Ged Kearney (Cooper, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response No. 2) Bill 2021. There is nothing more important than caring for our older and most vulnerable Australians, particularly at this moment in history, when the COVID pandemic poses such a significant threat to all older people with frail health and underlying conditions, and particularly when we've so recently had the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, which has forensically examined the shortcomings of a system that has been ignored for far too long.

We all know that the royal commission exposed frankly terrifying things, from abuse, neglect and awful hygiene practices through to poor nutrition and ongoing workforce issues. It exposed a tragic vacuum of transparency and accountability. The royal commission handed down recommendations to the Morrison government, and those opposite have a clear moral obligation to act decisively to reform this system and protect these important but vulnerable people.

These people are mums and dads, grandmothers and grandfathers, and uncles and aunts. They are people who have contributed to Australia in so many ways, from running milk bars to pushing the frontiers of scientific research to teaching our kids to read books, ride bikes and cook meals. But they're also just people. They are simply people who need our care—older men and women who deserve safety, security, and appropriate care as they age. We can't just think of them as a number or a cost. They're not just a political problem for the Morrison government to run spin about or hide from, hoping that the spotlight on the problem goes away. They're loved ones, and we can't ever forget that. They are people who have mastered FaceTime so they can connect with their grandkids. They're women who listen to the radio for company. They're people who, like anyone, look forward to the weekend, to sunny weather, to their favourite meals and to having visitors. They're real people, and we owe them more. We owe them more than a system in crisis.

Labor supports action to fix the aged-care system. We want to see change. We want to see an aged-care system that we can be proud of, one that looks after—and I mean really looks after—those among us when they age. Last year, almost 700 residents in aged-care facilities died after COVID crept into their homes. It was horrendous. We watched the situation unfold in Victoria, and the Morrison Government stood back. The protections were not in place. Neither staff nor patients were adequately looked after. The system buckled under the pressure of COVID-19. These people deserved better. Their families deserved better. That's why Labor is fighting for a system that doesn't cut corners and doesn't ask too much of too few staff. We want the system that older Australians deserve after a lifetime of paying taxes, contributing, and raising families.

The Morrison government have consistently let us down and failed these people. After 21 expert reports into this issue, those opposite knew that older people had been suffering in aged care, but they didn't fix the problem. They have known about the parlous situation in the aged-care sector for some time and they've sat on their hands. They sat on those reports. The evidence mounted, as those reports collected dust on someone's shelf; however, in his most recent job, as Treasurer, the now Prime Minister actually cut funding to the aged-care sector. In 2016, he cut almost $2 billion from the aged-care budget. Meanwhile, they've managed to roll out money for other stuff. They've spent money on sports rorts, on an overpriced land acquisition that helped out mates and on giving billions in JobKeeper payments to businesses that don't need it, didn't deserve it and didn't even qualify for it. But they haven't adequately followed through with the systemwide changes that the aged-care sector and those within it are crying out for. If we look at the track record of the government, they're simply not up to the job of fixing the aged-care sector. They have neither the will nor the way. They can glance at the problem, they can skim reports, they can hear testimonials about bedsores, the prevalence of sexual assault in aged-care facilities and other heartbreaking situations of neglect and abuse, and then they walk away from the very changes that matter the most. Older Australians, their families and hardworking carers and nurses cannot trust the Morrison government to fix this broken system.

While there are aspects of this bill that are welcome, it's clear that it needs proper scrutiny through committee process, so I move:

That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House:

(1) notes the:

(a) systemic, ongoing failures in Australia's aged care system as evidenced by the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, including, but not limited to, poor levels of transparency, accountability and provider governance;

(b) inadequacy of the Government's response to the Royal Commission, including deferred and curtailed legislative action on key issues and an unclear plan for reform implementation; and

(c) Government's failures in providing safe and high-quality care for aged care residents due to their historic cuts and poor management of the aged care sector; and

(2) calls on the Government to clearly explain why they have ignored, deferred or curtailed so many of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety's important recommendations to fix the aged care sector and deliver the care that older Australians and their families deserve".

I flag that, if this amendment is passed by this House, Labor will ensure that the bill goes to a Senate committee. I know that the government have at the last minute moved their own amendments to this bill; I'm pretty sure they came in this morning, which shows that, like their response to the royal commission, it seems everything they do for aged care is half-baked, half-cooked and done on the fly without proper thought or consultation. Imagine if they'd done their job and worked up this bill in proper consultation with all stakeholders. God forbid that they actually asked stakeholder in the sector, the people who know and understand what happens in aged care, about what should be in their legislation.

Older Australians, their advocates, workers, their trade unions, aged-care providers and their peak bodies—they're all extremely frustrated that they've been shut out of the room and not sufficiently consulted in the development of this bill. It's not clear why they weren't properly consulted, given the impact this bill will have on their care, their jobs, their organisations and the whole aged-care sector. Put simply, this affects their lives. It has major impacts on their homes and on their workplaces, yet they weren't asked for their expertise, their feedback or their experiences to shape the direction of this legislation. They weren't consulted on the residential aged-care funding framework and they weren't consulted on workforce screening, governance structures, banning orders and a code of conduct. This legislation raises very real questions; questions that need clear and considered answers. These are big issues with significant impacts on the quality of care in our aged-care facilitates and in the sector more broadly. These big issues require proper scrutiny and proper consultation.

Many of those affected, those who work in the sector and those who care deeply about these issues, and I include myself, want to know why parts of this bill fall so far short of what was recommended by the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. Why has the government fobbed off, delayed and outright rejected key recommendations? Of the 148 recommendations from the royal commission, more than half are not being implemented or they're not being implemented properly. There are very real questions as to why this is the case, and yet those opposite are not providing the answers or assurances to those who need them the most. The truth is that the government has neglected aged care and older Australians for eight years. Don't just take my word for it; the royal commission perfectly described the government's approach to aged care in its final report where it said:

At times in this inquiry, it has felt like the Government's main consideration was what was the minimum commitment it could get away with, rather than what should be done to sustain the aged care system so that it is enabled to deliver high quality and safe care.

