Anika Wells (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

I'll return to the question. When we talk about workforce shortages, this started in December 2013, when one of the very first acts of the Abbott government was to suspend standing orders in the House to cut the aged-care workforce compact, which was one of the first things that cut workers rights and put us on this track. Who was the health minister at that very moment when standing orders were suspended? It was the now Leader of the Opposition. He is the one who was the health minister when they suspended standing orders to cut the aged-care workforce compact, which is one of the things that set us on this path to terrible workforce shortages.

We're upfront about this. It will require thousands of workers to come back online to fix the problem. That's why we're trying to give them a pay rise. We will need 869 nurses to meet our 24/7 nursing requirement. That is the question you asked me on Thursday. That is the question I answered. I think, Mr Speaker, you said, 'Want a different answer? Ask different question.' That was the number, broadly, as you well know from the secret report that you chose to do nothing about. Thousands of personal carers, thousands of kitchen staff and thousands of other staff in aged care are going to be required to get to what at the end of the day is talking about a better standard of care. They are quibbling over how we work to get a better standard of care and, really, after nine years of neglect, a better standard can't come soon enough. (Time expired)

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