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

I think the statement made by that community representative is a very unfortunate one, because very early in the pandemic the thing that this government did and the work we did particularly with states and territories—and can I say I commend the work of the Northern Territory government, and the relationship that we have with Northern Territory government in relation to providing health services out to communities and across the country is extremely important. We have provided significant assets and resources, including ventilators, to ensure that they were available in the circumstance that they were needed. In fact, we're been able to gather so many ventilators that we've actually been able to provide them to some of our regional neighbours who didn't have them. So I reject the premise that we haven't worked to put the systems in place and the relationships in place to support Australians through the health system.