This is apparently the approach the government is still taking. As I said, this bill contains some welcome changes. But we'd like to know why the government is pursuing this collection of changes at this time, because these changes don't match the royal commission's recommended time line, and, frankly, they don't seem to fully match the government's own time line. This bill fails to deliver enduring improvements and lasting reforms for the long run. Nothing will change without reform to the workforce. There is nothing to improve wages for overstretched, undervalued aged-care workers. They're gifting $3.2 billion to providers with no strings attached, nothing to make sure that this money goes to actual care or better food for residents in aged-care facilities ue to their disinterest in transparency and accountability, there is nothing to stop shonky facilities from investing their share in bonuses for management or a refurb for their offices.

They failed to clear the home-care package waiting list of 100,000 people. Their numbers just don't add up. Australians want to age at home. Those opposite have ignored the recommendation to require a nurse to be on duty 24/7 in residential aged care. They've also shirked the main increase to mandatory care minutes in residential aged care. Staffing levels are central to many of the quality-of-care problems.

I ask: why call a $200 million royal commission and then ignore most of its recommendations? The Morrison government's response to the royal commission and the aged-care crisis falls way short of where it needs to be, and this bill is a rushed attempt to cover up the government's failure to follow the recommendations of its own royal commission. Could this be a case of the government handing in its homework at the last minute? Could it be a rushed job to make it look like it's taking action when its main consideration is still the minimum it can get away with? In almost all areas of policy, the Morrison government takes this approach, and it's this attitude towards the aged-care system that worries older Australians. It worries their families. It worries the dedicated workforce that care for them. They know that this government isn't fully committed to helping fix the system it has broken after eight long and sorry years of neglect. That's eight very long years if you have been in that system or if you've had to deal with that system.

The government claims to have accepted or accepted in principle 126 out of 148 recommendations. However, when it comes to the details of the follow-through, you have to read the fine print. They are simply not implementing the recommendations they are purporting to accept. If they were to actually deliver on those recommendations, firstly they would need to reform the workforce. The government has no strategy when it comes to the wonderful people who work in the aged-care sector, who care for vulnerable Australians. This is patently clear to anyone observing the situation. I know aged-care facilities. I know aged-care workers. I know the nurses who work in the system. It's clear to everyone I speak to that this government doesn't have a clear and considered plan to address the pressures that they are under, and—oh my goodness—those pressures are enormous! We are in an aged-care workforce crisis.

Just this week, I met with many aged-care workers—ANMF members, my old union's members—and they were crying, some of them, telling us the care that they could not deliver to the elderly people in their nursing homes, knowing that, if they were toileting one patient or one resident and a bell rang, they'd have to choose between leaving a resident alone, rushing down the corridor and hoping that the bell didn't indicate someone had fallen and hurt themselves, that somebody had wandered out or that somebody was in trouble or needed their help. You shouldn't have to make those decisions. There should be enough people working in aged-care facilities to deliver the care to answer those bells when they ring.

This goes back to 2013, when the former Prime Minister and member for Warringah scrapped Labor's $1.2 billion aged-care workforce compact, a compact that the current shadow minister for health put in place. Labor actually understands the need for workforce reform. We know what needs to be done, and this was a good reform that the whole sector acknowledged was needed, and yet—there we go—the Liberal Prime Minister at the time scrapped it, cancelling a much-needed pay rise for workers. In the years since, the Abbott and Morrison governments have never developed a plan to make sure that we have a pipeline of excellent, qualified and professional carers, nurses and professional staff to run the aged-care sector.

Aged-care workers are the crucial backbone of the system. They are mostly women, I might add, and they are exhausted. They are stretched. They are underresourced. They are actually traumatised from the past year and a half, when their system has been pushed to breaking point and they, themselves, have been pushed to breaking point. For too many years they have been asked to do too much heavy lifting for too little pay. We know the workers are chronically underpaid and the system is haemorrhaging staff. They are leaving in droves, and would you blame them? They can get better conditions and higher pay as a nurse in a hospital, as a support worker in the disability sector or even as a worker in retail, for that matter—anywhere but the aged-care sector. This is because the Morrison government has failed to address the paltry pay and conditions experienced by those who work in this area.

During the pandemic aged-care workers aren't given the resources they need to take care of frail older Australians. The Morrison government wasn't even able to protect these nurses and carers with a timely and appropriate vaccine rollout to aged-care workers, and they're voting with their feet. Labor believe these workers should be paid more, and we're supporting the HSU and the ANMF's pay case before the Fair Work Commission right now—and there should be more of them. The Leader of the Opposition has made it clear that we will support minimum staffing levels and an RN on every shift.

Sadly, the Morrison government can't be trusted to pay dedicated and hardworking aged-care workers properly, even though they know that the workforce is key to delivering a high-quality aged-care system. This isn't just Labor identifying the workforce as key to delivering a fit-for-purpose aged-care system. The royal commission itself recognised this too. It's a no-brainer really. What Australians need is wholesale reform of the aged-care system and investment in the sector and its workforce, and all this government can offer via this bill before us is a little bit of tinkering around the edges and fine print about what is not included in these measures.

To protect older Australians and to protect our aged-care workforce what we need is a regulator with teeth, but teeth that bite the right pieces though. Constantly hitting overworked and stretched out staff over the head with a meat axe for small compliance issues is not the type of teeth we need. We need a governance model within the sector that ensures facilities that get government subsidies spend those subsidies on actual care and not Maseratis. The system itself needs to have a governance model that clearly shows how public funds are spent through clear and accountable public reporting mechanisms. We also need individual aged-care providers to be required to clearly show the different types of care available, information about staffing levels and ratios, and information about nutrition and services within the facility. Let me say it again: transparency and accountability must be at the heart of all reforms and all measures adopted.

