Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for her question. My advice from the Minister for Agriculture and Northern Australia on this particular issue is that the Australian government is committed to protecting the lives and livelihoods of Australians from COVID-19 and takes the matter of the Ruby Princess incident very seriously. The New South Wales Special Commission of Inquiry into the Ruby Princess found the incident was primarily a failing of NSW Health. At Minister Littleproud's request, the Inspector-General of Biosecurity reviewed matters relating to the Ruby Princess and made 42 recommendations.

Minister Littleproud asked the department to implement all recommendations from both the inspector-general's review and the Walker inquiry as a matter of priority, and significant progress has been made. In the article published by the ABC on 24 August 2021, the Inspector-General of Biosecurity said many other improvements were also being made. He said:

I'm dramatically more positive about the ability of the department to deal with these things today, than I would have been at the same time last year.

Minister Littleproud has said that the department could improve but that it is not ultimately responsible for the human health assessment. In response to the New South Wales commission and the review by the inspector-general, a series of actions have already been taken to improve the department's capability to respond to human biosecurity risks. New arrangements for communicating with human biosecurity officers and port stakeholders about human health issues are working well.