Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak on the Aged Care Amendment (Movement of Provisionally Allocated Places) Bill 2019. Whilst it's been stated that Labor supports this bill, I wholeheartedly support the amendments moved by the shadow minister, the member for Franklin, as this government has completely mismanaged aged care. So much more must be done urgently to resolve the issues around the lack of aged-care services.

Firstly, can I say, as has been noted by others today, that it's Thank You for Working in Aged Care Day, a day when we can all acknowledge and thank those wonderful people working in our aged-care system for the remarkable work they do. In terms of this bill, currently the Aged Care Act does not permit a variation of the region to which residential aged-care places are provisionally allocated. The bill therefore amends the act to allow the Secretary of the Department of Health to allow approved providers of residential aged care to move provisionally allocated residential aged-care places from one region to another. But, importantly, it is just within a specific state or territory; the bill will not allow for the movement of any provisionally allocated places outside the state or territory to which it was originally allocated. Under this amendment, providers must demonstrate the movement of the provisionally allocated places is in the interest of aged-care consumers and that there is a clear need for places in the new region.

I now turn to Labor's amendments. There is a whole variety of aged-care issues that need to be addressed urgently by this government. We on this side of the House have raised many of these issues on numerous occasions. Indeed, largely these issues arise from a lack of funding and a lack of forward planning in our aged-care system. We all know Australia has an ageing population and we all know that more assistance will be required into the future. Of course, it's predicted that by 2040 we'll have 20 per cent of the population aged over 65.

Right now my electorate of Richmond is in fact a snapshot of the future in terms of age-care needs. We have a high proportion of seniors, with over 25 per cent of the population aged 75 years and older. So we already have a high demand for aged-care services, and that demand is continuously increasing. I constantly hear from local residents about how difficult it is to access the services they need. But this government has not made any plans to address these issues—not in Richmond or, indeed, across the nation. Not only is there no forward planning to meet growing demand; it's much worse than that: this short-sighted government has actually cut so much funding from aged care. They've cut billions of dollars in funding from the aged-care sector, and we see the results of those cuts right across the board. These cuts are really hitting some of the most vulnerable in our community.

The need for residential aged-care places is growing. The number of places available per 100,000 people aged over 70 is falling, and it's falling under this government. For example, in 2014 on the New South Wales Far North Coast there were 87 residential care places available per thousand people aged over 70. By 2017 that number had fallen to 76 places per thousand people aged over 70. What we're looking at in real terms is an insufficient number of aged-care places. And what we'll also continue to see are more people in need of residential care packages, as well as the fact that they can't access home care packages, which I'll get to in a minute.

The fact is that this government keeps failing our seniors. This government is the architect of insufficient packages and lengthening waiting lists, and the government's record on home care packages is indeed shameful. Home care packages are designed to allow our seniors to remain in their homes longer. This is where they want to stay—where we all want to stay. These home care packages take the pressure off residential aged-care facilities and take the pressure off hospital emergency departments, and they allow our seniors to remain in the comfort of their own homes. So I condemn the Morrison government for its inability to act on this home care crisis—the home care crisis which they have in fact created.

As at March this year there were still over 129,000 older Australians who were waiting for home care packages they had already been approved for. It is shameful that over 129,000 older Australians are languishing, waiting for care. That number keeps growing. Not only that, often those who require a level 2, level 3 or level 4 package will face a wait of over 12 months, on average. Many need that care right now, not in 12 months time.

Reforms to aged care were meant to give older Australians the choice of staying at home, but these figures confirm that the government's policy chaos is continually failing our seniors. During the aged-care royal commission, National Seniors Australia's chief executive, John McCallum, described the government's home care debacle as a running sore and a critical failure. He said:

We know that home care … is preventative for death and preventative for hospital admission.

We really haven't dealt with that or with the fact that people otherwise have to go into residential care or into hospitals, which are much more expensive. Mr McCallum said:

It's economically irrational, but we haven't dealt with it.

We haven't dealt with it, because it's too hard. It's the most difficult immediate issue we have to confront. The government keeps being told this.

The fact is that older Australians often enter residential aged care or even emergency departments instead of receiving their approved home care packages. As I've said, the waiting time between being assessed for a package and receiving a package is constantly growing. Less than half of all eligible seniors receive their packages within three months. Less than half, that is disgraceful! There are confirmed reports of older Australians waiting more than a year to receive the package they need and deserve, and some people are waiting even more than two years, but it gets worse—much, much worse. There are people who die before they receive their package. What more does this government need to hear? In March this year, Leading Age Services Australia suggested that almost a quarter of people who need a package die while waiting for it. That is shameful.

As the list grows longer and longer, fresh stories about older Australians waiting for care emerge daily. Local seniors and their families in desperate need and waiting for their aged-care package contact me daily. They are people who have been assessed and are waiting for the help they need and desperately deserve. I hear regularly from local families who cannot find residential aged care or home care, or simply health services for their young ones. We've heard also from the royal commission horror stories about the treatment of people in nursing homes because of the lack of funding from the government. It's just not good enough. These older Australians deserve our respect, not the contempt they've had to endure under this government.

Our seniors built this nation. They worked hard, paid their taxes, contributed to the community and raised their families. Now many of them, when there has come a time when they need assistance, are instead cruelly turned away by this government.

