Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians, Senator Colbeck. Minister, on Friday, you could not tell the Senate select committee how many aged-care residents had passed away from COVID-19. Can the minister tell us today how many residents of aged-care facilities funded and regulated by the Morrison government have passed away since he failed to provide that answer?

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

Thanks, Senator Gallagher, for the question. Can I, at the outset, express my sincere condolences to every family that, during the pandemic, has lost a loved one who was a resident in aged care. Can I also say that I should have had the data on Friday and I apologise for not having done that. To my colleagues—noting that I have successfully taken the attention away from where it should be, which is our efforts to combat the virus—and also to the Senate, I say that I should have had the information. It is my fault and my responsibility. I take full responsibility for not having that information available to me at the time.

Sadly, nationally, since the commencement of the pandemic, 335 Australians have passed away in residential care and in home care. Seven home-care recipients and 328 residential-care recipients have passed away. It's an absolute tragedy. Every single one of those deaths is an absolute tragedy. That's why this government has worked so hard since the beginning of the pandemic, firstly, to put in place measures to protect Australia through the national health pandemic plan. Then there are the other measures that we've put in place, which now total in excess of $1 billion, to support the residential aged-care sector to manage the virus and to protect Australians, particularly those in residential aged care, because we know that, if they contract the virus, they are the most vulnerable. So, right from the outset in January, when we first started talking to the sector with respect to what they ought be doing in preparation, then with the national health pandemic plan that we put together—(Time expired)

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Gallagher, a supplementary question?

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can the minister tell us today how many residents of aged-care facilities funded and regulated by the Morrison government have now contracted COVID-19?

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

So far, across Australia, 1,761 residents of residential aged-care facilities have contracted the virus.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Gallagher, a final supplementary question?

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Maria Vasilakis, who had just celebrated her 81st birthday, died alone after contracting COVID-19 at St Basil's. Marija Rukavina, who tested positive after being hospitalised with longstanding skin infections, died alone in the Epworth hospital. Her son, Ivan, had gone five days without getting an update on her condition. What does the minister have to say to the 335 families grieving the loss of a loved one about his failure to remember the number of older Australians in aged care who have died from COVID-19?

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

As I said in my first answer, I offer my sincerest condolences, and those of the government, to every single one of those families who lost a loved one. It's a tragedy. Every single life that has been lost is an absolute tragedy. It's the tragedy of this wicked, wicked virus. I offer my apology to them for not knowing the number, as I did in my primary answer. I should have had the information; I didn't, and I take full responsibility for that. I should have had that data. I apologise to those people who I wasn't able to give that answer to.