Peta Murphy (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Imagine for a moment what it would have been like for my constituents who have loved ones in the aged-care facility in Ranelagh Gardens when they woke up to this headline in TheAge on 14 February this year: 'Bankrupt chicken farmers banned for cruelty running aged care homes'. Here's what the story says:

Two brothers banned from the poultry industry for a total of 17 years after starving more than a million chickens were involved in the acquisition of two aged care homes in Melbourne, despite being bankrupt at the time and having no experience.

What are those two aged care homes? Epping Gardens, which many people remember as a place where 38 people died of COVID and, in my electorate, Ranelagh Gardens in Mount Eliza. According to the story in the newspaper:

Gerry and Chris Apostolatos used aliases, dummy directors and a family trust to conceal their roles with Chronos Care, which owns aged care facilities … and has received millions of dollars in Commonwealth funding.

I can do nothing but agree with the authors of this article, Cameron Houston and Chris Vedelago, when they say:

The involvement of the Apostolatos brothers over the past six years raises serious concerns about the regulation and oversight of Victoria's aged care sector, where 655 elderly residents died from COVID-19 in 2020.

This pair were facing serious animal cruelty charges in court, which they pleaded guilty to in March 2015, five months after they purchased the Mount Eliza aged-care home in my electorate. The journalist at The Age contacted the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner, Janet Anderson, for comment, but she refused to answer, saying, 'Information about the affairs of an approved provider is protected under the Aged Care Act and cannot be released unless authorised by the approved provider.' If we needed another warning sign about this government's failure to regulate the aged-care system properly, two people who can't breed chickens because they were cruel to them have been running an aged-care facility in my electorate and in the electorate of Scullin.

Residents in my electorate and in Scullin, their families and all of our local community deserve answers. The neglect of our aged-care system and residents in aged care is a national disgrace. Every Australian wants their family member to be safe and well cared for. It doesn't matter how many times they try to run away from responsibility, the Prime Minister and his government are responsible for the regulation of the aged-care system, including in my state of Victoria and in my electorate. Why would any family have confidence in this Prime Minister and his government to fix the aged-care system when these are the things that have been happening under their noses? Is it any wonder that I've had constituents contact me? Do you know what they're worried about? 'Why wasn't there any proper accountability or vetting from the government? How was it allowed to happen?' they've asked me. They perhaps now have some insight in relation to their concerns that this facility has been understaffed and that the staff who work there are overworked and undervalued. As constituents have said when they've contacted my office, they are so concerned that this is a yet another example of profit over care that has been allowed to happen under this government. How do my constituents know that the bonds that they put up for this aged-care facility, so that their families are looked after, are even safe?

Michael can see that the quality of the food that his mother has been given has deteriorated and that shortcuts are being taken. He knows that it's reflective of the broader aged-care system and not just what's happening to his mother. And it's happening in this facility under this government's watch. Is it any surprise that Michael has told me that he would like to see mandatory staff-to-patient ratios? Both of Edgard's parents are in this facility. Edgard pays for someone else to go into the facility to help care for his mother who's got dementia—and he had to spend two years getting her off chemical constraints, which were there because of the understaffing at the facility—even though he paid $750,000 as a bond. He's also raised the issue of the lack of staff. He's also noted the high turnover of staff. The staff aren't valued. They're under immense pressure. Edgard wants to know—and he wanted me to raise it in this parliament—where the federal government's money is being spent? The facility says that they aren't receiving any, but we know that they are. Where is the accountability, Prime Minister? This cannot be allowed to continue to happen. The recommendations from the aged-care royal commission are due to be handed down within days. You have to act, Prime Minister. No words. No empty promises. Fix this, and fix it now.

There are three great projects in my electorate that I've been pushing this government to fund for over a year now. I'm pleased that the Deputy Prime Minister and minister for infrastructure met with me to hear about why the Emil Madsen sporting reserve in Mount Eliza needs to be funded. It has the support of the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council and the whole wider Mornington Mount Eliza community. About 2,000 players across 91 football, cricket and soccer teams use Emil Madsen Reserve on a regular basis. They really need their pavilions upgraded. It's going to benefit thousands of people and boost economic activity, which is really important as we come out of COVID-19.

The Deputy Prime Minister advised me to go to the Minister for Sport about this project. Unfortunately, I received a letter back saying there's no more money left for sports infrastructure. I'm not sure whether that's because it all went in the sports rorts, but the letter in black and white said, 'no more money'. So I went back to the Deputy Prime Minister, and he helpfully suggested that in Dunkley we apply for the Building Better Regions Fund to seek funding. Sadly, the entire electorate of Dunkley is outside of the eligible boundaries for that fund. So I've now written again to the Deputy Prime Minister saying—given how hard my community has been pushing for this, given that I have gone through every avenue that he's asked me to go through to get funding for this great community project—could he please look at funding it through the Community Development Grants Program, because we know there's money there and this is an opportunity for the Deputy Prime Minister and this government to show that that money doesn't just go to Liberal and National seats, that the people of Dunkley can get funding and not be left behind by this government.

The exact same goes for the Mornington Peninsula Bay Trail cycling project. Same thing: minister not interested. Deputy Prime Minister says go to the Building Better Regions Fund. Not eligible because of the boundaries this government has drawn. Please, Deputy Prime Minister, look at the Community Development Grants Program. The Mornington Peninsula Shire Council wants support for this. There are 11 missing links and this is stage 1. I know that the Minister for Health, the member for Flinders, has spoken to the stakeholders about his support for this project. We talk about healthy living; this is a great project to support healthy living.

The other project that will bring such dividends to the cultural richness of my community's life and the greater region, that will bring greater tourism dollars, and that will bring employment for local artists and event managers is the expansion of the McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery. I've provided the master plans to the Deputy Prime Minister and to the Minister for the Arts, who couldn't even raise himself to reply to my letters for funding. McClelland have great plans for a bush kindergarten and for community places. We have also helped them put in an application for funding from the RISE program. Again, I'm calling on the Deputy Prime Minister and the relevant minister to look at this program, to look at these projects for my community and to fund them. They are good for health, for culture, for employment, for tourism and for COVID recovery, and my electorate deserves this support.