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

As Senator Birmingham indicated earlier in the day, we have acknowledged that the vaccination rates need to increase. As of today, 216,724 Indigenous peoples, or 37 per cent, have had their first dose and 20.5 per cent, or 118,886, have had their second dose. The numbers aren't high enough. We need to continue to work on this. We've done that through a number of programs. We have sought out influencers to support vaccination in those communities. Unfortunately, there have been some very influential voices that have been anti vaccine in some of those communities. We have to turn those attitudes around, and we will continue to do that in support of getting not just Indigenous Australians vaccinated but all Australians vaccinated because we know that that's our path through the pandemic.