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

As I outlined to the Senate yesterday, the response to fighting COVID-19 of one of the leading geriatricians in Australia, Associate Professor Michael Murray, was, 'Australia was as well prepared for a significant aged-care outbreak as any country or jurisdiction in the world, with the probable exception of Hong Kong.' We have learnt the lessons from Hong Kong, including the adoption of their model of infection control leads in each of our facilities. Globally, the impact of COVID-19 has tragically been felt in aged care. Australia has had fewer deaths, both in total and in care homes, than many other countries in the world, including those that we know are going through a second wave of infections.