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

I have to say that it is really very disturbing that the Labor party continue to try and frighten Australians about the impacts of this virus. This virus has been with us for a little over 18 months. We are still learning about this virus. As we learn about the virus and as the advice comes to us, we are very comfortable with providing that information to the Australian people so that they can understand it too. But it is changing all the time. As information emerges, we work with health agencies around the world to better understand the impacts of the virus. Of course, as different variants of the virus emerge, they also have different impacts.

I did respond to the chamber, as I said I would in question time yesterday, and I indicated that we are all still learning about the syndrome. But it also indicates the importance of the other measures that we have in place to support Australians in dealing with the virus, including the process of vaccination of the broader population. We know that, when we vaccinate the broader population and we get those rates up, that protects everyone because it limits the transmission of the virus through the community. So we will continue to work to understand the virus, working with the health professionals. There are some symptoms of this that will continue to emerge—