Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I think I have spoken more on aged care than just about any other topic in this place. I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak on the Aged Care Bill 2024. This legislation represents the most significant structural reform to aged-care laws in a generation. Some of the speakers in this debate have spoken in detail on the bill. I intend to talk about the background of what led up to this bill, why the bill is necessary and then give an overview of it. Our new Aged Care Act will modernise a labyrinth style system to be more future-facing and to enable generational reforms to the sector. The current Howard-era Aged Care Act was put in place with the primary focus of how to fund aged-care providers. But this new act will put people at the heart of care.

The bill implements a number of election commitments that we took to the last election while in opposition such as mandatory aged-care food standards, statutory duty of care for registered providers of aged-care workers, screening, and stronger investigation powers for the regulator. These new laws aim to protect older Australians in aged care with stronger powers to investigate bad behaviour and civil penalties for breaching standards. Reforms like this don't happen every day; they are generational and are a significant shift.

It is important to look where we have come from because this is another area where the Albanese Labor government has had to clean up a mess left by the former coalition government. Their record was summed up in the title of the 2019 interim report of the aged care royal commission—Neglect. The reality is that the coalition, in nine long years, failed abysmally in the aged care of our people whether in residential aged care, in home care or through the Commonwealth Home Support Program. This is a government that had a revolving door of aged-care ministers.

One of the first acts of the Abbott government when they came to power in 2013 was to get rid of the aged-care workforce development fund, which we brought in as part of our $40.2 million living longer, living better package. This had a severe impact on aged-care workforce, including in regional areas, and they failed to develop an aged-care workforce strategy to replace it. They moved aged care out of health and ageing and into the mega portfolio of social services. Eventually, after Labor and stakeholders campaigned for years to bring it back into the health portfolio, they finally did so. They abolished the panel for positive ageing, which was led by Everald Compton, Susan Ryan and Brian Howe. But that committee went ahead anyway and did their report despite the fact they were defunded and abolished.

One of the other early acts back in September 2013 was to get rid of workforce supplements. That was funding to go to residential aged care to increase wages, training and workforce development. When Labor opposed that—and I was the shadow minister for ageing at the time—it took the coalition 32 minutes in the House of Representatives to cut $1.2 billion in funding to aged care. Then in June 2014 they cut the dementia supplement and the veterans supplement which were helping people stay in their homes and get the care they needed. That is why there was a royal commission, that is why its interim report was titled Neglect and it is why the final report talks about the far-reaching and almost dramatic changes that need to happen in the sector because those opposite neglected it again and again and again. They could barely find a budget or MYEFO where they didn't cut funding again and again. In the 2016-17 budget, for example, they cut $1.2 billion over four years through changes to the scoring matrix of the aged-care funding instrument that determines the level of funding paid to aged-care providers. That is not the $1.2 billion I was talking about before; that is an additional cut. So they cut $1.2 billion directly from the sector and they wonder why it was neglected. They wondered why people were leaving the sector when they weren't paid enough and didn't have career development, training or opportunity. People were malnourished. There were maggots in wounds. People were literally starving in soiled bedsheets and soiled clothing on the previous government's watch.

Our government's trying to make up for the failures of those opposite, who failed the aged-care sector and failed those people who were going before us and who need care. They were vulnerable. They were living with dementia; more than half the people living in residential aged care are living with dementia. Those opposite failed them massively. They shuffled money around all the time, and that's why the sector was crying out for reform and why the bill that we're bringing today is so necessary. The former coalition government should have had a look at the interim report that was handed down in October 2019, but what did they do? They continued to use sleight of hand to cut the funding, and they did this just before the interim report was handed down. If they could find a bit of money for aged care to placate the aged-care providers, they did so, effectively to try and pre-empt and gazump the interim report.

In contrast, what we need to do is structural reform, so we're providing structural reform and billions of dollars in this bill. This is necessary for a sector where Australians have been failed. Care, dignity and respect was the title of the royal commission's report, and that's what those opposite failed to provide—the care, dignity and respect that seniors deserve. We are taking steps and acting on the recommendations of the royal commission and the Aged Care Taskforce, and we know it's backed by the sector.

The bill before the chamber today, the Aged Care Bill 2024, replaces the Aged Care Act 1997—the Howard-era legislation—and the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission Act 2018. The bill builds on the work that the Albanese government has already done to improve the quality of aged care and increase the wages of aged-care workers. It responds directly to recommendations 1 to 3 of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety and addresses 58 recommendations in total.

