Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise today to speak on the Aged Care Legislation Amendment (Improved Home Care Payment Administration No. 1) Bill 2020. I've been listening to all the speeches that have been taking place here and I hear the concerns of a lot of members about our elderly citizens. I've said it many times in here: these are the people who have built our foundations and paid their taxes, and some have fought in wars to give us the opportunities that we have today to live in a free, democratic country. It's a place that still has opportunity and is a country that is sought after by everyone in the world. They want to come and live here because of the foundations that have been put in place by the generations before us. That's why it's important to ensure that, as governments, we do whatever the right thing is in ensuring that our elderly Australians are looked after.

I've got to say that there are many things that are currently not working in the system. As I heard the Leader of the Opposition say earlier, in some communities—in fact, in most communities—elderly people are revered. In the Vietnamese community, many Asian communities and even a lot of European communities, they are revered and respected. It is unheard of for many people in these ethnic groups that they would put their parents or grandparents in aged-care facilities or have others looking after them. They feel that it is their duty. It is important that we do look after them, whether or not we do it ourselves. Obviously in a country like Australia, where everyone works and we're struggling with balancing family, kids et cetera, we do find ourselves in a position where sometimes our elderly Australians have to be looked after by someone else, whether it be in a facility that cares for older people or in home care.

That takes me to the home care packages that have had bungle upon bungle continuously whilst this government has been in place. They've had over six years—we're in the third term of government—to sort this out. We hear that there are still over 100,000 people waiting for aged care packages to look after people in their homes. They are people who are needy, people who need a little bit of support. After all, they supported us for generations. The least that we can do is give them that little bit of help that gives them a bit of dignity in their life.

You've got a list of over 100,000 people waiting who, in fact, have been assessed. They have been assessed and given the okay for the package and then they have to wait to receive the package. We've heard stories of over two years and up to three years of waiting. In fact, from some figures that came out, in the last few years some 30,000 people who had been approved and had been waiting for packages had died. It's not uncommon in my electorate office to have people come to see me and say: 'Remember when we applied for this particular package and we got the okay from the ACAT assessment? We waited and waited.' They'd been in to see me again and, in that period, those people had passed away or deteriorated. That is unacceptable. It is totally unacceptable that people are waiting for such a long period to receive a bit of help and a bit of care. It's also unacceptable that we, as a government, are not doing anything about it. As a government, we're just sitting back and shrugging our shoulders. Measures have to be put in place to make sure that we shorten that list, that people get that care in the appropriate period of time that ensures their health doesn't deteriorate.

What happens is, when you apply for a package, usually it's at the point when you're deteriorating—perhaps a lot of families haven't thought about it; it's at the last minute—and then you're waiting for a few months to get the assessment. Once the assessment takes place, then you're ticked off as basically a yes or no, and then the period of waiting starts—of waiting to have that package put in place. If you don't get that package in a timely manner, your health will deteriorate at a much faster pace than if you had someone caring for you. This means that a lot of people are ending up in nursing homes or aged care facilities needlessly, costing the government many more dollars than they would have if they had been kept at home with the care that was required.

We need to ensure that people get the care that they require within their homes. Most people want to stay within their homes. There are a few that do want to go into residential aged care facilities, but the majority of people I talk to in my electorate say they want their loved ones to remain at home with a bit of assistance and a bit of care. It is totally inacceptable that 30,000 people died waiting to receive an aged care package for assistance at home.

When we look at this government and see what they have put in place, not much is there. Not much is happening. Their biggest item for older Australians had been to try and privatise the ACAT, being the most profitable side of aged care services. That is wrong. It is a government that has at its focus the privatisation of services. For example, when you look at Medicare, we know that many attempts have been made to chip away at the sides and to cut away and gradually privatise any service that provides a service for the public good. ACAT is a service for the public good and should not be privatised. I'm pleased that through the campaigning that was done on this side of the House we were able to prevent that and ensure that it doesn't get privatised. It is a special service, which provides the checks and balances to make sure that people are eligible for aged care packages or facilities.

