Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians) Share this | Hansard source

Thanks, Senator Gallagher, for the question. Can I, at the outset, express my sincere condolences to every family that, during the pandemic, has lost a loved one who was a resident in aged care. Can I also say that I should have had the data on Friday and I apologise for not having done that. To my colleagues—noting that I have successfully taken the attention away from where it should be, which is our efforts to combat the virus—and also to the Senate, I say that I should have had the information. It is my fault and my responsibility. I take full responsibility for not having that information available to me at the time.

Sadly, nationally, since the commencement of the pandemic, 335 Australians have passed away in residential care and in home care. Seven home-care recipients and 328 residential-care recipients have passed away. It's an absolute tragedy. Every single one of those deaths is an absolute tragedy. That's why this government has worked so hard since the beginning of the pandemic, firstly, to put in place measures to protect Australia through the national health pandemic plan. Then there are the other measures that we've put in place, which now total in excess of $1 billion, to support the residential aged-care sector to manage the virus and to protect Australians, particularly those in residential aged care, because we know that, if they contract the virus, they are the most vulnerable. So, right from the outset in January, when we first started talking to the sector with respect to what they ought be doing in preparation, then with the national health pandemic plan that we put together—(Time expired)