Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to thank the shadow minister for ageing and seniors, the member for Franklin, for this motion and for her fearless efforts in holding the government to account in this critical area. Make no mistake: aged-care workers are amongst the great unsung heroes and heroines of this pandemic, and they deserve to be recognised and rewarded. That's why the aged-care retention payment is good policy. It recognises the profound contribution of aged-care workers at this time, rewards them for the sacrifices they've made every day and encourages continuity of care and employment in the sector. But the government's decision to exclude certain workers and then change the rate at which they will be paid is utterly unforgiveable.

It is imperative that all aged-care workers receive the aged-care retention bonus, regardless of their job title. It needs to be delivered as an after-tax payment, as was in fact promised in writing. These are not Labor's words; these were the minister's words in writing. There was nothing ambiguous at all about the statements and there was never an assumption that before tax would be the option, which is what the government is now proposing.

Today I'd like to share with you some of the words of Mr Alan Brewer, the CEO of Mayfield Aged Care in my electorate of Newcastle. He wrote to me to let me know his grave concerns about this very issue. As Mr Brewer put it: 'Older Australians are the most vulnerable to the potentially deadly coronavirus, and that means that our proud and passionate aged care workers have been and remain on the front line in the battle to protect our treasured elders'. Mr Brewer is absolutely right. Aged-care facilities are higher risk environments when it comes to the COVID-19 infection. Indeed, in the United States around one in three coronavirus deaths have been residential aged-care residents or staff. Just let that sink in for a moment. This is staggering, but it hasn't happened in Australia, and a lot of credit for that must go to the deeply committed and caring staff who have been absolutely vigilant and central to managing this risk of infections. They have put themselves in harm's way every single day. They have made sacrifices in their personal lives and they have taken on extra responsibilities to keep residents engaged as restrictions really reduced the quality of life that many people were able to lead.

Despite this, 40 per cent of the workforce have been excluded from getting the aged-care retention bonus. Thousands of workers, indeed around 125,000, including cleaning staff, laundry staff, catering staff and activity staff, have all been left out of this payment retention bonus. Thousands of workers are cut out of this program by the stroke of a pen. Today being International Cleaners Day, I want to give a particular shout out to the cleaners, who have worked tirelessly to keep aged-care facilities clean and safe for residents, visitors and their families. Again I point to Mr Brewer, who wrote to me and argued, 'All staff are responsible and essential to the delivery of safe and effective care in the context of COVID-19.' I couldn't agree more. He says, 'Providing the retention bonus to some staff and not others devalues their dedicated work and has been a source of significant anger and distress amongst employees'. We know the member for Franklin brought this to our attention earlier on in this debate.

But it gets worse. The government didn't just exclude vital workers; it also went back on its written promise to workers about how much they would be getting. The initial announcement could not have been clearer, stating that for residential care staff, they would get 'a payment of up to $800 after tax per quarter' and that would be paid for two quarters. It's in black and white. But when the guidelines were released people were shocked to find that this had suddenly changed, and the payments would now be made before tax. With no warning, justification or apology the rules were changed, workers now losing up to $200 each. All aged-care workers should receive this bonus, and it should be delivered as an after-tax amount as the minister promised in writing. Thank you to everyone working in our aged-care sector.

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