Leader of the Opposition Anthony Albanese called for Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck to resign or be sacked over aged care deaths on Thursday. <br /><br />There have been 566 deaths from COVID-19 in aged care facilities since the start of the Omicron outbreak. <br /><br />Mr Albanese said residents - some 15,000 of whom had been infected - were missing out on showers, meals or having their wounds tended to as a quarter of shifts went unfilled due to 17,000 cases among staff.<br /><br />"This is just an extraordinary response. Is it the suggestion the department was not looking at those issues that they had to set up a task force?" he said.<br /><br />"A (proper) announcement would be the government saying that they are going to take serious action.<br /><br />"Instead, what we have is a minister who says there is no crisis and a government that says bureaucrats are going to collect data."<br /><br />
