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

I wouldn't like to speculate on that as a figure. One of the reasons we called the royal commission is that successive governments—and I think this has been also stated by the commissioners—have not acted as they perhaps could have done with respect to aged care. There is clearly work that needs to be done. So I don't seek to draw a correlation with those many reports into the aged-care sector that were done before I came to the portfolio. I don't seek to draw that correlation. I again offer my condolences to every single one of the families who lost a loved one through COVID-19.

But I don't seek to draw that correlation. The royal commission has. I acknowledge that. But I don't seek to do that. What I do say is that, from the outset of this pandemic, this government, firstly through its public health response through the national health COVID-19 response plan and through its engagement with the aged-care sector, has worked continuously to provide advice to the sector on how they can mitigate the entry of COVID-19 into aged-care facilities and, if it does get into an aged-care facility, how to protect residents within facilities—and also the resources to do that. We will continue to do that. We have learnt a lot about this virus over the last 12 months. We will continue to learn, because there is still more to learn. (Time expired)