Alicia Payne (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. The royal commission heard evidence that aged-care workers could only use two masks or one glove per shift. How can residents and staff be protected from the deadly COVID virus when staff can only use one glove per shift?

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

I want to address this question and correct some of the claims made. In relation to infection control and in relation to PPE, what we have seen across the country is that, at a time when there was a global shortage of supply and a global spike in demand, Australia has been one of the countries that have been able not only to maintain but to dramatically expand our flow. We have had over 400 million masks enter the National Medical Stockpile. We've been able to secure masks through to the end of the year. We've been able to secure gloves and gowns and to provide them.

The advice that I have is that, so far, more than 69 million masks have been dispatched from the National Medical Stockpile. That includes 14 million masks to aged-care facilities around the country. What that also includes, in particular, is 10 million masks dispatched for Victorian aged-care workers. It includes gloves and gowns and other items, such as hand sanitiser. All of these elements have been fundamental to ensuring continuity of care. The National Medical Stockpile, if it receives a request, will process it as a matter of urgency in relation to a facility. On multiple occasions we've issued new rounds of support. Only yesterday I noticed that there were some tens of thousands of masks made available to Victorian providers.

So the correct answer is that gloves, gowns and masks and hand sanitiser have all been made available through the National Medical Stockpile. Historically, the National Medical Stockpile was only responsible amongst those things for the masks. We made sure that on our watch, in our time, gloves, gowns and sanitiser were added to the stockpile. That was over and above what had previously been agreed with the states as being the responsibility of the states, as opposed to the responsibility of the Commonwealth, but in this time, on our watch, on our responsibility, under the guidance of the Prime Minister, we took those decisions to act.

So all of those elements have been provided, but, as of coming here today, shortly before joining you, the National Incident Centre advised me there are 69 million masks, of which 14 million have been provided to aged care and over 10 million to Victoria.