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

I completely reject the insinuation of Senator Sheldon. In fact, in March last year we established a national agreement with the private hospital sector that provided us with the capacity to supplement public health capacity across the country.

As the circumstances of each of the outbreaks have come into place, those measures have been put into place. They were in Victoria last year, and they can be and they will be in New South Wales.

One of the very first things that this government did was to ensure the hospital capacity available to treat Australians who were suffering with COVID-19. For Labor to be just coming on board now is a bit late to come to the game.