Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health and Aged Care. Right now Albury-Wodonga is experiencing the biggest outbreak of COVID-19 since the pandemic began. Likewise there are increasing numbers of cases in Wangaratta and neighbouring towns. At the same time, city visitation to the regions opens this weekend. The rural health workforces are under enormous strain. What is the federal government doing to guarantee health workforce capacity to regional towns like Wodonga and Wangaratta so health services can handle these COVID outbreaks and meet ongoing local health needs?

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

I want to thank the member for Indi, as well as the member for Farrer, who has been making repeated steps forward and working with the government to support the border regions on both sides. I acknowledge both members for their work. We are very aware of a significant outbreak which has now seen over 450 cases across the border regions, on the Albury and the Wodonga sides. In particular, we are working with both state governments as well as both communities to address this challenge. Firstly, in relation to vaccination I'm pleased to be able to report that they have reached, in the Albury LGA, 98 per cent vaccination coverage and, in the Wodonga LGA, 97.7 per cent, so they are two of Australia's most-vaccinated local government areas. To see that in a regional area, I think, is very heartening. It provides important protection for both of those communities. There are over 30 Commonwealth vaccination sites across the two communities, 18 general practices, 11 pharmacies, one Indigenous medical service and, in addition, one Commonwealth vaccination clinic—so 31 Commonwealth sites which have been providing vaccinations.

A further thing which is extremely important is of course the testing, and this has been raised with me by both members, the member for Farrer and the member for Indi. At this stage, we have a pop-up clinic at Lavington Sports Ground, a drive-through clinic at Albury Showgrounds, a pathology clinic in Lavington, walk-in testing at Wodonga Respiratory Clinic and drive-through testing at the Wodonga campus of Albury-Wodonga Health. Importantly, we've been working with the Victorian government, and the Victorian deputy chief health officer, Ben Cowie, has stated publicly that they have responded and will be providing additional testing resources this weekend. I think that that's a very important message to the people on both sides of the border—that those representations have resulted in increased testing activity.

My office has also been working with private rapid-antigen-test providers. Rapid antigen tests will be available from 1 November, and they have confirmed that there will be strong and significant supply within the border regions. That will grow, through pharmacies and convenience providers, in the course of the first two weeks. But they will be available from the start of November.

Finally, in terms of PPE, we've now made three deliveries in recent weeks to support the health services. There were National Medical Stockpile deliveries on 14, 18 and 26 October of P2 masks, surgical masks, gloves, gowns, goggles, shields and sanitiser. So all of these things are coming together as part of the Commonwealth's response, and I thank both the member for Farrer and the member for Indi for their representations.