Anne Aly (Cowan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I often say that we got lucky when my father had to enter a residential facility after having vascular dementia. We were lucky that he entered a facility where he was well looked after. But I also say we should not have had to rely on luck. No Australian, no older Australian, should have to rely on luck. The royal commission has exposed the crisis in our aged-care system. There are thousands of Australians who, unlike my dad, are just not lucky: 16,000 have died waiting for home care packages, 14,000 have had to enter residential care while waiting for home care packages, and another 120,000 people are on waiting lists. This includes people like Eric from my electorate, who had untrained staff changing his colostomy and urostomy bags. They didn't know how to do it correctly and the bags kept leaking on Eric. It was only after he contacted my office that any action was taken to help Eric with changing his colostomy and urostomy bags.

The government has failed our older Australians. Their announcement today of 10,000 places is just a drop in the ocean. It goes nowhere towards fixing this crisis. The government needs to act now. They need to stand up for older Australians, especially for those who, unlike my dad, just don't get lucky.

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