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

Thank you, Deputy Speaker. Incompetence—the minister. This is not about politics. I'll tell you exactly what this is about. There is going to be a fourth wave of the pandemic. When I talk to people in the sector today, they are terrified, because what is coming at them is an omicron wave and the flu season, coming into May-June, and we do not want this incompetent person managing the system when that happens. We need a change. If there is one thing I demand of the government today, it is: sack this minister today. He does not deserve to be in this position.

I think that's reflected in the profoundly inadequate response that we have had from government to this crisis—bringing in the Defence Force. When I talk to people in the sector, they're desperate for any help that they can get, but I want to point this out. There are 140,000 shifts per week going unfilled in aged-care homes. The government has said it's going to send 1,700 people in to support the sector. Maybe that will cover 8,000 of the 140,000 shifts, but of course we know that what the government love is the optics of having done something. It's not going to stop the suffering that's going on in aged care today.

I want to come to the staff. The inadequacy of the response just never ends. We saw the Prime Minister wanting to make an announcement at the Press Club, so the thing that he dreamed up was giving aged-care staff two $400 bonuses that, amazingly, end around the time of the federal election. It was profoundly inadequate. It was about as welcome as a Scott Morrison handshake. The reason it was inadequate is that these are some of the most underpaid people in the whole Australian economy. My good colleagues behind me understand this. Aged care is some of the most complex, difficult, emotionally taxing work that is done in this country. The elderly people in this country deserve proper care, and yet aged-care workers are paid in the order of $22 an hour. You earn more at Bunnings or at Woolworths than you do looking after some of the most vulnerable people in this country. What does the Prime Minister do about this endemic problem in aged care? He offers them a short-term 75c-an-hour pay increase. It is offensive. What the workers deserve is proper support, and that is what they will get under a Labor government.

I want to come back to the statistics, and this is the one I want Australians to remember. Two-thirds of residents in aged care today are malnourished. The government has known about this for years. It has done nothing. That is the one example we need to know to say that, if Australians want a change to how aged care is managed in this country, if they want this to be done respectfully and properly—because we are all going to grow old, if we're lucky—then they are going to need a new government come the May election.

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