Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

Although the bills before us today are considered noncontroversial, it is important to stand up and make a few statements, particularly on behalf of constituents in my electorate, in relation to aged-care quality and safety. I do have to express my disappointment that, again, the government is creating another commissioner. Whilst we on this side support that, what this government hasn't done is create the framework that is required, invest in the staff that are required, invest in the skill development that is required to ensure that we have quality and safe delivery of aged-care services. It's another bill to create another commissioner, but a commissioner is at the tip of the iceberg and we're yet to see the real body of reform work that needs to happen. This government has failed so many times to get on with the really tough work and the tough reform that's required. We do need to really look at aged care and act quickly.

I too want to acknowledge the workers who spoke up bravely to Four Corners about what they were seeing, experiencing and witnessing on a daily basis in the facilities in which they work. Thanks again to the families and to the people in those facilities for speaking publicly. It's not easy, when you're somebody that works in a centre, to speak publicly to the media about what is occurring in your workplace. Not only are you putting your job on the line by speaking publicly and raising an issue but you're also exposing the real vulnerability and weakness within your own workplace. I've met many aged-care workers—not just people who work in my electorate but also those in the unions that represent aged-care workers, like the HACSU members, the United Voice members and the ANMF members—and what they all have is pride about where they work. For them, it's a calling, a vocation. They truly, deeply love working with older Australians and working in aged care.

When they have been to parliament to speak to members—it is disappointing that members of the government did not meet with these workers on the many occasions on which they came—they spoke to us about how it's our turn to care. They spoke to us about how they are low paid and they are undervalued in their work, which they are. They spoke to us about how some of the agencies and organisations that they work for only spend $6 a day on food for residents. They spoke to us about the problem with not having correct staffing ratios at work. They spoke to us about what happens when somebody calls in sick or if somebody's on leave and they're not backfilled. They spoke about how that compromises their ability to deliver quality care.

In a recent media release put out by United Voice, they said how devastated they were by the revelations about the aged-care sector, but, unfortunately, that they're not new. Like many members of United Voice, they are placed in situations that lead to poor care on a daily basis. If that exposure weren't enough—if it weren't enough for workers who've come forward to this place to raise their issues—then surely the constituents who have called electorate offices would shock this government into more urgent action. We need to do more than just create a commission in relation to tackling the crisis in aged care.

We are facing yet another inquiry as the unions, workers and family members have said. Whilst we support the royal commission and the work it will do, we also believe that there is enough out there now that the government can be doing more. We've held lots of inquiries into aged care and we've known that there will be more and more older Australians entering aged care for quite some time, yet we are still failing to do the body of work that is required to ensure that we have quality care.

Critical to quality care is making sure that we manage high workloads, unpredictable hours and the lack of support for carers when they're performing their roles. Funding cuts have had a huge impact on aged care and aged-care delivery services. Inevitably, when you cut funding to aged care, it is borne by the workforce. The workforce shoulders the cost when you cut. It's common, it's really unfortunate and it shouldn't happen. In community services and in the health and community sector, when governments cut funding like this government has done in almost all of their budgets, organisations are told that they have to deliver the same amount of care with less money. They shave off corners. They cut from budgets. They cut day programming. They cut back hours. If somebody's sick, they're not replaced, putting more and more pressure on workers in these facilities.

One of the comments made by a WA aged-care worker is:

I want things to change for old people.

I have been in aged care for 15 years and working with dementia patients for the past 13 years. We're all heartbroken at times because we can't give the people what they want.

We have dementia residents coming up to us and saying: 'You don't have time to talk to us.' We get trained to take them through their day—now you rush them.

I think that that comment really hits to part of the problem. There's no quality that's allowed to be included when people are now staffing in aged care. There was, once upon a time, when the aged-care worker was the best friend, the person that they could have a laugh with, when they were able to chat—when they were able to be human and engage with the people that they cared for. These days, their rosters have been so cut back and they're forced to look after so many extra residents that there's not even time for a simple hello and goodbye. Another worker said:

I have worked out that from 7am, if we gave 15 minutes for residents' showers and 20 to 25 minutes for residents who use hoists and allowed an hour for breakfast, we would finish our last resident at 2.15pm.

Again, this is speaking to the pressures of trying to get things done quickly.

I've had people in my electorate come and speak to me about when staffing levels are low. If they're at one end of the facility and the buzzer goes, if they don't have enough staff on, if somebody takes a fall, they could be there stuck on the ground for anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour whilst they try to help the other resident. Literally, the way in which some of these facilities are being staffed is in case nothing goes wrong. That is a terrible way to run aged-care services because, as we all know, as we become older, something does go wrong all the time, so having the extra staff there is critical to help.

