Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the amendment to the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response No. 2) Bill 2021 that is before the House. I want to begin with a couple of quotes from the final report of the royal commission, from commissioners. The first is from Commissioner Pagone:

The extent of substandard care in the current aged-care system is unacceptable, deeply concerning, and has been known for many years.

And Commissioner Briggs:

At times in this inquiry, it has felt like the government’s main consideration was what was the minimum commitment it could get away with, rather than what should be done to sustain the aged care system so that it is enabled to deliver high quality and safe care. This must change.

Indeed, this legislation that's before the parliament reflects that. It reflects an inadequate response from a government that has presided over a crisis in aged care. It implements eight measures of the government's response to the royal commission's final recommendations. However, a number of the measures in this bill don't fully implement the recommendations of the royal commission.

To give just one example, the government is choosing to implement pre-employment screening for aged-care workers, instead of the royal commission's recommendation for a national registration scheme. The government is implementing weaker governance standards that are less prescriptive than those in the royal commission's recommendations. And the bill excludes the royal commission's recommendations on removing freedom of information exemptions for aged-care providers, with the government claiming that this is still under consideration. Sound familiar?

Is there any area whatsoever where this government supports transparency? Here we have the royal commission making clear recommendations on removing freedom of information exemptions for aged-care providers. Now, why would you want to do that? You'd want to do that so that families with loved ones in aged care can find out what's going on in the aged-care system. The idea that you have exemptions from freedom of information legislation in aged care is absolutely extraordinary. I find it beyond my comprehension that this government could come in here, with this legislation, and not deal with this, saying that it's still under consideration, that this is another thing they'll get to in their fourth term.

This government have been in office for three full terms. They're in the pre-caretaker period of their third term, and here they are, saying, 'We'll get to it down the track.' They said that when they were dragged, kicking and screaming, towards calling the royal commission that Labor consistently called for under my predecessor, the member for Maribyrnong.

It is little wonder that the government resisted the royal commission for so long, because the interim report of the royal commission said it all in the title: one word—Neglect. It's a one-word title that's an indictment of a rich country like Australia and our care for the very people who made this country rich—the very people whose shoulders we stand on—who are deserving of dignity and respect in their later years. Here's what that interim report found:

We have found that the aged care system fails to meet the needs of our older, often very vulnerable, citizens. It does not deliver uniformly safe and quality care for older people. It is unkind and uncaring towards them. In too many instances, it simply neglects them.

It's just extraordinary. The interim report of the royal commission said this—not the Labor Party, not any political analysis, but objective royal commissioners appointed by this government. It said also:

We have been told about people who have walked into an aged care residence, frail but in relatively good spirits and mentally alert, only to die a few months later after suffering from falls, serious pressure injuries and significant pain and distress. We have seen images of people with maggots feeding in open sores and we have seen video and photographic evidence of outright abuse.

…   …   …

… the combined impact of the evidence, submissions and stories provided to the Royal Commission leads us to conclude that substandard care is much more widespread and more serious than we had anticipated.

These are the words of royal commissioners who were appointed on the basis of an acknowledgement that there was a crisis in the aged-care sector. They went into it and, when they examined it, found that it was far worse than they had anticipated. They said in the interim report that the following issues had been brought to the attention of the royal commission:

They went on to say:

The Royal Commission has heard compelling evidence that the system designed to care for older Australians is woefully inadequate. Many people receiving aged care services have their basic human rights denied. Their dignity is not respected and their identity is ignored. It most certainly is not a full life. It is a shocking tale of neglect.

Just think about that: 'Their dignity is not respected and their identity is ignored.'

That is a powerful clarion call to action, and what do we get from this government? At this time last year, the government were saying that aged care, as we knew from overseas experience, was particularly vulnerable to the COVID pandemic, and yet we still don't have all of our aged-care workers properly vaccinated. We still don't have all of our aged-care residents being looked after. In my electorate, in one nursing home in Summer Hill, there have been at least five deaths in recent months, as part of the 500 people who lost their lives to COVID between the parliament's last sitting and this one, because an aged-care worker brought COVID into that nursing home, having worked in multiple facilities and not having been fully vaccinated. Every resident of that nursing home ended up in hospital, and many of them lost their lives. I'm not quite sure how this government, which is so triumphant, reconciles itself to the fact that we knew what needed to happen and yet it just failed to deliver. In general, this is a government that just does not respect aged-care workers and the contribution that they make. They've failed in their response and, in developing this legislation, they failed to sit down with aged-care workers and talk through the issues. There's been little to no consultation during the drafting of this bill. That's why one of the big weaknesses of this legislation is that there's no reform to workforce conditions. The government has done nothing to improve wages for overstretched and undervalued aged-care workers. Aged-care workers look after our loved ones and they should be properly paid and respected.

The government has also ignored the recommendation to have a registered nurse on duty 24/7 in residential aged care. We used to call aged-care homes 'nursing homes'. The hint's in the title. The idea that you should have a nurse in a nursing home is not a radical proposition to me. The fact that it's a recommendation of the aged-care royal commission and that is not resolved in this legislation says it all about this government. They've chosen to implement fewer hours of care for each resident than the royal commission recommended and delivered later than the royal commission recommended. The government hasn't fully implemented recommendations around transparency and accountability. The royal commission made a recommendation to increase the basic daily fee by $10 per bed per day. But, despite the royal commission's recommendation for strict reporting conditions, the government is gifting this $3.2 billion to providers with no strings attached to ensure this money goes to actual care or better food. When I gave my budget reply this year, I made it very clear that you need to tie the increase in funding to actual outcomes. We're not about improving the bottom line of aged-care providers, some of whom do fantastic work. But we know that there are some driving around in his and her Lamborghinis, whilst the aged-care residents that are the source of that profit haven't got enough food. Some aged-care residents are literally starving.

It's just not good enough. But it's not surprising, given that this Prime Minister presided over cuts to aged care and that for eight years the government ignored the warnings and still cut that funding. In that time we've seen 21 expert reports released, detailing more and more of the shocking neglect and substandard conditions. When it comes to older Australians, this government has just two settings: carelessness and callousness. This is a generation that has given so much. Older Australians built this country. They deserve to be supported and looked after. What they've got from this Prime Minister and this government are contempt and neglect, because the government have turned their back on them. They've had eight years to fix this, and it's just got worse: aged-care residents with maggots crawling in their wounds and residents left malnourished. Giving them another three years won't fix aged care. Older Australians cannot afford another three years of neglect.

We have an alternative plan, consistent with our approach to provide for a better life for Australians, a better life that gives a move towards universal provision of child care for our youngest Australians and dignity and respect for our oldest Australians. They deserve nothing less. But we have a government that denies a problem until there is an absolute crisis and then always acts too little, too late. It's the same pattern. It doesn't matter whether it's bushfires, the supply of vaccines or the response to climate change, it's always same pattern: deny there's a problem, blame someone else and then eventually, once there is an absolute crisis, have an inadequate response that is too little, too late. It's very clear that it will take a Labor government to actually have a look at the recommendations of the royal commission report and set about changing things for the better. As Commissioner Pagone said in the final report:

The current aged care system and its weak and ineffective regulatory arrangements did not arise by accident.

It did not arise by accident; it's a result of policy failure. That's why it needs a better policy and a better government to fix this crisis.

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