Personal Explanation

COVID-19 numbers

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (15:47): I seek leave to make a personal explanation.

Leave granted.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: On Tuesday, in the course of speaking in response to a no-confidence motion moved by the Leader of the Opposition in relation to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing, I stated:

In the space of one week we had more COVID cases than the former government endured throughout the course of the entirety of 2021.

I would like to inform the house that I misspoke in making this statement. Instead of saying, 'the entirety of 2021', I intended to say, 'almost the entirety of 2021'. I and I alone take responsibility for this.

I want to say, for the purposes of the record, that it is indeed the case that my staff, aided by information furnished to us by the office of the Minister for Health, did make it clear that the relative number of COVID cases to which I referred was from 1 January 2021 through to 23 November 2021; that is to say, almost 11 of the 12 months. I should have been explicit in my remarks rather than saying, 'the entirety of 2021', and said 'almost the entirety of 2021'.