While Labor is pursuing an agenda of transparency and accountability, this bill represents the precise opposite. The Morrison government's agenda is opacity and obfuscation—a hard word to say, and some people would say that is onomatopoeic—making things as clear as mud with as much room to hide as possible. To go back to the words of the royal commission report, the government's main consideration was the minimum commitment it could get away with.

This bill is a masterclass in concealing things from the public and keeping things confusing for those who are seeking care within our aged-care system. This is the attitude of a government indifferent to the aged-care system that worries older Australians, their families and the workforce. We need a government with fresh ideas about what an aged-care system could look like and how to attract the next generation of talent to the system. We need a government that seizes on the opportunity to improve the aged-care sector, rather than one that shies away from reform without looking the problem directly in the eye. We need a government unafraid of taking on shonky players in the sector and creating a system where any one of us would be happy for our parents, our loved ones or, indeed, ourselves to spend time.

Sadly, Australians do not have a government that is willing to look at this problem and fix it, because that takes courage. What we see instead is eight years of neglect of a system that is groaning under the weight of its own crisis. We know that for the Prime Minister every problem is somebody else's problem. It's somebody else's fault. Every crisis is someone else's responsibility. When he's called out on his failure, the Prime Minister's response is always the same: 'It's not my job. It's a matter for the states. I don't hold a hose' Whether it's bushfires, robodebt, aged care or car park rorts, he doesn't show leadership; he just gives us more spin.

Instead of going missing in action and passing the buck, the Prime Minister's got to step up and be a leader. The stakes are too high when it comes to aged care. The Prime Minister has barely even acknowledged the aged-care system since it announced its lacklustre, beige and disappointing response to the royal commission. But there's nowhere to hide right now—not even Hawaii.

The Prime Minister is responsible for the aged-care system. He's responsible for the funding cuts he made as Treasurer and he's responsible for the terrible neglect identified by the aged-care royal commission. The Prime Minister failed to listen to listen to Australians, to their families and to the workers. He failed to listen to 21 expert reports and now even to his royal commission. It's clear that older Australians, their families and the workers that care for them can't trust the Prime Minister to fix this broken system. It's clear that, after eight years of neglect, another three years of this Prime Minister won't fix it. Older Australians, their families and hardworking carers and nurses can't trust the Prime Minister to fix this present system. He can't be trusted to fix the nutrition crisis and act with the urgency that this issue requires. He can't be trusted to pay dedicated, hardworking, aged-care workers properly even though they know the workforce is key to delivering a high-quality aged-care system.

Aged care has always a priority for Labor, and we will continue to fight for the aged-care system Australians need and deserve. We will fight for a better system for this generation of Australians and all who come next as they require care for their parents, their loved ones and, eventually, themselves. We'll fight for the aged-care workers who look after their patients with kindness, professionalism and patience. We stand shoulder to shoulder and advocate for them to get the pay and conditions they deserve.

I have always believed that the worth of a nation rests upon how it treats its most vulnerable, and I'm ashamed. I'm ashamed of some of the things I have seen and heard about in our aged-care system. Put simply, the stakes are too high to ignore the crisis. Therefore, I move to amend this bill as follows:

That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House:

(1) notes the:

(a) systemic, ongoing failures in Australia's aged care system as evidenced by the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, including, but not limited to, poor levels of transparency, accountability and provider governance;

(b) inadequacy of the Government's response to the Royal Commission, including deferred and curtailed legislative action on key issues and an unclear plan for reform implementation; and

(c) Government's failures in providing safe and high-quality care for aged care residents due to their historic cuts and poor management of the aged care sector; and

(2) calls on the Government to clearly explain why they have ignored, deferred or curtailed so many of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety's important recommendations to fix the aged care sector and deliver the care that older Australians and their families deserve".

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the amendment seconded?

Andrew Leigh (Fenner, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Treasury) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the amendment and reserve my right to speak.

(Quorum formed )

Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's all doom and gloom on the other side. There's no positivity. There's no vision for the future of aged care in our country. We on the government side of the House are focused on one thing, and that's getting the job done for the aged-care sector by implementing the recommendations of the royal commission. On this side of the chamber, we are in charge of the government. We are delivering for Australians in the aged-care sector, and Australians continue to put their trust in a Liberal-National government to deliver major reform of the aged-care sector, and we are delivering on that commitment.

Caring for Australians in aged care has always been, and will continue to be, a top priority for the Morrison government. In the last budget, the government committed $17.7 billion over five years to assist in the continuation of reform to the sector. The five key pillars of the government's reform program are home care, residential aged-care services and sustainability, residential aged-care quality and safety, workforce, and governance. The amendments in this bill—the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response No. 2) Bill 2021—represent the second stage in that agenda. There are currently more than 282,000 Australians in residential aged care, excluding care provided in the home. Every individual that makes up that number is more than a statistic to this government. Their quality of life and their continued prosperity is our focus.

In Moncrieff, I continue to visit all 20 aged-care homes and continue to stay in touch on the vaccination rollout and speak with residents. It's going incredibly well, with aged-care workers and residents now well protected against COVID-19. In fact, soon after the last budget, I took Minister Hunt to TriCare in Mermaid Beach where we talked to staff and residents about their vaccination rollout and how the increase of $10 per day per resident would positively impact care for their residents. I thank those who worked so hard to vaccinate aged-care workers and residents, and I encourage those who may be unemployed at the moment to consider retraining and entering the workforce for a rewarding career in Australia's aged-care sector.

This bill will directly impact our senior Australians, who have contributed much of their adult life to building a country full of opportunity and freedom in which future generations will prosper. They've built the country that we live in today.

The Prime Minister established the royal commission into aged care only three weeks after entering office. Quite symbolic, don't you think? It was an unprecedented act that set in motion a chain of events to reform and tackle the big challenges facing Australia's aged-care sector.

