Justine Keay (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the member for Franklin's second reading amendment to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission Bill 2018.

As we know, we have a royal commission into aged care at the moment. And there are reasons for that—very valid reasons for that. But I want to take some of my time to put into context why the issue of aged care is so important to my home state of Tasmania and, of course, to my electorate of Braddon. The recent ABS census has revealed that Tasmania has the oldest population in Australia, with almost 20 per cent of our population aged over 65 years. The census also found that Tasmania's population is ageing faster than the Australian average, so we can get a bit of a picture of why aged care is so important in my state.

In my electorate, the ABS has found that the community of Latrobe, which is not far from where I live, saw the greatest increase in the proportion of the population aged over 65 years between the years 2011 and 2016, so those aged over 65 are very concentrated in my electorate. But Tasmanians need—right now and into the future—quality aged care.

Rather than support aged care, this government, like all coalition governments before it, has reverted to type. The Prime Minister, as Treasurer, cut $1.2 billion from aged care in his very first budget. That $1.2 billion cut came on top of the almost $500 million cut from aged-care funding in the 2015 MYEFO. This savage cut hit older Australians in residential aged-care facilities the hardest, with a 50 per cent cut to the indexation of complex healthcare subsidies. The previous member seemed very deluded as to what these cuts actually meant to the people in residential aged care. I remember going to Emmerton Park, which is in Smithton, in the far north-west of Tasmania, just prior to the 2016 election. The residents there wanted to hear from the candidates as to their positions on aged care. Sadly, at the time, the then current Liberal member for Braddon didn't bother to turn up. What he would have heard at that point was that there were residents in that facility who were very, very concerned about what those cuts meant to their daily lives. I had one lady who said to me: 'Does this mean I won't get my physiotherapy? That's what's actually keeping me mobile. I don't want to end up with some mobility aid; I want to keep walking, and that physio means I can continue to do that for as long as possible.' She was concerned that it would mean she would not have access to that physio. In fact, that's what happened because of those cuts.

And these cuts have continued. In May this year, in the budget, the government announced it would fund an additional 14,000 home care packages. But this money was not new money. This money was taken out of residential aged care. It wasn't actually growing the pool of funding to provide more care for our older Australians but was just shifting the money around.

The most recent data shows that there are now 121,000 people on the home care package waiting list. Over a three-month period, that list has blown out by an extra 13,000 people waiting. We hear these stories just about every day in this place and, particularly, the ones who are telling the stories are the ones sitting on the opposition benches, because we're the ones out there listening to people and who actually care about what home care packages mean for them.

I was speaking to a lady whose relative, whose mother, sadly, passed away in March. She spent her last days in residential aged care, but she was waiting for a category 4 in-home care package, which was granted to her six months after her death. How ridiculous is that? She could have passed away in her own home with that home care package but, sadly, she was forced to spend her last days in residential aged care.

The average waiting time, according this government's own data, for level 3 or 4 packages is still more than 12 months, and the example I just gave pretty much demonstrates that is the case. While the government continues to hide the state-by-state breakdown of this data, a local provider in my electorate has told me that there are more than 3,000 people in Tasmania waiting for a package.

Waiting for these packages has a terrible impact on families. I received an email from Karen, who is the daughter of Terrence. Terrence lives in my electorate and Karen lives in Queensland. She wrote to me in absolute despair. Her father had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease eight years ago and was given a terminal diagnosis of Lewy body dementia. He had been assessed for a level 4 home care package and had been sitting on the system for over 12 months.

Karen's mother was Terrence's sole carer, 24/7. He was receiving an emergency level 2 home care package last year, but things got so bad that Karen was ringing My Aged Care, trying to find out what was going on. She was told that he was on a priority list but that it would be another 12-month wait. It got to a crisis point where Karen's mother just fell into a heap; a neighbour found her on the floor of the home, sobbing. Karen had to ship her parents to Queensland to provide them both with the care that they needed because Terrence could not get the level 4 care package that he had been assessed for. The toll on the carers in this scenario under this government was absolutely tremendous and all the hearts of the opposition members here know all too well what this means, because we hear it all the time. Now, Karen is not sure what's going to happen with her dad. She knows that they can't live with her permanently. They're trying very desperately to work out what is going on with his care package, and she came to me in absolute despair. But this is one story of far, far too many.

We know the list has blown out by 13,000 people over a quarter and that over 121,000 people are still waiting for the package that they deserve. The crisis in aged care of this government's making is not just confined to these aged-care packages. We've heard and we've seen some shocking stories. I want to share stories of two people from my electorate who have contacted me about the quality of residential care being delivered. I've removed the identity of the facilities to protect the management and staff, because I know they're doing the absolute best they can under the funding arrangement that's in place.

Elle from my electorate wrote to me, and her letter is quite long. I'll try to paraphrase it. She wrote:

After the recent Liberal leadership fiasco, I've lost any faith in the prospect of the federal coalition government taking action in the interests of elderly people in regional areas, who involuntarily are destined to end their lives in a residential aged-care facility. Which is why I'm writing to you now, in your capacity as my local MHR, asking you to make representations in the Australian parliament on behalf of such individuals.