That takes me to another area. In the royal commission we heard many horrendous stories. First we saw them on TV and reported in the media—people being undernourished; people not receiving the care that they required; everything from abuse to criminal acts that were visited on these people. What a horrendous thing, to think that it could be your grandparents or your parents in that situation when you're handing them over with the trust that the facility will do their best to look after a loved one, and then to discover that they are being abused or malnourished or they are not having the care that is required.

It took a lot of work and a lot of effort in this place to commit the government to a royal commission. We all remember that day when they finally did, when they realised they didn't have the numbers to gazump it. The Prime Minister came into this House and announced it. The horror stories that came out were horrendous. The Morrison government has to act on any findings that the royal commission comes out with. It is extremely important that they not only act on it, but ensure that they put in the legislation that's required to check, safeguard and ensure that our elderly have the services that are required for their old age.

Waiting times for a bed in a facility have blown out as well. They were around two to three weeks. They are now far greater. Usually when a family comes to our office seeking some sort of assistance because they can't find a bed, it is at crisis point. It is usually at a point where something's gone wrong. Their elderly mum or dad has had a fall, has broken their hip or leg or has some other ailment or illness, and has been taken to hospital, and it has been deemed that they cannot care for themselves back home. So there's a mad rush to try and work out where they will be able to take them into a facility that they trust and feel comfortable with; with the added burden of having to wait weeks and weeks to find a bed. In that period, those people stay in hospital, again costing state governments and the federal government millions of dollars more.

What they require in these facilities is quality health care, and, as I said, we're only going to get that through this government responding to and acting on the report of the royal commission that's taken place. It's no good coming in here and just make statements about the feel-good things, as we've seen this Prime Minister do more and more, and continuously, where marketing is the tool but there is no action. We need action on the royal commission's findings. We need this government to perform. But this is not like any other important area. This is important because it is about human beings that are our mothers, our fathers, our grandparents, our great-grandparents, and all of us want to know and have confidence that, when they are in a facility, they are being looked after. We need to ensure that the right work skills are there.

We heard the previous speaker, the member for Cooper, talk about the understaffing in a lot of these facilities, with stories of 30- or 40-bed facilities with only one care worker on the nightshift. All it takes is one emergency, and everyone else is left on the side and not cared for until that emergency's dealt with. That is something that came out of the royal commission, the staffing levels, as well as the pressure that's on those aged-care workers and, certainly, the work skills that are needed.

We need to train more people up. We need to ensure the training facilities that we have are up to scratch. We need to ensure that the people that go into this industry do it because they love the industry, but they also need to be remunerated correctly and properly. They need to be given a sense of dignity, as do the workers who look after our elderly, and the people that have looked after us our entire lives.

The No. 1 most important thing is for this government to act on the royal commission findings. No. 2 is to deal with the long waiting list, with over 100,000 Australians waiting for aged-care home packages—many dying whilst they are waiting—which is unacceptable. No. 3 is to ensure that our facilities are up to scratch and that checks and balances are put in place. I know that the government have moved on this. I commend them for it. But it's no good just putting legislation in place and having some form of institution that is a toothless tiger. We need to act upon these things. We need to be vigilant. We need to ensure that the Australian public have confidence that, when they are putting their loved ones into a facility or having outside people caring for them, the right thing is being done.

As I've said many times in this place—I don't think there's any other line that I've said more often, and I'm about to say it again—these are the people that have given us the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of this wonderful country. Through their foresight, through building the foundations of this nation and through their hard work, and their taxes through that hard work, and through many of them fighting in wars, they have ensured that the next generation of Australians—that's us—benefit from this nation. We need to give them a sense of dignity and happiness in their twilight years, and we want them to be comfortable and to know that their loved ones are doing the best for them—and that their government is doing the best for them. I cannot stress that enough. We may talk about a million other policies in this place, but we will be judged in the future on the way that we looked after our elderly. After all, they are human beings and the people who, as I said, have given their whole life for their children, for their grandchildren, and, in many cases, have brought up not only their children but also their grandchildren.

I hope the government take something away from the royal commission report, I hope that they act on the royal commission findings and I really hope that, in this place, there is more focus on this policy area than there has been in the last few years.

(Quorum formed)

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