The royal commission established by the Morrison government undertook a thorough examination of the aged-care system and provided a detailed list of recommendations. I know that Australians will be pleased to hear that the government has taken swift action to deliver fundamental and generational reform of our aged-care system.

Not only does this bill deliver the second phase of reforms for the aged-care sector; it ensures the future stability of the industry and the best quality care every senior Australian deserves. The record investment of $17.7 billion over five years will support the changes.

There are approximately 85 aged-care facilities on the Gold Coast alone, throughout and surrounding my electorate of Moncrieff. I am pleased to speak on the bill currently before the House and to see the second phase of reforms delivered for my ageing citizens, who deserve the best care possible. The reforms will directly impact my electorate, and, as a member of parliament, nothing brings me more joy than to see the lives of my constituents positively impacted by the work we undertake in this place.

Moncrieff is home to more than 28,000 Australians over the age of 65. That's 18 per cent of the electorate's population. The Gold Coast is not only a bustling paradise for thrillseekers and a destination for family getaways; it's also home to vibrant and inclusive residential aged-care communities. I'm certain this bill will not only provide better protection for residents in aged care; it will offer peace of mind to senior Australians considering the transition to an aged-care community for their health and wellbeing.

Under the current model, funding levels for residential aged-care services are determined by using the outdated Aged Care Funding Instrument. It does not adequately differentiate between residents in relation to the cost of delivering care, resulting in volatile revenue streams for providers and costs to government. This means clinical staff in residential aged-care facilities spend more time assessing residents for funding than delivering the quality care which residents require from the provider.

The royal commission examined these issues and recommended the introduction of a new case-mix funding model—the AN-ACC. A new specialist assessment workforce will create consistency across assessments, reduce funding volatility and free up aged-care workers to spend more time delivering the crucial care that aged-care residents deserve. It will also deter providers from delivering outdated and ineffective care in order to maximise funding. To put it simply, the new funding model will mean more time spent on caring for aged-care recipients and a reduction in overpriced services and wasted time on assessments.

Consistent with the royal commission's recommendation 121, under the new AN-ACC model, if the capability of a resident improves, there's no requirement for reassessment and potential reassignment to a lower payment class, providing an inbuilt financial incentive for aged-care providers to invest in restorative care. Changes to the aged-care funding model will be put in place from 1 October 2022. This will allow for providers and the broader aged-care sector to properly prepare to progress the newly developed and purpose-built funding model.

The Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response No. 2) Bill 2021 takes into careful consideration the timing of which amendments will be engaged. The faults within the sector that require immediate attention to ensure the continued operation of the aged-care system will be put into effect after the successful passing of this bill.

In April this year, residential aged-care recipients began being progressively assessed and classified under the AN-ACC. This classification will now be linked through this bill to the subsidy calculation for residential aged-care providers as the final step in implementing the AN-ACC model.

Not only do these amendments address critical flaws in our aged-care sector; they also create a contemporary, efficient, effective and stable funding approach. It lays the foundations for reform, like mandatory minimum care requirements and quality rating systems, and supports providers to better deliver individualised care for senior Australians.

The amendments will also revoke the limits on the number of respite days that can be offered at aged-care services. The Morrison government recognises the mental and physical toll of caring for a loved one. This bill takes into consideration both the wellbeing of the carer and the wellbeing of the individual receiving care. It provides families with a greater ability to transition a loved one to an aged-care facility when adequate care can no longer be delivered at home.

The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety listened to Australians from all corners of the aged-care sector. It uncovered harrowing truths and a culture of noncompliance throughout the industry. I stand here today and speak to the individuals, the families and the loved ones of residents in aged care that have experienced perpetrators abusing power to inflict harm, and those who endured an extremely difficult time, particularly at earle haven in my electorate, due to the financial failings of their provider. I want to make it crystal clear that any individual that believes they can cut corners on service provision or abuse the power of their position and continue to be employed in the aged-care sector is sorely mistaken. The Morrison government is putting in place up-to-date and fit-for-purpose financial and worker regulation measures—in part to recommendation 77 of the royal commission—by establishing an authority for nationally consistent preemployment screening for aged-care workers of approved providers and governing persons to replace existing police check obligations. The safety of residents should be at the forefront of all employment decisions. A national database of cleared and excluded individuals will be developed to support employment decisions in aged care. These safety measures anticipate there will also be mutual recognition arrangements with the NDIS and across the broader care and support sector.

Under the amendments put in place by this bill, Australians who require care and support can rest assured it will be safe. This will be achieved by broadening the scope and expanding the powers of the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner to allow the commissioner to make and enforce a code of conduct that applies to approved providers and their workers, including governing persons. To support the commissioner in the mission to ensure the safety of aged-care recipients, this government will put into effect recommendation 103 of the royal commission. This will support the code of conduct by allowing the commissioner to enforce a new banning order regime for workers. These new regulatory arrangements will prevent unsuitable workers from entering or remaining in the aged-care sector and ensure that poor conduct is held to account. It will deter individuals who intend to put the safety of aged-care residents at risk by breaching the code of conduct. The Morrison government will develop the code of conduct in consultation with stakeholders and it will be brought into effect through supporting legislation. The code will be based on the current NDIS Code of Conduct, which has proven to be effective for NDIS recipients. Modifications will be made, of course, to ensure the code is fit for purpose and relevant to aged care.

Over the coming months consultations with stakeholders will provide the foundation for the content and operation of the draft code, including through a consultation paper and targeted stakeholder forums. There will be opportunities for aged-care providers, workers and consumers, as well as stakeholders from the broader care and support sector to contribute. We are safeguarding and fortifying Australia's position as a world leader in aged-care and broader support services.

