Ralph Babet (Victoria, United Australia Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Health and Aged Care, Minister Gallagher. In November 2022 I raised with you the issue of excess mortality as reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The most recent full report from the ABS shows that, for the first nine months of 2022, there were nearly 20,000 excess deaths, which is about 16 per cent more than the baseline average. Of those, 8,160 deaths were attributed to COVID-19. So where are the rest from? Minister, can you please confirm if the department of health have investigated this large increase in excess mortality, and, if they have, can you advise the Senate what is causing this spike in deaths?