Libby Coker (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] I rise to speak to the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response No. 2) Bill 2021. When each of us reaches a ripe old age, we hope that we will be cared for. We hope that our parents and our loved ones will be cared for. But the sad reality is that, despite the care and compassion that our aged-care workers provide, the aged-care system, which is the responsibility of the Morrison government, is broken. No-one wants families to fear placing an elderly parent into an aged-care facility. We've all heard the horrific stories of abuse. Only now, on the cusp of an election, are we seeing a follow-up response from the government to the royal commission into aged care—a royal commission that revealed the systemic failures and abuse of so many older Australians.

While there are some worthy actions in this proposed legislation, it comes too late for all those who have tragically suffered from eight years of inaction by the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government. The royal commission actually said that this federal government has been focused not on what should be done to address systemic failures in the aged-care sector but on 'the minimum commitment it could get away with'. They were the actual words of the royal commission—'minimum commitment'. And the response of the Morrison government has been minimal. After 21—that's 21—expert reports, this government knew older people were suffering in aged care and yet they didn't fix the problems. The Prime Minister, when he was Treasurer, even cut funding to aged care. It's just unbelievable. But, true to form, the Morrison government is continuing with its minimum-commitment approach in this bill.

While I welcome this bill as a partial step towards correcting the mistakes of the government, as a full and compassionate response to the aged-care crisis it falls well short. The Prime Minister's well known tin ear is once again apparent. He has failed to hear the voices of those Australians who he should be listening to on this bill—those in aged care, their families and the hardworking staff on the front line. Where's the due diligence? Older Australians just don't appear to be a priority for the Morrison government. Only now are they rushing to ram through this bill simply to tick another box on the pre-election list of things to do. There was a lack of consultation, and as a result there is widespread frustration and anger across the aged-care sector. It is made worse because of the lack of consultation on the bill. The government apparently believes it's fine to sideline and ignore the experts—our older Australians, their families, advocates and aged-care workers. Yet these are the very people with the hands-on and lived experience who, surely, are entitled to be consulted on the bill that will impact them most.

This bill has profound ramifications for residential aged-care funding, workforce screening, provider governance and the code of conduct for the sector. Each of these matters deserves proper consideration. There's no better proof of the government's lack of consultation than its failure to establish two major bodies recommended by the royal commission. They should have been established by July this year, in time to consult on the drafting of this bill. In fact, of the aged care royal commission's 148 recommendations, over half either are not being implemented or are being implemented only in a half-hearted fashion.

How did we get here? It's worth recapping how we got this far. It took the brave words of individuals to force this government to even consider holding a royal commission. Six long years ago, the Australian Law Reform Commission made recommendations to the Liberal-National government to stop the overuse of physical and chemical restraints, labelling them as human rights abuse. But the reforms were ignored by this government, leaving our elderly at serious risk of mistreatment. For example, in January 2019 we saw footage of Terry Reeves. Terry had dementia and was regularly tied to his chair with a lap belt, sometimes for a total of 14 hours a day, and heavily sedated with psychotic drugs. Terry's daughter gave evidence at the royal commission of other residents with dementia being kept in small rooms and strapped to their chairs, just like her father.

Statistics speak loudly. In the final three months of 2019 residential aged-care services made 24,681 reports of intent to restrain and 62,800 reports of physical restraint devices. The stories were so shocking that the former Liberal aged-care minister announced that the government would consider introducing new legislation. Well, here we are, many months later, and we have before us a bill that is not fit for purpose. This bill is nowhere near what we need to overhaul a broken system—a system that is no longer trusted by Australians due to the inaction of the Morrison government. The government has fobbed off, delayed or rejected key recommendations of the royal commission, and a number of its other measures are flawed.

Change can't happen without the reform of the workforce. There is nothing in this bill to improve wages of undervalued and overworked aged-care workers. How can it be that workers in this female-dominated profession get paid less than someone stacking supermarket shelves? Instead of a robust aged-care workforce national registration scheme, as recommended by the royal commission, the government is opting for an inferior worker-screening process. Unlike this government, Labor values workers and the tireless dedication of aged-care workers, who daily go above and beyond for elderly people in their care. It's insulting to aged-care workers that the government has undervalued them so much.

We have an ageing population. It's estimated that to meet future demand for aged care, an additional 70,000 workers will need to be recruited by 2050. How does the government expect to recruit these workers if they don't make the industry attractive to them? It's quite literally that simple. On the other hand, the government is effectively gifting $3.2 billion to providers in the form of a daily basic fee increase, with nothing to ensure that it actually goes towards better care or improved food nutrition. Forgive me if I see comparisons between the lax governance around these handouts to aged-care providers and the ill-targeted JobKeeper handouts that allowed some big businesses to line their pockets during COVID. As far as Labor is concerned, every extra dollar spent on aged care should be going to care, not to a provider's profits. Labor will do things differently if elected. Labor will ensure that there is accountability and that people are put before profits.

The government has ignored the recommendation to require a nurse to be on duty 24/7 in residential care. This is surely a commonsense necessity to improve clinical care.

In the most practical of failures, the government hasn't cleared the home-care package waitlist, which is around 100,000. Only 80,000 packages were included in the budget over the next two years; yet thousands join the wait list every year. These packages are critical to allowing people to stay supported for longer in their own homes.

After everything the sector has been through, you might expect that greater transparency would be a government priority. It's quite the contrary. The government's bill fails to implement a royal commission recommendation to remove the existing freedom of information exemption for aged-care providers. The Morrison government has told the health department secretary to conduct reviews into the arrangements for the delivery of home care—and that's a good thing—and it wants you to believe this change will increase transparency, but there will be no requirement for the health department secretary to release these reports for public scrutiny. The government needs to follow more closely the recommendations from the aged-care royal commission to increase transparency and accountability measures.

Older Australians helped build this nation. They worked hard, paid taxes and raised their families. Yet the Morrison government has consistently let them down. Not only did this government have to be shamed into trying to fix the aged-care system; it reneged on implementing the fixes recommended by the royal commission it appointed. Older Australians and their families deserve so much better. They deserve respect, dignity and the knowledge that the federal government will ensure they are well looked after in their later years. I don't see enough of that in this bill. It goes part of the way, but it falls well short.

My electorate has a large proportion of elderly people. I've visited many in their homes, in retirement villages and in nursing homes. I've heard firsthand from elderly residents in my community the strength of opinion on this issue and on this bill. They are anxious and fearful. Many worry about their own welfare and the welfare of their loved ones. The government clearly underestimates the voice of our older Australians, but it does to at its peril.

Coming after almost a decade of a Liberal government, this bill gives little confidence that the Morrison government fully understands the needs, nor properly values the contributions, of older Australians. It seems the Morrison government's minimum commitment approach to aged care, as highlighted by the royal commission, will continue. We cannot let this happen. Our older citizens deserve better. We all deserve so much better.

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