It is important to note that this bill carries out structural and cultural changes deep within the aged-care sector—changes that are desperately needed. In the same breath thousands of nurses, aged-care workers and many others continue to uphold a high standard of care in the workplace. I can attest to that by having visited all of those aged-care facilitates in Moncrieff and seeing the absolute dedication of the staff that run those homes. The way they treat patients makes me proud—I am beaming with pride when I leave those homes. They're such kind and gentle people who are dedicated to our elderly citizens. We mustn't paint all aged-care workers with the same brush. This bill will highlight the great work of those who serve the sector with selflessness and compassion for all of our seniors.

It has become increasingly common for senior Australians to opt for aged-care services to be provided at home, rather than in a residential facility. As demand for at-home care has grown, many new providers have entered the market to provide care and support services. The Morrison government is extending, from 1 July 2022, the Serious Incident Response Scheme for residential care to home care and flexible care delivered in a home, in line with royal commission recommendation 100. Under the scheme, providers of in-home aged-care services will gain additional responsibility to identify, record, manage and resolve all incidents that occur. The Morrison government will expand the Serious Incident Response Scheme. This will reduce the risk of abuse and neglect and protect vulnerable older Australians receiving aged-care services in their home and in the community.

Competent and effective governance provides the basis on which the aged-care sector delivers its services. The proposed strengthening of legislative arrangements will greatly improve the governance of approved providers. These amendments align with royal commission recommendations 88 to 90, which note that good provider governance arrangements result in high-quality care for consumers. All of this will improve the financial resilience of the industry, improve service continuity and allow the government to identify at-risk providers sooner as well.

To finish—because I see I'm running out of time but I've got pages and pages of things that I could talk about—I will summarise for Australians: the $17.7 billion that this government is investing in aged care is for your future, your parents' future and your grandparents' future. I'm very proud to stand here and say that we are reforming the aged-care sector across those five key planks. We are dedicated to working for Australians—for your future and for your families' future.

Terri Butler (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

[by video link] I listened closely to the contribution from the previous speaker, the member for Moncrieff. I thought it was really odd that she started off by complaining that Labor are all doom and gloom. I think anyone who has been paying attention to the question of aged care, particularly in the context of the royal commission, over the past term of parliament would understand the serious challenges and the reasons why, in fact, Labor have been so concerned about aged care and why we have been so consistent in pressing the government to take real action.

The Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response No. 2) Bill 2021, of course, arises from that royal commission. Like so many of the things that this government does, this bill seems to just fall short. That's the case with the government's actions generally and it's the case with the government's actions in relation to aged care. So I'd say to the member for Moncrieff: instead of trying to police the tone in which Labor is talking about aged care, perhaps take on board some of the criticisms—

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Sorry, Member for Griffith; I'm taking a point of order.

Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Youth and Employment Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thanks, Deputy Speaker. I'd just ask that the member address her comments through the chair, not to the member for Moncrieff.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

She's making them through the chair. It's fine. It's not a point of order, and I overrule you. Back to you, Member for Griffith.

Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Youth and Employment Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

She said 'the member for Moncrieff', Deputy Chair.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

She was using the member's proper title in the course of a debate.

Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Youth and Employment Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

She was speaking to her.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, she was using the member's title in the course of the debate. She is going through me. I am overruling you and I am giving the call back to the member for Griffith. Sorry for that interruption, Member for Griffith.

Terri Butler (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. So I would invite her, instead of trying to police the tone in which Labor talks about aged care, to really reflect on the substance of the serious issues that have been raised through the royal commission. I'm sure she remembers that the royal commission's interim report had a one-word title, and that word was 'neglect'.

We all know—everyone in this chamber is well aware—of the importance of aged care to our constituents, in our communities and in the course of our own lives. We also, I think, have all had experience with aged care. I'm certainly grateful to the people who took good care of my grandfather, who was in aged care until he passed away a few years ago. My uncle, who we lost only a couple of weeks ago, was in aged care in the Atherton Tablelands, and I say again to his immediate family how sorry I am for that loss. In my own case, my grandmother is presently in aged care in Far North Queensland. We're grateful to the carers.

I've met with so many aged-care workers, carers and nurses—the ones that my family has experienced—and I know how much the carers, nurses, other care staff and support staff in the facilities that are in my electorate and in the facilities all across this country really believe in what they're doing. They're doing this work because it's a vocation. They believe in the importance of caring for elderly Australians. They understand that the people who are in aged care are the people who really built the nation that we have today and who are really in need of good, appropriate, high-quality care. While we can all reflect on the importance of improvements in the aged-care system, of improvements in aged-care regulation and of developing proper responses to the recommendations of the aged-care royal commission, we should also make sure that we are acknowledging that the people working in this system are absolutely doing it because they care. Given some of the conditions, the workload and some of the remuneration conditions that people face, they wouldn't be there if they didn't absolutely believe in what they were doing and really have that vocation where they're drawn to care.

I say to all of the carers in our aged-care facilities, and particularly the ones in my electorate, thank you so much for the work that you are doing to look after people. I know that they've had a particularly tough time—they had a tough time during the royal commission and they had a tough time during COVID. I've spoken in the House before about one of the aged-care facilities in my electorate that was given a complete run-around in relation to the supply of vaccines for elderly residents. They were told there would be only a few, then it turned out there were about 45 vaccinations but they had about 90 residents, and then they had to work out who didn't get the chance to have the vaccination that day. It was absolute nonsense that occurred in relation to that facility, and I've covered it in the House before. But all across this electorate and across this country I know that aged-care facilities have had a really difficult time in relation to the vaccination rollout. Of course, it was one of Scott Morrison's two jobs, wasn't it? Scott Morrison as Prime Minister had two jobs—quarantine and the vaccine rollout—and he botched both. We certainly saw some of the consequences of that in aged-care facilities in my electorate, and even more strongly and upsettingly in aged-care facilities elsewhere.

