Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing and Mental Health) Share this | Hansard source

What we've seen in the five years of this government is its failure to deal with the reform that has been necessary in aged care. In fact, when this government called the royal commission, what it was actually admitting was that, after five years, it had failed and now needs a royal commission to solve this issue. The government has been sitting on a number of reports and recommendations. They've had three ministers for aged care. They've ripped out billions of dollars, and just a few weeks ago they said a royal commission was not necessary. In fact, when Labor said the aged-care system was in a crisis, they had a go at us for saying that. Clearly, things have changed. But what has changed, apart from the Prime Minister, is what the Australian public would like to know. This Prime Minister, who was then the Treasurer, ripped billions of dollars out of the aged-care budget for the Aged Care Funding Instrument. He can come in here and pretend it didn't happen, but it's in black and white in his own budget papers.

We know that those cuts occurred, the sector knows those cuts occurred, and we know that the funding per resident has been cut because of those changes. You cannot rip out billions of dollars and treat the aged-care budget like an ATM over three budgets in five years under three ministers and not expect the situation to get worse. Surely somebody on that side at some point thought: 'This cannot continue. We cannot keep doing this.' But the minister, just a few weeks ago, said that a royal commission was not necessary, and then it was called on the weekend, the day before the ABC Four Cornersprogram. And you wonder why the Australian public sits back and says: 'Well, what's change? Why do we need to know this?'

Then we had the revelation from the minister today that it has all happened because of one quality agency report that we are not allowed to see. You called a royal commission due to a report that you won't table or share with the Australian public. That is what you are saying. After sitting on all these reports, after all these cuts, after three ministers you call a royal commission into the system that you have been in charge of for five years in government, and you cannot properly explain to the Australian public why. Just a few weeks ago you said it was not necessary; the Australian public need to know what exactly has changed.

This royal commission is important and we absolutely support it. We want older Australians to have the dignity and support they need. We want them to be able to make choices about how they live their lives. We want the workers in the system to be appropriately paid and valued. We know the workforce has to increase threefold. We know we need a million workers in the system. How are we going to attract them when we see stories like on Four Corners where well-meaning, terribly overworked aged-care workers are so stressed by their jobs that they go to the ABC and talk about how bad the system is?

The minister says he has been to all of these aged-care facilities, has spoken to all these families and is aware of all these incidents. I am too. We all are. We have been talking about these issues for a long time. You have recommendations galore from reports, reviews and inquiries saying what is broken and what needs to be fixed. We need to get on with fixing it. The Australian public and older Australians cannot wait until the end of the royal commission to deal with some of these issues. I know the minister has legislation in the parliament today for the new agency, and we do support that, but it has taken a very long time. From the day the government got the Carnell-Paterson report it has been almost a year to when that legislation has been brought into this parliament. If every recommendation takes almost a year to implement, this is going to take a very long time.

We need a proper royal commission and a discussion with the Australian public. I understand that the terms of reference are not yet finalised. We want the terms of reference to look at the impact of the cuts to aged care, to ACFI, to look at the care requirements of the residents and to look at what the workforce are paid, their qualifications and the workforce regulations, but we also need a system where aged-care workers, their families and their friends feel confident to make complaints without fear of repercussion and know that they get fixed.

One of the most remarkable things that distressed me about last night's Four Corners show—and it was very distressing for anybody who watched it—was to hear that these complaints had been made to providers and that nothing was remedied or changed. If the minister knew about what happened on Four Cornersand heard about other incidents and situations, why did it take so long to admit that the system is in crisis, why did it take so long to call a royal commission and why, after five years, do we now have a royal commission? Why has it taken five years of recommendations, reports and inquiries—and three ministers' cuts—for the government to finally call a royal commission? I don't think the Australian public believe a minister who says, 'It was all in this one report that I've had only for the last couple of weeks since I said no royal commission was necessary.' I mean, seriously?

The Prime Minister denies that there were cuts, black and white, almost $2 billion. The sector is saying it's actually $3 billion, but we're not going to argue about whether it's $2 billion or $3 billion; the point is that billions of dollars have come out of the direct care of older Australians. That is clearly having an impact. What is the government going to do about that? Are they going to sit and wait for two years for recommendations from the royal commission before they do anything? Is that what's going to happen?

We've got a home care wait list. The government sat on the data for months and did not release it with the Braddon by-election. We know there are 108,000 Australians sitting on that wait list, waiting for care today. We had the Prime Minister and the minister continue to talk about choice and about supporting people at home. We all support that. That's what the Living Longer Living Better reforms were all about. They had bipartisan support. But how do you have choice when you're placed on a waiting list for two years? You don't have a choice. If anything happens, you end up in residential care or in a hospital. That's what actually happens. You don't get a choice at all. How are we going to deal with 108,000 people currently on the waiting list? In fact, the June quarter data is overdue. We don't have it. When is the government going to release it?

We need transparency. If you want a royal commission that actually looks at all the facts, how about some transparency? How about you actually tell us how many people today are on that waiting list? How about you actually tell us what people are being funded for per resident in residential care today? Did that ACFI cut have an impact? Of course it did. It's a cut of around 11 per cent per resident, $6,500 on average per resident, in money available for care. That is the reality. When 70 to 80 per cent of the funding in aged care goes towards staffing, that is a direct cut to staff available to care for people. That's what it is. The government knows it. The Prime Minister can try to pretend all he likes that this did not happen when he was Treasurer, but it's in his own budget papers. It's in black and white. I don't know how many times we have to read it out. I don't know how many times the sector has to say it was real for people to understand and for the government to accept that this has had an impact on the aged care that Australians are receiving today. You cannot continue to pretend that it did not have an impact. You cannot. If you are really serious about a royal commission and fixing things for older Australians, their loved ones and their families, you really need to fess up about what's going on. To just say, 'There's a report we've called a royal commission on, but we're not going to share it or table it,' is quite outrageous. The Australian public deserve better.

We've got legislation coming into the parliament this afternoon that I will be talking on. It is actually joining up the quality agency and the complaints commission. I thank the minister for the briefing that I received on that, but I've asked the department and the minister: can the commissioner actually arbitrate on complaints when people make them? Are people actually protected when they make a complaint? Can we actually improve the system? Are there any penalties payable for providers who do the wrong thing, apart from accreditation failures? So much more needs to be done. We cannot wait two years for the end of a royal commission for it to be fixed. The system is in crisis. Labor have been saying it's in crisis, and the government criticised us for it. Now there's a royal commission. We want action today. (Time expired)

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