Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission Bill 2018. Like many Australians, I watched last month's episode of Four Corners. On Four Corners, I watched footage of the disgraceful, inhumane and undignified conditions that vulnerable older Australians are forced to endure in our aged-care facilities. These are people who have spent their lives building Australia to be the nation we are today. They are Australians who have worked, have toiled and have fought for their country. They are certainly Australians who deserve better.

As I watched Four Corners last month I was disappointed and disturbed, but I was not surprised. Those of us who have had loved ones in aged care have watched the standards and quality of care slip for far too long, particularly on this government's watch. This is no way to treat our most senior and some of our most vulnerable members of the community. I acknowledge the member for Forrest for sharing her mother's and family's experiences of aged care. It is unfortunately too often a story that resonates in many of our electorates and it certainly resonates with my family's experience of my mother's 13 years experience in aged care.

In light of the Four Corners expose, the government seems to have remembered the Carnell-Paterson review. This review came out in October 2017. I would like to ask why it has been sitting on the minister's desk for the better part of a year. The Carnell-Paterson review outlined 10 recommendations on how to improve quality regulatory processes in aged care. Now, nearly a year later, the government has produced legislation enacting one of these 10 recommendations. The government says the purpose of the bill is to establish a new Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission. We in the opposition welcome this. Having a single point of contact for aged-care consumers and providers in relation to quality of care is a good thing. However, it does not fix an aged-care system that is broken beyond the help of a single bureaucratic measure. This bill is inadequate, just in time for a government that is out of touch and out of sight of vulnerable older Australians.

The opposition also welcomes the royal commission into the abuse and cover-ups in the aged-care sector. But action on this crisis can't wait until the royal commission is finished. This government is well aware of the woeful state of aged care in Australia. It has commissioned dozens of reports and reviews and it knows what needs to be done to fix the problems in the sector. But, like the Carnell-Paterson review, these reviews are also sitting on the minister's desk. The royal commission is badly needed, but many of the issues in the aged-care sector are a product of the government's cuts to aged care. This delay in action is the failing government passing the buck.

We do not need to wait for a royal commission into aged care to deliver its final report. We can act now. We already know the quality standards and reporting systems are not working. We know there are not enough aged-care workers, and that those who do work in the sector are not adequately paid, respected or sported to do their jobs. Aged-care workers undergo limited training—some may suggest inadequate training. Currently, workers are able to enter the aged-care industry with a certificate course and are often paid a minimum wage to do so. Given the level of care and attention those with high-care needs require, there seems to be a clear gap between the standard of care older Australians deserve and the way that we train and develop our aged-care workers. However, I do recognise there are wonderful dedicated workers who do their best in demanding conditions within our aged-care facilities. We need to ensure that there is adequate support to ensure all workers in the sector are able to perform to the best of their ability.

It has been two months since the Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care received the Aged Care Workforce Strategy Taskforce's report A matter of care: Australia's aged care workforce strategy. Only now has the Liberal government publically released this strategy. We call on the government to implement the workforce strategy as soon as possible. The government must work with unions and aged-care providers to implement the strategy to meet the growing demand within the sector.

The state of aged-care facilities in Australia is disgraceful. Constituents in my electorate of Werriwa have long been raising concerns about the standards of care in the aged-care facilities in my electorate. Whilst there are really, really good facilities that care deeply about the people in their care, some have reported to my office that they fear raising concerns due to the mistreatment of other residents who have spoken out. The thing that most concerns me about the latest revelations from the Four Corners story and what I learned from constituents is that aged care has not changed in decades. The treatment of our elderly and most vulnerable has not improved; indeed, for many, it has deteriorated significantly.

All of us in this place must have personal experiences of family members needing aged care. My mother needed nursing home care 25 years ago. As a younger person in aged care with multiple sclerosis, she along with my sister and I, faced many challenges—waiting lists, loneliness, quality of the food, the lack of staff to feed her and look after her needs. We had to supplement and supply personal care items because of the inferior quality and quantity. We were there every day to ensure she was given dinner and lunch because overworked staff didn't have time to get around to everyone while it was hot and palatable. I saw how hard the staff worked and how much they cared about the residents, and this was back in the days when there were registered nurses—most often, more than one—on every shift.

Seven years ago, my husband's grandparents entered a facility. There I saw the same dedicated staff, but it was clear that they were more overworked and that their level of experience and training had further reduced. Given the revelations of Four Corners, it seems that the quality of aged care has not improved and this just isn't good enough. There has been report after report about the situation.

We have known that the baby boomers were going to start needing this sort of supported care for several decades, and yet for five years the government has not enacted any policy and has made no progress to improvement. The reforms introduced by Labor in 2012 were the beginning of this and that government did not let aged-care policy fall by the wayside. This is what happens when funding is ripped out from the aged-care sector. In his first year as Treasurer, the member for Cook cut almost $2 billion from the sector. The royal commission must examine the impacts of those cuts. You can't fix aged care by making cuts like this in an already stretched system.

This is a system intended to support the ageing population. The aged-care workforce is supposed to increase by over 300 per cent in the next 30 years, and it's time to get things right now. As reports about the problems in the sector pile up, the government seems to brush them aside. The government must respond and stop cutting and cover-ups. I say to the government: 'You must do better. You must put compassion and care for older Australians ahead of the cuts.' The government owes an apology to Australians who've been let down by this system. Older Australians have lived lives of service and contribution; they deserve better than the overpromises and underdeliveries of this government, and the failures that older Australians see again and again.

How we treat our most vulnerable of citizens is a true measure of Australian society. If we want to do better—and we should—we must act on changes and fix aged care now. We must not wait for the findings of the royal commission to do so; we must fix what we already know to be broken. These proud Australians affected by the inadequacy of the aged-care system built this nation and fought to secure the future we now enjoy. They are our mothers, our fathers and our grandparents. They deserve better, and this government should do better.

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