It's important that we acknowledge that it has been a difficult time in relation to aged care. It's one of the reasons we so strongly support any action to fix the aged-care system, but it's also why we're concerned that this bill seems to fall short. As is so often the case with the Morrison government, they make big announcements but then they don't deliver. In this case, the situation is one where they have basically fobbed off, delayed or in some cases just outright rejected some of the key recommendations from the aged-care royal commission. Of the 148 recommendations, over half are not being implemented or aren't being implemented properly.

This bill is no different, with a number of items missing that came from the original royal commission recommendations it claims to be addressing. It's also really worrying that older Australians, aged-care peak bodies, providers, workers and unions were not consulted in the drafting of the bill that we're talking about today, despite the impacts that it will have on them in the sector. Residential aged-care funding, workforce screening, provider governance, banning orders and the code of conduct are not small changes and they need proper consultation.

It's Seniors Month this month, and I'm looking forward to holding a roundtable of stakeholders this coming Friday to talk about issues facing seniors. I expect that issue No. 1 will be aged care and the implementation of the recommendations from the aged-care royal commission.

I'm really looking forward to meeting with providers, with stakeholder groups, with senior citizens organisations and with representatives of other seniors groups in my electorate to get their views in relation to the aged-care royal commission, the way that it's been responded to and some of the moves that are included in this bill. I'm looking forward to doing my own consultation, but, of course, we're not the government. It's up to the government to consult on their proposed legislation, and there ought to have been significant consultation in relation to the drafting of this bill. It's disappointing that that has not been the case.

In my state, some of the best knowledge and experience in relation to aged care and the aged-care system—I'm sure this is true across the country—comes from the workforce who are at the front line of aged-care facilities, the people who, day in and day out, are managing the workload, are managing the demands, are dealing with people who are sometimes in distress or at least are vulnerable. Some of the best expertise and history comes from the people in that situation. In particular, when it comes to consultation, I have found it very valuable to meet with some of those frontline workers through the agency of the representative organisations—the union movement—whether that's people who are members of the United Workers Union, the Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union or others. There are a range of organisations that have membership amongst people who are working in those frontline occupations and caring for older Australians. I want to give a shout-out to those unions and to say to them, 'Thank you for the work that you are doing.'

I have been fortunate to have had delegations from unions—and there are others in aged care, of course—across many years, visiting me to talk to me about the issues that they face in those sectors. I have also been very fortunate to do some work for some of those unions in my previous life as a lawyer. I know, Deputy Speaker Wallace, you were a barrister. You did a lot in the construction sector. I did some work in the construction sector as well, but I will always have a very special place in my heart for the legal work I did for members of those unions who were working in aged-care facilities and who could tell me, through the prism of what was happening in their lives, the direct impact of some of those systemic issues such as workload. I remember talking to someone who was saying to me, 'The facility is physically too big for the limited number of staff we have to get around to make sure'—she was talking about nursing—'there is sufficient support for those residents.'

I know that, as I said, the people we're talking to through the agency of their representative organisations and are doing this from a sense of vocation, from a sense of duty and from a sense of responsibility to their community. I want to acknowledge the work those unions are doing. It is the same with the national unions. We've certainly held briefings with union members in parliament. In fact, I think people might remember—I do because I started crying during it—the member for Grayndler's budget reply speech, in which he talked about aged care and aged-care workers. I remember looking up in the gallery, and there was a delegation of aged-care workers, and they were crying. I started crying. I'm sure there were lots of other tears in the House as well, because that's the level of emotion wrapped up in this question of what should be done to improve the aged-care facilities and system in this country. It's the level of emotion because a lot of the workers will tell you they feel like they're at breaking point. They feel like they need to know that they'll have a government that will actually make sure that the residents in their care—the people who we're all actually focused on—get the best possible care and a reasonable level of care. That's really something that I think we should all be able to agree on.

Those workers know that the residents in aged care rightly expect that the government will look after them when they're frail, when they're vulnerable in those later years. It's obvious that after eight long years of Liberal-National government in this country, you can't trust the Liberals and Nationals to fix the aged-care system and you can't trust them to deliver good-quality aged care in this country. We all need to see a government that will stand up for older Australians—that will make sure that we have a good, high-quality aged-care system and that people who are vulnerable, particularly, have their interests protected. That's why this bill is really important.

I really want to encourage everyone to take a close look at how the Morrison government is responding to the aged-care royal commission. As I said, I've got a number of concerns about the fact that the government is, yet again, falling short when it comes to the implementation of the recommendations. Some are being kicked off, some are being delayed and some are just being outright denied. We actually want to see a strong, sensible and considered approach to aged-care reform, as needed. Most importantly, I think we all want to see an aged-care system that puts residents, older Australians, at the heart of the system—one that's about care, protection and actually making sure that people have dignity towards the end of their lives. That's what I want to see.

I really encourage the government to engage with the community, to speak with stakeholders and to consult further in relation to their response to the aged-care royal commission, and I'll really be looking forward to meeting with local stakeholders when I hold a roundtable at the end of this week in relation to issues facing seniors and older Australians, including aged care.

Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response No. 2) Bill 2021. This bill is part of our government's commitment to undertaking significant reform of the aged-care system to ensure that it meets the needs of senior Australians. The bill amends a number of acts to implement changes in response to recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety and delivers the second stage of reforms—

(Quorum formed) As I was saying, this bill amends a number of acts to implement changes in response to recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety and it delivers the second stage of reforms following the royal commission's final report. The bill will introduce a new subsidy calculation to fund approved providers, strengthen provider governance arrangements and financial accountability and expand the functions of the pricing authority. It also extends the Serious Incident Response Scheme, helps establish a nationally consistent preemployment screening process for aged-care workers, provides the basis for an enforceable code of conduct and enhances information sharing between the aged-care and disability sectors.