The legislation before the chamber is going to deliver a rights based aged care system; a new program that supports older people to live independently on their own, in their own homes, as long as possible; a new regulatory framework and a stronger regulator; new quality standards; and fair co-contributions to make the Australian aged-care system sustainable into the future. It includes reforms that we legislated through the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response) Act 2022 and the Aged Care Amendment (Implementing Care Reform) Act 2022, including the requirement to have a registered nurse onsite 24/7. The bill will place high-quality, safe and compassionate care and services for older people at the centre of the system. The bill will enable the government's broader aged-care reforms to be implemented. We're on the precipice of an historic moment for aged care in this country and for older Australians and their loved ones. It's a landmark reform. It will shape the way people will live independently and with dignity as they age.

Since the tabling of the royal commission report in 2021, 136 recommendations have been addressed. As part of the government's response to the Aged Care Taskforce, we are rolling out a $5.6 billion reform package, including $4.3 billion for a new home-care system called Support at Home. One point four million Australians will benefit from the new Support at Home program by 2035, helping them to remain independent in their homes and communities for longer and contributing in those communities. This will come into effect from 1 July 2025. Critically, this will reduce wait times for in-home care, with a target of three months by July 2027.

Several principles underpin the reforms in this bill. Australians will get the support they need and make a reasonable contribution according to their means, as the taskforce recommended. Everyone already in residential and home care will benefit from a 'no worse off' principle from their place in the system. The government will pay all clinical care costs, with individuals contributing to the kinds of costs they would typically have paid throughout their lives, and the government will continue to pay for the majority of aged care costs. These reforms respond to the recommendations of the Aged Care Taskforce, which brought together older Australians, experts, residential aged-care providers and workforce representatives and recommended that Australians pay a reasonable means-tested contribution to the costs of their care. The reforms have bipartisan support, and we thank the opposition for their constructive engagement in the process, notwithstanding their abysmal record in government.

The Albanese government wants to give people more choice about the kind of care they can receive and help them stay in their homes and maintain their independence for longer. I know older people in Ipswich, the Somerset region and the Karana Downs area want to live independently in their homes. Our new Support at Home program will help to make that possible and will mean shorter waiting times for people to receive help. But if the time comes when a person needs to move into residential care, they deserve to live in a comfortable space that meets their preferences and needs.

These are the most significant aged-care reforms in 30 years. They will improve the funding, viability and quality of aged care and protect Australians in aged care from harm. And let's be clear about this: it's not about new taxes and it doesn't change the treatment of the family home. What it does help make room for in the budget is to ensure that we fund better services in the future and put aged care on a more sustainable footing. The government's reforms will provide certainty for the aged-care sector in my electorate.

I have been a strong supporter and advocate for local aged-care providers. Indeed, my family has worked in the aged-care sector in Ipswich for three generations. Earlier this year I arranged a visit by the minister for aged care to Cabanda Care in Rosewood to discuss the government's reforms and meet with staff and residents. Last month I visited Villa Maria Centre in Eastern Heights, in my electorate, to celebrate 30 years of Catholic health care in the Ipswich region. I know some smaller communities and regional providers like Cabanda will have concerns about what some of these reforms will mean for them around funding and workforce issues, and that's justifiable. It's good for them to have an opportunity to speak with a federal MP and the minister.

Prior to my coming to parliament in 2007, for 14 years I sat on the board of what is now known as Carinity, an aged-care provider in Queensland. As a lawyer working in private practice, I and my firm acted for many aged-care providers and many stakeholders who work with and for the sector, so I know a bit about this area and I'm pleased to see the progress we're making.

At a personal level, most of us know someone—whether it's a friend, a loved one or a relative—in home care or aged care and want to see them get the support they need. These changes will help us deliver better care for more people in our community in a sustainable way. We promised to act and we have. The bill has the potential to provide a new and enduring foundation for the aged-care sector from 1 July next year and for years to come. From then on, the aged care for people that we will put in place will put the rights of older people first.

The new Support at Home program will support all of us to live independently as best we can in our own homes for as long as we possibly can as we age. The aged-care system will be fairer, it will be financially sustainable and it will provide for contributions towards the cost—

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 18:02 to 18:20

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