Despite the alarming aged-care figures, the Morrison government has put no new money into aged care. It has tried to pretend it was putting funding into it, but everyone can see it's not happening. It's simply not true; there is no new money. In the face of this growing crisis, not one extra dollar has been invested in Australia's aged-care system. Instead, we have seen the government strip funds from residential aged care and other age services in order to create a few paltry extra packages to make it look like they are doing something. Older Australians know what they're doing, the whole community knows what they're doing and we keep highlighting what they're doing. People realise the game they're playing. Taking money from people and giving it back in a different box doesn't solve anything. It reveals the government's very dangerous and irrational approach to the needs of older Australians.

The solution is very clear. What is needed is more funding to provide the packages that older Australians have been promised. As Ian Yates, the CEO of Council on the Ageing, said:

It's absolutely clear the Government will have to bite the bullet and put extra resources into home care.

It is that clear. It begs the question: why haven't the Morrison government done that already? They know we have an ageing population. They know the need for packages is increasing. They know that waiting lists are growing and waiting times are getting longer. So what is their plan? What is their action plan to address this? We know the government has no policy for older Australians, because we are not seeing planning or funding injected into these really important issues. What do they expect people to do? Do they expect them somehow to pay for services they can't afford? Do they expect people to pay out of their own pockets? Some have had to do that. Many, of course, cannot afford it and just wait. That is the reality for so many of them. I would like to hear what the government's plan is because there doesn't seem to be one. When it comes to home care packages, they are supposed to make it easier for older Australians to remain in their homes, but for those who haven't received their package things are getting harder day by day. Regardless of whatever reason the government might put forward, it is clear what needs to be done. There is actually no excuse for inaction because they keep hearing of the same issues over and over and also, to add to that, the lack of forward planning for aged care is poor economic management; it really is. The royal commission into aged care has revealed that a boost of some $2 billion is now required to address the home care crisis because not addressing it is costing more in hospitals because so many people are fronting our emergency departments or being admitted to hospital. It is truly chaotic and aged care is in crisis.

The Morrison government, I think, should start by apologising to older Australians, their families and their friends for its failure to deliver for the crisis it created. Labor continues to condemn this failure on behalf of all Australians. We're committed to holding the government to account when it comes to aged care. We won't stop until the government takes action on home care, provides the investment of new money that is needed to alleviate the waiting list and delivers the full services people need when they need them. We will keep pursuing this matter.

Looking after our seniors should be one of our main priorities in this parliament for the government. It is where their attention should lie. We have the opportunity to put in place sufficient resources for aged care, but we must act now, particularly with the ageing of our population. This is an issue that needs to be in place, properly funded and adequately planned now. We need to see a lot more action being taken by the government. And it is also in the best economic interests of the country to deal with the problems in aged-care funding and services now.

The lack of healthcare services, residential care beds and suitable home care arrangements for our seniors has flow-on problems for the wider community, not to mention the emotional and financial distress of families. This is resonating throughout many communities right across the country. As a nation, what we need to do is prioritise aged care and put in place the resources, the funding and the proper forward planning as to how we as a nation will deal with our ageing population. We need to have those in place to make sure there are appropriate levels of aged care into the future and we need to have the foundations of that now for our ageing population.

As I said, the predictions are that in 2040 we'll have 20 per cent of the population aged over 65. When we look across the country, the need for increased residential aged-care packages and home care packages will be extreme. We will need to ensure we have the correct funding and regulatory frameworks in our residential care facilities so we stop seeing these horrific stories of mistreatment that we have seen in the royal commission of late.

We need to see national leadership on this issue. That's what we need. We also need to see the government working proactively with the states, with the community and with the providers to make sure that as a whole we are providing a greater degree of support for those who require assistance in their later years. But it will take that national leadership which we fail to see time and time again by this government, so I call on those on the other side of the House to make their voices heard and to encourage all in the government to stand up rather than ignore it as they have done for six years. We are at this point of crisis because, for six years under this coalition government, we have just seen more and more cuts. As I always say in the country, 'National Party choices hurt.' I can tell you the National Party cuts to aged care have particularly hurt those people in rural and regional areas. They will be held to account for those massive cuts and what they have meant to our regional communities, especially for the people who want to stay in the communities they lived in their whole lives and want to have that support there.

As I said, in my electorate I see so many local seniors and families needing those home care packages and places in residential care facilities. I will always fight on behalf of my constituents because I do have an ageing population in my electorate and I see how desperate the need is, so I will always raise their issues here. I commend the shadow minister for the amendments to this bill because it is really important to keep highlighting the constant mismanagement of this government.

In closing, I reiterate today is Thank You For Working in Aged Care Day. I think every day we should be thanking and acknowledging our remarkable workers in the aged-care sector. They do an incredible job often at challenging times, particularly in the current environment with the lack of funding. We know that it is a very stressful job at times and, indeed, they are very much underpaid for the wonderful work that they do. I'm very fortunate to meet with many of them in my electorate. I know many on this side of the House meet with them regularly too. We know firsthand the great work they do in caring for our older Australians. But what our aged-care workers need and what our older Australians need is a government that supports them all the way with funding, with forward planning and by understanding the needs of aged-care workers as well. It's so vitally important. As I said, I totally support the amendments by the shadow minister. It's important for those of us on this side of the House that we keep fighting for our senior Australians who deserve to be treated so much better.

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