Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I'll ask the Minister for Health and Aged Care to add to this answer, but what I can confirm is that every single death in aged care is a tragedy. Every single human being is someone who was someone's mum or dad or grandfather or grandmother or brother or sister, and it is tragic. I take the opportunity as well to pay tribute to the workers in aged care, who do such an extraordinary job. In particular, over the last few years, the pressure that they've been under because of the COVID pandemic is quite extraordinary.

What the government has done is to work across different levels of government to take the appropriate health advice and to put in place the measures that have been continued in aged care with regard to PPE and appropriate health measures, respecting the fact that people in aged care are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of COVID. The COVID pandemic continues to impact Australians. We have changed the response to it, I think, in an appropriate way but are continuing to make sure that we prioritise assisting people who are in the most vulnerable circumstances.

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