Senator BIRMINGHAM (South Australia—Minister for Finance, Vice-President of the Executive Council and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (14:17): [by video link] I thank Senator Thorpe for her question and acknowledge that every loss of life through this pandemic is a tragic one. It's tragic around the world, where we've seen more than 4½ million deaths across the globe, and, of course, it's tragic in Australia, where some 1,006 deaths have occurred. Whilst the death rate in Australia has been far, far lower than around the world, we acknowledge the personal pain and anguish of those individuals. If we compare the situation through Australia during this pandemic, in Victoria last year, when we didn't have targeted aspects of the vaccine rollout in place, there was a fatality rate of around 4.2 per cent. This year, during the outbreak that's occurring in New South Wales, that fatality rate has dropped by close to 90 per cent, down to 0.45 per cent. That's in large part due to the heavy focus on ensuring that older Australians are vaccinated first and foremost, in doing so helping to make sure that we reduce the fatality rate in those most vulnerable populations—all older Australians. I acknowledge that we do have particular challenges in western New South Wales and around the Wilcannia region, as Senator Thorpe— Senator Thorpe: [by video link] Can I raise a point of order? The PRESIDENT: Sorry, Senator Thorpe, the remote participation rules don't allow for points of order when participating remotely. Senator Thorpe: [by video link] Well, how can I get the question answered? The PRESIDENT: Someone in the chamber can raise something, or you've got supplementary questions. My apologies, but they are the rules the Senate adopted. Senator Birmingham. Senator BIRMINGHAM: In relation to those around western New South Wales, in particular the Wilcannia region, we've been working closely with state and territory governments and Aboriginal controlled community health services to ensure the needs of Indigenous community planning and delivery, including through this outbreak of COVID and particularly as it relates to working through the vaccination program. Indeed, we know that there are particular challenges there, and it is in response to those challenges that we have ensured additional resources have been provided to Wilcannia to help support that community and those across western New South Wales. The Commonwealth Department of Health has stood up an incident management team to coordinate the Commonwealth response, including representatives of the NIAA— (Time expired) The PRESIDENT: Senator Thorpe, a supplementary question?