And I'm very privileged to do that on her behalf. She continued:

Just under 12 months ago, my then wholly bed-ridden husband was admitted as a permanent resident of an aged-care facility with an ACAT 'high care, complex needs' assessment. Progressively, over the ensuing six months, commendable standards of care and support enabled him to get out and about in a wheelchair for up to 5 hours a day; leaving him nevertheless dependent on carer support for all bed based needs over the remaining 19 hours or so each day.

Come January this year, it became apparent that fewer staff across care and related categories were 'on the floor' on weekends and public holidays. At a residents' meeting, the facility manager announced the then pending cuts to staff shift hours and other resources. He advised shifts for personal care staff would be cut by 14 hours per day, inclusive of already understaffed weekend and holiday periods. The facilities manager explained that those cuts were unavoidable given the range and extent of reductions in levels of previously accessible federal government financial assistance to residential aged care.

Elle went on to provide me with some of the consequences of these additional cuts imposed by this government. Residents are waiting up to 90 minutes when they need to go to the toilet. There are not enough staff around and no-one can find a staff member when they need one. They're woken at 7 am and left on the toilet for ages while the shower water keeps running. There are lots of stories about residents being left in bed until 1 pm and reports of residents falling because they try to get up and do things for themselves. There are instances of carers in tears when they find their loved ones at risk of getting out of bed themselves and carers clearly under great stress. New arrivals have said that they cry when they get home at night because they can't provide the level of service they've been taught they should. Elle said to me:

Please, please do whatever you can to make representations in appropriate quarters and to relevant decision makers.

She signs off her letter to me 'Almost despairingly'

This is what members of the opposition are hearing day in, day out. I am very privileged to stand here in this place and talk to the government members, although there are only two opposite me now. I'm hoping the minister is hearing this. This is just one sad example, not just of the carers, the families or the person in residential aged care but of those who are taking care of them, the staff in these facilities and what they are facing day in, day out because this government does not care about these people or about our aged-care system. That is due primarily, in my opinion, to the savage cuts that they've made in this sector.

Brian, another member of my electorate, is a resident in a facility and he's written to me:

I am a constituent in your electorate and a permanent resident of a not-for-profit aged care facility which receives financial assistance from the Federal Government.

I am 83 years—wheelchair bound but otherwise intact and very observant about issues and problems surrounding that facility.

Early last month—

this was back in August—

… residents were informed by the facility manager to the following effect:

(1) Because of reductions in funding previously available via government assistance, care staff cuts will be necessary on a scale leading to significant reductions in shift hours.

We are getting a bit of a pattern here.

(2) In the circumstances, management was unable to predict either the impact of such cuts or the extent to which the most vulnerable residents would be adversely affected.

(3) Further cuts in staff and resources could well be necessary from financial year 2018/19 onwards.

Brian continues:

Subsequent experience has shown adverse effects of cuts in staff and shift hours to be significant.

I would hope no elected government would intentionally treat its elderly citizens, most of whom have raised families, worked hard, paid their taxes, and/or otherwise contributed to their respective families over many decades, by making budget decisions with such foreseeably adverse consequences.

I ask you to make direct, strong and urgent representations to government to act with the compassion and understanding that we expect from our elected representatives.

Yours hopefully

Brian

Hear how he signed that off? Please take note, those opposite, of the way those two constituents of mine have finished their letters to me: 'Almost despairingly' and 'Yours hopefully'. You can just imagine what these people facing. One has her husband in residential aged care and the other is a resident who is clearly observing what is going on. These personal stories time and time again clearly show our system is in crisis. They cannot give up on their members in these facilities and this is why the royal commission is so important and Labor welcomes, finally, this commission going ahead.

Why did it take the Prime Minister to get all wound up over a Four Corners report to be galvanised into action? One can easily conclude it was all about getting the politics right and not about the issue. If it was about the issue, the coalition government should have and could have acted sooner, because we've been telling these stories for a very long time. Instead, they've repeatedly ignored the calls from Labor, from families and from stakeholders. Now we have to have a royal commission into aged care and it has to look at every aspect of aged care. But let's not wait until the royal commission finishes; we know what needs to be done. The government is sitting on so many reports. It could actually start fixing the system today, but it's not.

Regarding the workforce issues, I had a tremendous opportunity to go to one of the facilities in my electorate, Meercroft Aged Care, and walk a day in the shoes of an extended care assistant. It was very confronting, I have to say. I think we know what takes places when a loved one is in residential aged care, but I saw it firsthand. There was an elderly man getting showered and cleaned up. There was a 40-year-old with Huntington's disease who has a sister in the dementia care ward with Huntington's disease as well. I saw the work that these people do. It's backbreaking work and there are the long hours. The bells are ringing all the time. We know there are not enough people on the floors of these facilities. It was an absolute privilege to go with Elaine at Meercroft—to walk with her and see what she does.

I say to every member of this place: do it. Ring up the residential aged care in your electorate, put on your soft shoes and walk around with them, get your hands dirty and meet some of these wonderful residents and wonderful carers who this government has completely neglected. See exactly what it's like to provide that level of care to those residents, but also see what those people receiving that care are going through. I think it would open your eyes and I think it would make members opposite actually stand up and tell the stories of the people in their electorates who are suffering under a system that is severely underfunded.

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