Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Health) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to support the amendment moved by the member for Blair to the second reading of the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2014 and the Health and Other Services (Compensation) Care Charges (Amendment) Bill 2014. While the amendment legislation before the House is supported by the Labor Party, the second reading amendment moved by the member for Blair highlights some of the key issues that need to be included.

It was interesting to hear the previous speaker talk about the coalition's 10-year plan for aged care. It was actually Labor that brought in, after significant consultation, the biggest aged-care reform we had seen in a significant time, and that was the Living Longer Living Better aged-care reforms. They were critically important reforms which expanded aged care and the availability of aged care, not just in residential facilities but also at-home packages, the ability to get support in the home, to ensure that people could age in place. The previous minister, the member for Port Adelaide, worked very hard in delivering that important reform and certainly needs to be commended.

While Labor will support this package of bills, I have to say that, although the coalition continues to support some elements of the Living Longer Living Better package, there are critical elements that have not been supported. While part of this legislation does inject funds that Labor committed into the area of aged care, one of the key parts of our Living Longer Living Better package was the workforce supplement. That was $1.2 billion to improve the pay and conditions, and enhance the training and career structures, of those working in aged care.

Anyone who has visited an aged-care facility in their electorate and talked to the staff would know that it is a very low-paid job for enormous caring responsibilities. I take my hat off to aged-care workers, who work so hard, with so much compassion. When I talk with them, they say they do not do it for the money. They say that they could go and work in a bar or somewhere else and get better money, but they do it because they love it. They do it because they believe in what they are doing. That really needs to be recognised. That is why the workforce supplement was brought in under the Living Longer Living Better package. This was designed to deliver pay rises to some 350,000 aged-care workers. It was a partnership between the sector and the government to improve the wages of so many of our very poorly paid workers who do a great job.

While the government has committed—and we certainly welcome the commitment—to continuing to put money into the aged-care sector, and we note that there is $1.1 billion going in as part of this, we note that this money will go directly to providers and there is not a guarantee that it will be used to improve the wages and conditions of the workers. That is why the amendment before the House really talks about ensuring that these funds are invested in our workforce. We have already seen that, because of the hard work, often injury and other things associated with it, there is a huge turnover in this industry. Even though people say they would like to continue working in it, they just cannot either physically do it or make ends meet. So I really hope this money is redirected into the workforce, and that is why the amendment calls for that.

The amendment also in part 3 says ' to consult with or inform the aged care sector of Budget cuts including the axing of the $653 million Aged Care Payroll Tax Supplement'. This is an incredibly important part. In June this year the government abandoned both the aged-care payroll tax and the dementia and severe behaviour supplement. These two supplements were incredibly important for the aged-care sector. They were so important in ensuring that the financial assistance was given, recognising that providing aged care is a tough environment. It is difficult to ensure that you can deliver high-quality service, which is why the aged-care payroll tax supplement was so important in recognising that they are not in a competitive market where they can just let the market rip. They are providing a critically important social service. But the dementia and severe behaviours supplement was also critically important in assisting aged-care facilities with caring for our most vulnerable. Because of this cut of the dementia and severe behaviour supplement, aged-care providers will no longer collect the $16.15 per day for each eligible care recipient.

It sounds like a very small amount, doesn't it? But it goes a long way with assisting with the ongoing care and support of Australia's most vulnerable citizens, and that is those who suffer from dementia. This cut has seen nursing homes re-evaluate their capacity to hire specialist staff, to plan for new facilities and to support new resources. Of course this was never mentioned before the election; this was foisted on the aged-care sector as a surprise without any consultation—probably not a very good surprise but a surprise to the sector nonetheless. I know that thousands of people have signed Labor's petition to bring this supplement back, to not punish. We talk about this budget and how it punishes the most vulnerable, and in so many ways it does. When it comes to those suffering from dementia and the care that they need, you cannot get much more vulnerable than that. Thousands and thousands of Australians have seen just how mean-spirited this cut is and have called for this to be reversed, have signed Labor's petition to reverse this mean-spirited decision.

I have also mentioned the cut of $653 million from the aged-care payroll tax supplement from 1 January 2015, and in my electorate I held a seniors forum in which a number of aged-care providers came. They are very concerned about what this means for them. They are very concerned about how this will affect their ability to provide good-quality services. This cut will force aged-care providers either to wear increasing costs or to recoup this impost by increasing accommodation charges or putting off or cancelling increased staff levels. We already know, as I mentioned previously, that staff in aged care do a fabulous job, so putting more pressure on them by having lower staff levels or increased accommodation costs for those who can least afford it is once again punishing some of the most vulnerable in our community.

In closing, while Labor does support the continuing funding of the workforce supplement, we also remain deeply concerned about the lack of transparency as to where this funding will go, what impact it will have on aged-care workers and whether it will actually make it to those aged-care workers who so desperately need to be recognised and paid appropriately. We also, of course, oppose wholeheartedly the mean-spirited cuts to aged care that have been put in this mean budget.

And this is a mean budget. It is an incredibly mean budget that hits our most vulnerable. Whether it is through the cuts to the severe dementia supplement or the aged-care payroll tax, the outcome will be putting more pressure on aged-care providers who are already working very hard in quite tough operating environments—extra pressure that will then lead to those residents not getting as high a quality of service. I know that those aged-care providers out there want to do their best, but they need support from government. We really are urging the government to stop cutting and start actually listening to the sector, start visiting aged-care facilities, start talking to those living in aged-care facilities, see how these cuts will significantly hurt older Australians and the aged-care providers who are doing their best to support the older Australians in our communities.

I commend the amendment of the member for Blair to the House and urge the House to support his amendment.

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