I want to touch on a small number of these changes in more detail, starting with reforms to the aged-care subsidy for providers. Currently, funding levels for residential aged-care services are determined using an outdated aged-care funding instrument. This doesn't effectively differentiate between residents in terms of the costs of delivering their care, it's resulted in volatile revenues for providers and it requires residential aged-care workers to dedicate time to assess residents for funding rather than actually focusing on providing the care and the support they need. The introduction of a new funding model and a new specialist assessment workforce will help to assist in addressing these issues. From 1 October next year, subsidies paid to providers for permanent residential care and respite care will consist of a fixed component to account for costs across all care recipients and a variable component based on each individual recipient's needs. These amendments will create an efficient, effective and stable funding approach to promote investment in residential aged-care refurbishment and expansion, boosting the sector and ensuring its long-term sustainability.

There are a number of aged-care providers in my electorate of Robertson and, indeed, right across the Central Coast. They provide a home to so many senior Australians who live locally in what I consider to be the very best region in the very best country in the world. Examples of some of our outstanding aged-care provider services includes Peninsula Village, a group of three retirement homes that care for many locals. Peninsula Village are an integral part of our local community. They are involved with a number of local organisations, including the outstanding Umina Beach Men's Shed, located alongside, who recently donated four sensory boards for residents with dementia or memory loss.

BlueWave Living is based in Woy Woy, and it operates not-for-profit residential aged-care services. One of the things I really appreciate about BlueWave is the absolutely beautiful and extraordinary Anzac Day service that they hold every single year at their venue. Residents contribute to a handknitted poppy wall which includes some purple poppies, reminding us of the sacrifice of the animals who also died in the war. It's a very poignant reminder. Contributions are made by residents every year. It is such a fitting tribute to those who have served our country, and many stay to chat afterwards, sharing stories of their own experiences when they were young. Aurrum, at Kincumber, is another great provider on the Central Coast. I visited the facility to have a look at some of the upgrades that have been completed and to look at their incredible community garden, which has really become a favourite among residents. It really is a lovely space and one that many residents are rightly very proud of. These are just a few examples of some of the many aged-care providers on the Central Coast.

To assist aged-care providers, the government has announced a substantial funding uplift to residential aged care in the 2021-22 budget. This includes $3.9 billion in increased funding from October next year to support providers to increase direct care for residents and to meet the new mandatory care time standards. A two-year $53.3 million transition fund will also be established to assist providers who may need support during the transition to the new model. I hope that these amendments will benefit providers across our region and enable them to continue to offer the very best quality care to local residents, because it's so important that we as a government ensure that every aged-care provider is delivering the world-leading care that every resident deserves. After all, these aren't just aged-care facilities. They are places that our senior Australians call their home, and each and every resident deserves to feel valued, supported and cared for in their home, because our senior Australians deserve the very best care. Their contribution to local communities around our nation have helped to craft Australia into the great nation that we are today, and we as the next generation are all better off because of their service and their commitment.

This bill also strengthens the legislative arrangements to improve the governance of providers, and the amendments will introduce new reporting responsibilities for approved providers and their governing bodies to improve transparency and accountability and drive cultural change from the top down. This will help to strike a balance between giving providers the resources they need and ensuring oversight and accountability so residents see improved outcomes. Another key amendment relates to regulating the aged-care workforce to ensure high standards of care are delivered to those who need it. These changes respond to the royal commission's recommendation to strengthen regulation of the personal care workforce. The bill will also help to establish nationally consistent pre-employment screening of aged-care workers by replacing existing police check obligations and provides the basis for a national database of cleared and excluded individuals.

The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner will be given powers to enforce a code of conduct that applies to approved providers and aged-care workers. The commissioner will be able to deal with alleged breaches of the code, including having the ability to apply for a civil penalty order and, in the case of individuals, imposing a banning order restricting them from being involved in the aged-care sector. These penalties ensure both providers and workers are held accountable for poor conduct and protect our vulnerable senior Australians. At the same time, the bill extends the Serious Incident Response Scheme to providers of home care to ensure action is taken to prevent incidents from reoccurring. There are currently no mandatory incident reporting requirements for providers of home care or flexible care delivered in the home and community, meaning there's no oversight of allegations of abuse and neglect of senior Australians receiving care in these settings. The bill introduces new responsibilities for providers of in-home services to identify, record, manage and resolve all incidents and the reporting of serious incidents. The focus of the scheme is on a provider's response to an incident and the supports that they put in place for those affected as well as the actions that they take to continuously improve and reduce the likelihood of incidents reoccurring. The commission will be notified of serious incidents and will be able to oversee the management of reported issues and ensure compliance with the scheme. They'll also be able to analyse reportable incidents based on a range of factors and use this data to drive education campaigns to address common issues.

All of these measures will assist in reducing the risk of harm arising from abuse and neglect of those receiving in-home aged-care services. I never, ever want to hear another story like some of the ones that we heard during the royal commission. We heard stories of some of our most vulnerable senior Australians being mistreated or neglected or not being afforded the respect that they deserve. After all, they are our mothers, our fathers, our grandfathers and our grandmothers. They're our great-grandparents and our great-great-grandparents who have cared for us deeply, who have contributed to this nation so strongly and who we all care about so much. We owe it to all of them to make sure that their senior years are filled with proper care and where their home is in a place with the highest standard of care and attention and the utmost respect and consideration. So I do commend this bill to the House, as it will help to deliver on the federal government's promise to reform the aged-care sector and to provide better care for our senior Australians.

Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

[by video link] There have been 21 expert reports that said our aged-care system simply isn't good enough. There have been 21 reports that said that older people were suffering in aged care, but the problems haven't been fixed. There have been 21 reports, yet the Prime Minister, when he was Treasurer, actually cut funding. Labor supports action to fix the aged-care system but is concerned that the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response No. 2) Bill 2021, like much of the government's response to the aged-care crisis, falls short.

