Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] I think I answered an almost identical question at some time in the previous sitting fortnight. Whether it was from Senator Sheldon or another senator, I'm not sure.

As the Prime Minister himself has made clear, and as I told the chamber at that time, our knowledge and understanding of the delta variant and how we need to respond to it has only grown—as indeed our knowledge throughout the COVID-19 pandemic has grown, given the evolving nature of it.

This is a once-in-a-century pandemic. The scientific analysis and the evidence and advice continues to evolve, and we have responded to it and adapted to it as we have gone along. We recognise the fact that, for so much of the pandemic, New South Wales, with one of the best contact-tracing systems in the world, was able to effectively respond to small outbreaks and clusters to effectively drive the testing, undertake the contact tracing and enforce the isolating that kept the people of New South Wales safe during those outbreaks.

Tragically, in relation to this latest outbreak, we do have a circumstance where it has been necessary for New South Wales to pursue lockdowns and, regrettably, those lockdowns have not been able to—