Senator BIRMINGHAM (South Australia—Minister for Finance, Vice-President of the Executive Council and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (14:47): [by video link] I think I answered an almost identical question at some time in the previous sitting fortnight. Whether it was from Senator Sheldon or another senator, I'm not sure. As the Prime Minister himself has made clear, and as I told the chamber at that time, our knowledge and understanding of the delta variant and how we need to respond to it has only grown—as indeed our knowledge throughout the COVID-19 pandemic has grown, given the evolving nature of it. This is a once-in-a-century pandemic. The scientific analysis and the evidence and advice continues to evolve, and we have responded to it and adapted to it as we have gone along. We recognise the fact that, for so much of the pandemic, New South Wales, with one of the best contact-tracing systems in the world, was able to effectively respond to small outbreaks and clusters to effectively drive the testing, undertake the contact tracing and enforce the isolating that kept the people of New South Wales safe during those outbreaks. Tragically, in relation to this latest outbreak, we do have a circumstance where it has been necessary for New South Wales to pursue lockdowns and, regrettably, those lockdowns have not been able to— The PRESIDENT: Order, Senator Birmingham. Senator Watt, on a point of order? Senator Watt: On relevance. It was a pretty straight question asking whether the Prime Minister, and Senator Birmingham, stood by his statement. We're getting a long dissertation from Senator Birmingham, but we're not getting an answer to that question. The PRESIDENT: Senator Watt, the material Senator Birmingham is outlining is directly relevant. That point of order goes to attempting to instruct the minister how to answer the question, which I cannot do. The minister is being directly relevant with this material. Senator BIRMINGHAM: As I said earlier in the answer, these are points the Prime Minister himself has made publicly in response to questions like those that Senator Sheldon has just asked. Tragically, in New South Wales, we do have the circumstance now where, of course, the lockdown has been necessary, and it's been very necessary for New South Wales to tighten aspects of that lockdown, and we have made sure with the provision, as Senator Payne referenced earlier, of Australian Defence Force personnel to seek to help New South Wales in the enforcement of that lockdown, as we've made such ADF resources available to other states and territories before—whether it be in lockdown enforcement, border enforcement or, indeed, testing or other regimes—to support them. The PRESIDENT: Order! Senator Sheldon, a supplementary question?