Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Canberra for her question. The care and protection of Australia’s elderly is my main concern and my main focus as the Minister for Ageing. Can I remind the House that in Australia there are more than 2,870 accredited nursing homes and more than 116,000 people are employed as nurses, personal care workers and allied health workers. These people are the backbone of the aged care sector. They are indeed a very dedicated and committed workforce. However, the reality is that there is a tiny section of the community who prey upon the vulnerable and the frail. That is why I have instructed my department to look into the area of police checks for workers within the aged care sector.

On 1 March 2007, the previous government introduced a scheme in this regard; however, the guidelines need to be improved. This must happen. Currently staff in aged care facilities are required to have police checks if they have unsupervised access to residents. I want to toughen up these requirements. Police checks should apply to all staff in nursing homes—that is, people who have supervised or unsupervised access to the frail and aged. I have instructed the Department of Health and Ageing to review the guidelines for staff working with residents and to write to all the nursing homes to inform them of our intention to review the guidelines and to seek their views. We will also consult with relevant peak body organisations and relevant unions. Protecting our older Australians within nursing homes is a serious issue, and I hope to have the guidelines in place later this year. I know that there will be some people in the community who will oppose these stricter police checks, but I make no apologies to anybody for protecting older Australians.

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