Senator BIRMINGHAM (South Australia—Minister for Finance, Vice-President of the Executive Council and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (14:22): [by video link] I don't accept the characterisation by Senator Thorpe in her question. This is a challenging global pandemic. As I said in response to the primary question, more than 4½ million people around the world have lost their lives. We've sought to provide the best protections possible for Australians from the outset, through the closure of Australia's international borders; through the scaling up of a range of different health responses across the country, working closely with those state and territory partners; and now, at this stage, through the vaccine rollout— Senator Thorpe: [by video link] I'm sorry. This is wrong. The PRESIDENT: Order, Senator Thorpe, please. Senator Thorpe: [by video link] Somebody? I don't have any friends in there? The PRESIDENT: Senator Thorpe, order, please. Senator Thorpe: [by video link] Do black lives— The PRESIDENT: Senator Thorpe, I can ask for your microphone to be muted if you keep interjecting. Senator Birmingham to continue. Senator BIRMINGHAM: Nobody pretends these issues are easy or have easy responses. But, indeed, ensuring the additional vaccine can be— The PRESIDENT: Senator Siewert, on a point of order? Senator Siewert: Yes, I do have a point of order. The minister isn't answering the question, which was: how much do you accept blame for the failure to vaccinate First Nations? That was the question. The PRESIDENT: Senator Siewert, resume your seat. I have asserted repeatedly that I'm not going to allow points of order on direct relevance for people to simply stand up and ask the question again or, as in this case, part of the question again. There was not even an attempt to make a point of order about direct relevance, Senator Siewert. There was a lot in the question asked by Senator Thorpe, and the minister is entitled to respond to any or all parts of it in the time allotted. Senator Siewert: It's on relevance in that he's not addressing that part of the question. The PRESIDENT: Senator Siewert, I have said before that I can't instruct a minister which part of a question to answer, which assertion to address or how to answer a question. If there are long questions with a lot of content in them, the minister is entitled to address any or all parts of it in the minute he has allowed, in this case. I've ruled repeatedly that tight questions have a very tight test of direct relevance. Senator BIRMINGHAM: As I've said in the chamber many times, we accept responsibility for the challenges that the vaccine rollout's faced and for fixing it. We've accepted responsibility for dealing with all of the different challenges we've faced during COVID-19, because that's the job we have to get on and do. That's why we've put the RFDS in place, with additional vaccine capacity, while we're working with— (Time expired)