Senator COLBECK (Tasmania—Minister for Sport and Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services) (14:49): [by video link] There were a number of elements to that question. I don't have the number of aged-care workers who were positive at the end of December last year to give you. I'm not able to do that at the moment. The PRESIDENT: Senator O'Neill? Senator O'Neill: The question was: how many residential aged-care workers have tested positive for COVID-19 this year? The PRESIDENT: I will allow you to restate that. The minister has been speak very briefly, so I am listening very carefully. It was a very factual question, so I will call the minister to continue. Senator COLBECK: I have the total number of infections among aged-care workers through the pandemic, but I don't have the number at the end of December last year. So I can't give you the difference. But across the pandemic there have been 2,278 staff who have been infected with COVID-19. As of today in New South Wales, there are 33 workers who have contracted the virus. Tragically, there have been two deaths in aged care, one a home-care recipient who, from the advice I have, contracted the virus from a family member, and one— The PRESIDENT: Senator O'Neill on a point of order. Senator O'Neill: I am pleased that Minister Colbeck has been able to deliver some numbers, but he is not answering the questions that have been asked, which were very specific. The claim is on a point of relevance. They're interesting facts, but they are not facts that answer the question that was asked. The PRESIDENT: The minister is actually talking specifically about numbers. He outlined at the beginning why he can't answer in the terms you requested. I am reluctant to rule out of order a minister who is specifically talking about infections and the unfortunate deaths of staff and residents. I have allowed you to restate the question. There is an opportunity to debate the merits of the question afterwards. But I believe the minister is very narrowly confining himself to the information he has at hand and he is therefore being directly relevant. Senator O'Neill: I'll just indicate that the questions are specific because there is information that we seek. While I'm interested in what the minister has to say, because it is a matter of such importance, if the minister can't answer this question he really should take it on notice and provide us with the correct facts. The PRESIDENT: Again, Senator O'Neill, I allow some flexibility to people, particularly remotely, being able to restate the question. I say again that there is an opportunity to debate the merits of the answer and whether something should be taken on notice or otherwise after question time. The minister is very narrowly confining himself to the facts he has at hand. In fact, at the start he went to explain why he couldn't answer it in the terms requested. These facts, I believe, are directly relevant to the question. Senator COLBECK: So there's been one recipient of home care who has tragically passed away, and all our condolences go to the family of that person. And there has been one person who lived in residential aged care who passed away, and again our condolences go to that person's family. That person, who died in recent days, was an unvaccinated resident of a residential aged-care facility centre in Sydney. I will take the details of the other information on notice and report that back to the chamber. The PRESIDENT: Senator O'Neill, a supplementary question?