaining our distance.

At the same time, we've been boosting our capacity, as I mentioned earlier. One particular feature, which is immensely important, is bringing universal telehealth online. We have 2½ million services already. We have transformed the way medical primary health has been and is being delivered in Australia. That's protecting our doctors and our nurses; it's protecting our patients. And all of these elements are coming together as we flatten that curve, as we increase our capacity and as we work together to save lives and protect lives.