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

[by video link] I thank Senator Thorpe for her question and acknowledge that every loss of life through this pandemic is a tragic one. It's tragic around the world, where we've seen more than 4½ million deaths across the globe, and, of course, it's tragic in Australia, where some 1,006 deaths have occurred. Whilst the death rate in Australia has been far, far lower than around the world, we acknowledge the personal pain and anguish of those individuals.

If we compare the situation through Australia during this pandemic, in Victoria last year, when we didn't have targeted aspects of the vaccine rollout in place, there was a fatality rate of around 4.2 per cent. This year, during the outbreak that's occurring in New South Wales, that fatality rate has dropped by close to 90 per cent, down to 0.45 per cent. That's in large part due to the heavy focus on ensuring that older Australians are vaccinated first and foremost, in doing so helping to make sure that we reduce the fatality rate in those most vulnerable populations—all older Australians.

I acknowledge that we do have particular challenges in western New South Wales and around the Wilcannia region, as Senator Thorpe—