At the start of Parliament’s first question time of the year, Prime Minister Scott Morrison was asked about his response to the impact of coronavirus in aged care.
Mr Morrison said that so far this year, 587 aged care residents have died with COVID-19.
Since the beginning of the Omicron wave in November, 682 residents have died with the virus.
A mourner pays their respect outside St Basil’s, an aged care facility in Melbourne where 50 residents died in 2020.Credit:Scott McNaughton
But he compared those deaths with those among residents who died from other causes – more than 4100 between January 1 and January 28.
“It has been an incredibly tough time for those who have been working in those facilities, with the onset of Omicron, and it has been incredibly tough for those families who had to say goodbye to loved ones over that period of time,” Mr Morrison said.
“Mr Speaker, at every moment about this pandemic we have sought to provide every single support we possibly can to ensure that we can be assisting both the workforce and those who are engaged in providing that care to those in those facilities.”
The crisis in aged care is a Labor focus this week, with the party continuing to place pressure on Aged Care Services Minister Richard Colbeck, who is also facing questions on aged care in the Senate.
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Labor’s aged care spokeswoman, Clare O’Neil, asked Mr Morrison why he had not sacked Mr Colbeck – who earlier this year attended the cricket in Tasmania as outbreaks spread through the sector.
The Prime Minister responded: “Those who pretend the pandemic hasn’t had an impact are misleading Australians.
“This pandemic is taking a heavy toll on the entire world and on Australians, and particularly our most vulnerable and our most frail.”
Mr Morrison announced yesterday that defence force teams would start going into outbreak-affected facilities this week, with up to 1700 personnel to be made available if needed across the country.
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