Kristy McBain (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Ignoring the crisis in aged care is just plain cruel. It's a dereliction of duty. Yes, it is complex, but the job of government is to face complex issues and get the work done on behalf of all Australians. That's what everybody in this chamber has been elected to do. The Morrison government was dragged to the aged-care royal commission, but, to date, those opposite have wasted and ignored the very wisdom and experience they sought to empower. The royal commission's interim report, titled Neglect, was published over a year ago. It's a heartbreaking title, and it gets my attention, but apparently not the attention of the Prime Minister or his failed minister for aged care. The commission recommended the Morrison government urgently address the waiting list for home-care packages, a waiting list that was described as cruel, unfair and discriminatory. These are feelings that I fear ring true for 608 elders in Eden-Monaro who are currently on the waiting list. As the COVID pandemic grew, the commission suggested that the government establish a national body directed to deal with the outbreak in aged care. They failed to listen, and heartbreak followed for over 680 families, including my own.

Earlier this month, my family farewelled my 91-year-old grandmother, Gladys Hobson. Nanny Hobby had been living with dementia in Victorian care for some time, but her final six months came with extra distress for her and for my family because of the collapse in services on this government's watch. We weren't able to visit, and the regulations that put shareholders before the people they should have been caring for meant that my nan suffered from starvation. Indeed, her aged-care facility had the largest outbreak of COVID outside metropolitan Melbourne. My mum, Kaye, helped to nurse and comfort Nanny Hobby through her final weeks, drawing on her 15-year career as an aged-care worker herself.

Mum talks about this part of her working life as being a privilege—a privilege to care for, connect with and protect people who have lived lives big and small but who have all made contributions to our community. I know everyone who works in aged care feels the same. I want to honour your service and thank you for what you do. You are the people who day in and day out make the best of this failing system for the people and families in your care. Everybody agrees we need to do better, but those charged with the task simply don't hear the call from the royal commission and indeed every Australian family. We need to put the care of these vulnerable people at the heart of aged-care reform and deliver for people and families, not shareholders.

I want to make special mention, too, of young people living in aged-care facilities. We hear your need and so does the royal commission. In its interim report, the commission flagged the need to stop the flow of younger people going into aged care and asked that the process of getting younger people out of aged care be expedited. There is no reason to delay action on this work.

In my own electorate, in Queanbeyan the community presented us with solutions for this, following from Yvonne Cuschieri's own experience of having to put her son into an aged-care facility as he was dealing with a terminal disease and she needed some respite. The Commonwealth and New South Wales governments say they are supporting respite care for Queanbeyan by building a six-bedroom, purpose-built facility for younger people, but as yet there is no funding to support its ongoing operation.

South of Queanbeyan, in Cooma and Jindabyne, the community is asking for action. The home of Snowy 2.0 needs more aged-care places. Regional people want to grow old in place surrounded by their families and friends and the environment and culture they know and love and that was so central to their younger years. But the choices of these people are limited. These communities are crying out for help, and yet this government doesn't appear to be listening. The foundations of our aged-care system have buckled under the pressure of 2020, and the solutions are there for all to see. Indeed, the solutions are there and can help build on our recovery from COVID-19, because the care economy creates jobs—jobs in Queanbeyan, jobs in Cooma and jobs in Jindabyne.

We're naturally geared in regional communities to look after each other. Above all, we want dignity and decency. The Prime Minister and his failed aged-care minister must do much more to ensure older Australians are safe and receiving high-quality care. I hope Australians don't have to wait for an Albanese government to be elected next year for— (Time expired)

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