Brendan Murphy defends Scott Morrison as Labor accuses Prime Minister of deflecting blame

Federal Health Secretary Brendan Murphy has denied suggestions Scott Morrison had “thrown him under a bus” over the slow pace of the vaccine rollout.

The Commonwealth continues to be criticised for the slow pace of the vaccine rollout, with serious concerns being raised about vaccination rates among aged care staff. 

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese seized on revelations the Federal Government did not know exactly how many aged care staff had received their shot across the country.

“Does the Prime Minister still say that vaccinating all Australians, including aged care residents and workers, is, to quote him, ‘not a race’?” Mr Albanese asked during Question Time.

Mr Morrison said he was merely quoting someone else.

“The reference to ‘not a race’ was first said by the Secretary of the Department of Health, Professor Brendan Murphy,” the Prime Minister said.

“And I affirmed his remarks of the Secretary of Health, Mr Speaker, because all the way through this pandemic, one of the key factors that both our government and the governments around the country and the governments of other countries is that we have always been mindful of the expert advice informing the decisions that we have taken.”

Mr Morrison argued he always listened to Professor Murphy.

“The question for those opposite is why do they call into question the advice that is provided to the government?” Mr Morrison asked.

News of the Prime Minister’s Question Time defence quickly travelled across the building to a Senate estimates hearing, where Professor Murphy was among senior Health Department officials in the interrogatory spotlight of opposition and crossbench senators.

“How does it feel to be thrown under the bus by the Prime Minister?” Labor’s Murray Watt asked.

Professor Murphy insisted he did not believe he had been used as a scapegoat.

“I think I did say it way back in January at a press conference, when there was this discussion about racing through the TGA approval process, and I think I did say it’s not a race at that time,” Professor Murphy said.

“It is a term that I did use, way back then.”

Professor Murphy argued the debate about emergency use authorisations for the vaccines, such as those which had been issued in the UK and the US, had prompted his comments — not the process of actually getting vaccines into Australian arms.

“We’ve moved on,” he told the committee.

“It’s not a very helpful phrase now because we’re going, we’re in action, we’re fired up and we’re doing it as quickly as possible.”

Professor Murphy later corrected himself, noting he had used the phrase in early March as well.

Hunt apologises for fudging numbers on aged care

The Senate estimates process also prompted an apology from Health Minister Greg Hunt, who had said yesterday only six aged care facilities across the country were still waiting for access to coronavirus vaccines.

Health Department Associate Secretary Caroline Edwards told the committee it was 21 facilities.

“I’m not aware of what the minister said, that’s my understanding of where we’re up to,” she said.

“We have briefings all the time, those numbers are moving back and forth, I’m not aware of those comments.”

Mr Hunt corrected the record in Question Time.

“I did make an error yesterday, my mistake, my apologies, nobody else’s fault but mine,” he told the House. 

“The Department’s advice was correct, my misreading of it was my fault.”

Ms Edwards said three of the remaining 21 facilities may have to wait a bit longer to receive their shots, as two were dealing with outbreaks of gastro and another was yet to receive vaccination consent from its residents.

She argued the rest would be offered first doses in the next day or two.