Senator WALSH (Victoria) (16:19): Last Thursday the Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians, Senator Colbeck, turned his back on this chamber, and it wasn't just us he turned his back on. He turned his back on the aged-care residents he has failed to protect. He turned his back on their families, their children and their grandchildren. He turned his back on the aged-care workers, who are understaffed and overworked in this crisis. He turned his back on all of those who count on him to do his job and do it well. He turned his back on his accountability not only to this parliament but to the Australian people. He turned his back when he needed to front up. He needed to front up to the crisis in aged care. He needed to front up to the families, front up to the workers, front up to the community—front up and take responsibility, not walk away. All of last week we saw Minister Colbeck repeatedly dismiss concerns about the crisis in aged care and declare to this chamber just how well he's dealing with it, but that is not real life. In the real world, aged care is in deep crisis. Four hundred and fifty-seven aged-care residents have now lost their lives to this pandemic, to this virus, and many of these residents would not have had the chance to say goodbye to their friends, to say goodbye to their families, to see their loved ones one final time before their death. Many would not have been able to spend their final moments with their spouses, their children or their grandchildren. This crisis is heartbreaking. It is an absolute tragedy. Yet the minister has the audacity to tell this chamber that he is doing a great job, that his performance is a high-water mark. This is the same minister who isn't even across the basic detail of his portfolio. Senator Van interjecting— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Hume ): Order! Senator WALSH: This is the minister that we need to have a plan, that the Australian people need to have a plan to deal with COVID-19 outbreaks in aged care. Senator Van interjecting— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Order! Senator WALSH: It is the responsibility of this minister we're talking about, the minister who has no plan to keep residents safe, to keep them protected. We have known about coronavirus for a long time now. We knew it was deadly. We knew that aged-care facilities were particularly vulnerable to outbreaks. But proper protections were not put in place by this minister or by this government. Proper protection was not afforded to the residents of aged care in this country. Proper protections were not put in place. Back in April we had our first aged-care outbreaks. Absolutely no lessons were learned, and Minister Colbeck did not act. There was no audit done of access to PPE. Senator Van interjecting— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Order, Senator Van. Senator WALSH: There was piecemeal infection control training and no proper workforce strategy was put in place. Aged-care workers have described just how short-staffed and overworked they have been. As a result, history repeated itself in Victorian aged-care homes. Aged-care royal commissioners appointed by this government have pointed to how evidence was ignored, how plans were not put in place and how, tragically, if action had been taken, this crisis could have been prevented. Senator Van interjecting— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Order, Senator Van. Senator WALSH: If action had been taken by this minister, by this government, this crisis could have been averted. This is a pretty damning assessment of this minister's response to the— Senator Van interjecting— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Urquhart on a point of order. Senator Urquhart: You have asked the senator on at least three or four occasions, noting that interjections are disorderly, and he has continued to disregard your ruling. I ask you to draw his attention again to that. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Yes, Senator Urquhart, interjections are disorderly. Senator Van on the point of order? Senator Van: I do recognise that they are disorderly, but I've taken a lead from the other side during question time, who get reminded constantly. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Van, that's not a debating point. I repeat my previously stated position that interjections are disorderly. Senator Walsh, if you could please continue and if the chamber could respect her right to contribute to this debate. Senator WALSH: The royal commissioners have given a damning assessment of this minister's response to this crisis, yet still we are struggling to get the details of a full plan for aged care from this minister and from this government. Labor has released our plan for aged care, so where is the government's plan? We desperately need minimum staffing levels. We need to support aged-care workers with job security and decent pay and not rely on the government's bungled retention bonus. We need better staff training, we need a better surge workforce strategy and we need better transparency and accountability. Why have we been waiting so long for your plan? Why have we been waiting so long for transparency and accountability from this minister and this government? Why do we still not have them? The government has failed. This minister has failed. They have failed to protect our most vulnerable Australians. They've failed the families of those vulnerable Australians. They've failed the workers who care for them. Minister Colbeck is clearly not up to the job. It's time for solutions. It's time for action. It's time for a new minister.