Prime Minister Scott Morrison has apologised again over the COVID-19 outbreaks in aged care homes on Monday, conceding that some of the government’s responses were “not good enough.”
Mr Morrison said he was sorry to the affected families and residents for the system “falling short” of its responsibility to regulate the sector. Singling out four homes in particular, he said “the impact has been severe and completely unacceptable.”
This apology followed another by Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck after he admitted during a Senate hearing that he did not know the number of COVID-19 deaths in the sector.
The Senator started his apology to “every resident’s family who has lost a loved one during the pandemic in aged care” before adding “(and) to my colleagues who I have successfully taken the attention off what it should be, which is our efforts to combat the virus.”
Albanese on the offensive
Labor leader Anthony Albanese repeated calls for Senator Colbeck to resign or be sacked, but maintained it was not due to Colbeck’s performance in the Senate committee last week.
“The government was warned. The alarm bells were going off. But no one was listening. And someone has to accept responsibility for that,” he said.
“And quite clearly, he (Colbeck) hasn’t put in place the sort of mechanisms that were necessary. We have stories about personal protective equipment not being available for nurses and carers and workers in aged care homes. And the fact is that this government, under this minister, as the aged care minister, has not been on top of the brief. The government’s acknowledged that, but they want him to keep the title.”
Health Minister assumes responsibility for Emergency Response Operation Centres
Meanwhile, the Health Minister Greg Hunt has assumed responsibility for deciding if and when Aged Care Emergency Response Operations Centres will be mobilised, based on recommendations from the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee.
The centres will be similar to the Victorian Aged Care Response Centre, which brings together federal and state emergency management, the Australian Defence Force, clinical support, infection control specialists and medical experts.
"There has been a tragedy, there is more work to do, but what these people have done is they worked together to potentially save thousands of lives," said Mr Hunt of the aged care residents transferred to hospitals since the Victorian response centre was set up a month ago.