Elizabeth Watson-Brown (Ryan, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

So many touching personal stories are being related here. I and many others can absolutely relate to them personally, through personal experience. We need reform.

Labor says this bill, the Aged Care Bill 2024, is a once-in-a-generation reform. But who is this supposed reform for? It seems it's not for all older Australians, who deserve dignity and respect as they age. No, it seems it is more for the for-profit providers, who are looking to squeeze every cent out of that profit out of an already problematic, some would say broken, system. Any aged-care reform needs to be actual reform centred on the dignity and the rights of older Australians. Instead, it appears we're getting a somewhat suspicious deal between Labor and the LNP that's a dream for for-profit providers and a nightmare for potential participants. I've certainly had many concerns raised with me by the older citizens of Ryan, and the Greens and I share their significant concerns about what this deal will mean for older people. It's absolutely critical that older people have a say on this bill and the implications it will have for them. We can't risk creating a two-tiered system that bakes in inequality. The government needs to fund an accessible system for all Australians who need it.

Opening the door to an expanded user-pays model risks serving only to increase the profits of private providers, many of whom are effectively committing daylight robbery of older people—we've seen it—with no consequences for those operators. It's cruel treatment when we should have a system of proper care and support. We should be building systems that last and that provide for everyone in our community, not continuing down the path of prioritising profits over older people.

The Greens have long called for a shift to a rights based framework in which older people must have rights that are unequivocally clear and enforceable. We're concerned about the lack of enforceability of rights in this new bill. The elderly are not commodities for the profit of aged-care providers; they are citizens who have made lifelong contributions to our communities, and they deserve respect, dignity and care. We all deserve to know that in our later years we will be looked after. It should be an obligation for the government of any moral and mature society to ensure that older people get the care they need. But Labor has yet again let their agenda be driven by the coalition and for-profit providers to the clear detriment of older people. So much of this process, problematically, has been discussed behind closed doors, and older people must have a right to input and to understand the extent of the changes that will impact them. What we do know is that under Labor and the LNP's deal, they've already made significant changes to the benefit of the providers like actually removing any criminal penalties for any wrongdoing.

The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety exposed the appalling neglect and abuse in our aged-care sector and made recommendations designed to fix these systemic issues, yet the Labor government has again decided to merely tinker around the edges, rejecting the royal commission's recommendation for an aged-care levy, opting instead to increase contributions from aged-care participants. Fundamentally, any reforms to aged care should enshrine the rights of older people who are seeking or receiving aged care. If the government is truly serious about making sure this is true once-in-a-generation reform, we need to get it absolutely right. For these reasons, the Greens will be opposing this bill in the House and reserving our final position in the Senate.

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