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

Well, Senator, thank you for the interjection. But, as I've said a number of times, every death from COVID-19 in an aged-care facility, every death from COVID-19, is an absolute tragedy—every death. I again offer my condolences to all of them. But this government has, since January, worked extremely closely with the sector to provide it with advice and resources to assist it to manage the COVID-19 outbreak. Have we got it right all the time? No, we haven't, and I've acknowledged that. But we continue, as we learn about this virus which didn't exist before November last year, to learn more about the way it spreads, and we learn more about the measures we need to take. We continue to implement those, and we are still learning. We are still talking to the AHPPC about what more we might do. We are still discussing at national cabinet level what more we might do so we can continue to provide quality care and protect senior Australians who are in residential aged care and home care from the scourge of this terrible virus which, when it gets into that aged cohort, has absolutely devastating results. That's what we will continue to do. We will continue to invest, we continue to learn and we will continue to work closely with the sector, as we've done right through the pandemic.