It's also about quality of life. Like many, I go to aged-care facilities. I enjoy the 'walk a day in my shoes' when I walk around and I talk to the residents and meet with them. The days that they enjoy are the days where they've got activities and they've got theme days. We have the Melbourne Cup coming up, so many residential facilities in my area would have a theme day. There are sporting colours theme days, their singalongs, their craft days, the days where they have schools—and particularly a lot of the VCAL students—come in to do work in their organisation. Our Catholic college partners with St John of God in their aged-care facilities to facilitate a real work placement experience. But these programs can only occur if they have enough staff on the ground on the day.

Workloads are high, as I said. About one in 10 workers in aged care has two jobs. That's double the national average. I'll just state that again: one in 10 aged-care workers has two jobs. Partly it's because they're only on part-time rosters or casual rosters, but the other main reason why—and this is what the workers tell me—is that their wages are so low. Their wages are so low that their full-time work or the work that they do in aged care doesn't actually pay the bills, so they take up other caring jobs outside aged care to try to subsidise their income.

The other problem we have in this sector is that, unlike, say, the early childhood education sector, there is no national quality framework that exists. Only about half the staff working in the aged-care sector hold a certificate III or a certificate IV qualification. They are barely paid the minimum legal wage, and often salaries are just above the minimum wage. We know through working through industry and through talking to the workforce that we need to work collaboratively, together, to see a similar national quality framework introduced. The staff themselves want to upskill. The staff themselves want to be more engaged. They want to have the skills to be able to deliver the care that they know that their residents require.

The statistics speak for themselves: 1.3 million Australians are currently receiving some form of aged care provided by about 400,000 nurses and carers. I know that there has been a lot of talk about looking at ratios. I do support ratios; however, I believe they need to be in a broader context. We can't just talk about nursing. We need to look at making sure that we've got ratios where we are reaching the complex care that's required. Every facility might be slightly different. There needs to be a discussion about what a safe ratio for dementia care is. What is a safe ratio for high care and low care?

When I get out and speak to some of the facilities in my electorate, there's a really stark difference between the not-for-profit community aged-care facilities and public aged-care facilities through Bendigo Health and then the for-profit facilities.

In the Macedon Ranges, there is a Bupa facility and there is RM Begg, which is a locally based not-for-profit facility. That not-for-profit facility is the place of choice for many people; however, they have a very long waiting list. They have extra staffing time and staffing hours. I'm told that it's a wonderful work environment to work in, but they acknowledge openly that they're slowly going broke under the current funding model. They're simply not adequately remunerated by the current system to continue the quality of care, and they don't want to compromise care. Meanwhile, up the road, Bupa—which is making profit and delivering a return for its shareholders—gets constant complaints from the GPs in the area, from the residents in the area and from the staff that work in the facility. There are regular reports of there not being qualified nurses on, that people who are sick aren't replaced and that programming has been cut, and there are questions about the quality of the food.

We are at a crisis point within our aged-care system: which model of care do we wish to deliver? We are a society that will be judged, and in this place here we are judged, on how we treat our older Australians. They deserve dignity and respect in their elder days. They deserve to be in places where they do feel at home, where they do feel included and where they are respected. They also deserve a workforce that is well paid and respected, and which has the resources that it requires in order to do its job. So I'm hoping that the new Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission will actually make strong recommendations to this government on how we can fix our aged-care sector.

We need to make sure that we do get policy back on track in this area. After the funding cuts from this government in many of their budgets and the impacts that those have had on this sector, the very least that this government could do is not just to create the commission but to restore the billions of dollars that they've cut. This would help the workforce to skill up and deliver quality care, and it would help facilities to deliver better programming for the residents that live in their facilities. It would also give more peace of mind to family members.

It's one of the hardest things at a listening post: to meet a family member when they've just had the heartbreak of losing one of their older relatives. There are some of the horror stories that they share with you, about how there was not the dignity and respect for their loved one in their final days, or that they passed away in pain because there was nobody on shift to administer the medicine that was required or that they feel their loved one died of neglect or starvation—as one person put to me—because the food was so inadequate and not something you would serve to anyone, let alone to our older Australians in aged-care facilities.

People have a right to be concerned about what's happening in our aged-care institutions, and whilst this commission, which has been a long time coming, has been established, it's a little bit of work in a lot of work that needs to be done.

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