Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services) Share this | Hansard source

I want to reiterate and support the words of the member for Isaacs here in relation to the provision of aged care. It's probably not widely understood among people who don't work in government that, actually, the vast majority of aged-care recipients in Australia are not living in an aged-care home but are receiving services within their own home. In the order of 800,000 Australians are today receiving some type of services at home.

It is going to be truly extraordinary to the Australian public when they understand that the bill that's being proposed by the government today would facilitate religion-based discrimination against people who receive in-home care. There is not a single policy ground for making such a change to Australian law, and Labor is absolutely doing the right thing in trying to defend people who receive these services.

The member for Isaacs has talked about the fact that the issue that's being debated here emerged through the Council on the Ageing raising the issue with us. Of course, we believe this to be some sort of drafting error. Why on earth would the government put forward an antidiscrimination bill that in fact facilitates discrimination against 800,000 Australians? It makes absolutely no sense at all. And yet nothing has been resolved about this critical problem that the law contains.

The member for Isaacs referred to the government's consistent track record in how it deals with the elderly, with senior Australians, in this country. Unfortunately, this is just one of a litany of failures that the government has committed against elderly Australians. We've had the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, which has shown that most people who are using aged-care services today are experiencing some form of neglect. There is the political neglect of a government which continues to ignore the needs of elderly people in this country. Two-thirds of aged-care residents today are malnourished—literally starving—under the care of this government, and yet nothing is done about it.

Unfortunately, this complete disrespect towards older Australians who are receiving in-home care is perfectly consistent with the government's record. It also reflects what we understand to be a general set of issues with the Religious Discrimination Bill, which we are debating today. It's sloppy, ill-thought-through and rushed—somehow rushed, when the government has had three years to draft this and get it right. When we've got nine sitting days left, why are we here debating this legislation in such a rushed manner?

We could have worked together across the parliament to develop a law that actually enriched our lives as Australians. Instead, here we are trying to plug holes—basic holes—in the bill in consideration in detail. It didn't have to be like this. It shouldn't be like this. And that's why the government should accept Labor's amendments.

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