Margaret May (McPherson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

As the House has heard from the Minister for Ageing in her ministerial statement on Indigenous aged care, we did undertake a bipartisan visit to the Northern Territory last week and our trip encompassed visits to the Kalano flexible aged-care residential service, which is just outside Katherine, and a respite aged-care service at Mutitjulu, in the shadow of Uluru. I put on the record that both site visits were extremely beneficial, I think, for both the minister and me. I think the trip was important for many reasons. But for me, more than anything else, it was an opportunity to look and see, to listen to and engage with the local staff and particularly with the residents and volunteers, and to understand, more importantly, what happens in these aged-care facilities and what we can do to ensure that appropriate aged care is delivered to Indigenous Australians.

At Kalano I had the opportunity of talking to two women who are aged-care workers there and are obviously dedicated to the roles they were undertaking at the aged-care service. Both had been at the service for around 10 years and both, interestingly enough, had undertaken certificate III in aged care. They were extremely proud of that education and what they had achieved. I would say to the minister that when she is looking at programs for the future, particularly in Indigenous aged care, she should look at some of those education programs that will ensure we deliver the best in aged care. One of those women is also undertaking some further studies in dementia care. I think that augurs very well for Kalano and the sort of service they can deliver.

At Mutitjulu we had the opportunity of talking to Helen Sadler and her staff from Frontier Services—they run the respite service there. We discussed the challenges and the issues of providing care for the Indigenous people at Mutitjulu, recognising also the remoteness of the community and what can be delivered on site. I had the opportunity, as did the minister, of talking to Judy Trigger, who is Chair of the Mutitjulu Community Aboriginal Corporation. Judy spoke to us through an interpreter. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to her, as I am sure the minister would, for her honesty and candour when discussing the challenges and the needs of her community, in particular the needs of the elderly women who access that respite service on a daily basis at Mutitjulu.

I am delighted today to hear that the minister is going to respond to those concerns and the issues that were raised with both her and me. I think it is important in situations like this that we put aside our differences. The minister and I do have our differences on occasion, but I think overall we would both say that both visits were extremely beneficial to both of us. On a bipartisan level we are both committed to ensuring we deliver optimum aged care to Indigenous Australians. I welcome the site visits that the minister has announced today and I hope that, once those site visits have been completed, any safety risks that need action or emergency works that are needed in those aged-care facilities will be undertaken by the government. She has my full support to undertake that work. I thank her today for extending to me the opportunity to visit the Northern Territory with her last week. It was a great opportunity for both of us and I will endeavour to work with her in the future to deliver some really good outcomes for Indigenous Australians.

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