I don't want my parents to experience the horror stories we've heard through the royal commission, should they have to go into aged care one day. I fear for my parents and for anyone in my community that they may be subjected to some of the substandard aged-care system as it is. After eight years of this government decimating aged care, older people in my community cannot afford another three years. There is literally no time to waste. The government has fobbed off, delayed or outright rejected key recommendations from the aged-care royal commission. Of the 148 recommendations, more than half aren't being implemented or are being implemented only half-heartedly. This bill is no different, with alterations and a number of items missing from the original royal commission recommendations that it is claimed the bill would be addressing.

It's also concerning that older Australians, aged-care peak bodies, providers, workers and unions were not consulted in the drafting of this bill, despite the impact that this bill would have on all of them and across the sector. Residential aged-care funding, workforce screening, provider governance, banning orders and a code of conduct: no-one knows these issues better than those who have been working on the front line, who will not only be subject to these changes themselves but will be enforcing and implementing them. They are the experts. These are not small changes and they need proper consultation. The Morrison government's response to the royal commission into aged care falls well short of resolving this crisis. But, ultimately, workers tell me that they didn't need a royal commission to know that aged care in Australia is in crisis. You just have to ask them.

Ultimately, nothing will change without serious reform for the workforce, but the aged care royal commission recommended nothing to improve wages for overstretched, undervalued aged-care workers. Our aged-care workers are some of the most generous, kind-hearted and overworked individuals, and my community is home to many. It is vital, in the very first instance, that we improve wages for these overstretched and supremely undervalued aged-care workers. Many of these workers are earning less than $23 an hour. To put that in context, the typical Coles casual team member gets a salary of $24 an hour. What a complete slap in the face it is to those who look after some of our most vulnerable. These are workers who go above and beyond for their residents, who work extra hours and put in extra time because they know that, often, they are all their residents have. These are workers who become like family to their residents. These are humans that are affected by the loss of patients as if they were friends and family. Yet before they've had a chance to process those losses, there's a new resident in that bed, and workers are expected to just push on, with no opportunity for counselling and no time to debrief the loss.

A recent survey from the United Workers Union revealed that 37 per cent of aged-care workers are looking to leave the sector now. In regional areas, 45 per cent are looking to get out. Many organisations spend a great deal of time and money training new staff, but, when they get started, they get out as quickly as they can, appalled by what the industry is really like. How on earth are we going to encourage people to move into this industry out of school? In Western Australia alone, there will soon be more than 15,000 people aged over 60 years working in aged care. There is no-one to replace them when they retire. Remember: this often involves difficult physical work. You need a particular level of fitness to do this work. At this point, with workers treated the way they are, why on earth would you want to get into an aged-care career?

My community is also home to a number of great aged-care facilities. They are doing a lot with what they've got, which is sometimes very little. They rely heavily on the saints that are our large local aged-care workforce to keep things ticking over. All the independent assessors have said that there needs to be a minimum of a $10 billion investment into aged-care workers, and that's just the starting line, not the royal commission's recommendations. The Morrison government has decided to gift $3.2 billion to aged-care providers via the basic daily fee increase, but with no strings attached to ensure this actually goes to better care or better food for the residents. As it stands, it could easily end up as management bonuses or a new office fit-out.

The government has failed to clear the home-care package waiting list of 100,000 people. Only 80,000 packages were included in the budget over the next two years, and thousands will join the waiting list every year. Indeed, every year hundreds die while on the waiting list. The maths doesn't add up. It is inhumane. The Morrison government has also ignored the recommendation to require a nurse to be on duty—24 hours a day, seven days a week—in residential care. This is core to improving clinical care for frail Australians. After all, it is a medical facility that is home to many likely unwell residents. The fact that there isn't a nurse in aged-care facilities—24 hours a day, seven days a week—is appalling and is resulting in poor standards of clinical care, through no fault of the aged-care workers. Indeed, it leaves many waiting for hours, and it leaves families stressed, having to make sure that their relatives get the care they need. Some of the aged-care providers in my community tell me that they're constantly fighting just to stay afloat. They would love to employ more staff—indeed, a nurse. They'd love to pay them better and ensure there's a nurse available at all times, but there's simply not enough in the budget to make it happen under the current funding arrangements.

The Morrison government's promise of mandatory care minutes for each resident is also full of holes. It doesn't meet the royal commission recommendation, and we now know that cleaning and some administrative tasks will be included in these care minutes. These vital workers in aged-care facilities are equally as important as the hands-on staff in ensuring that there is a safe and clean environment for residents. But these are two very different types of work, and they should not all be lumped in together as care minutes.

There are a number of potential concerns with the bill as it stands, and we believe they must be examined further. Primarily, the consultation with stakeholders was absolutely appalling, with most telling us there was little to no consultation during the drafting of the bill. There are concerns with the idea of implementing worker screening rather than following the royal commission's actual recommendation of a national registration scheme. They are indeed not the same thing. The Morrison government's proposed nationally consistent pre-employment screening process will be introduced for aged-care workers and governing persons, which includes individuals responsible for executive decision-making, with authority or influence over planning, directing or controlling the activities of the provider. On the other hand, a registration scheme was proposed by the aged-care royal commission whereby the Australian government would establish a standard for the personal care workforce with the following features: mandatory qualifications, ongoing training requirements, minimum levels of English proficiency, criminal-history screening and a code of conduct through which necessary disciplinary action can be taken. That is very different to what this bill will do. Once again, this is not doing what is required to improve standards of care or to support the workforce at all.

The new governance standards put forward in this bill are also less prescriptive than those in the royal commission's recommendation, and the sector is concerned that regional providers may struggle to meet the standards as they are set out in the bill.

Currently providers are exempt from certain freedom of information requests. The royal commission recommended that this exemption be removed. Instead, this has been completely left out of this legislation. Workers have been included in a code of conduct and are subject to banning orders, which were originally recommended for the provider leadership. It is unclear why this has been directed to the workers. There are also concerns that the review process for challenging a banning order might be quite long and slow.

The bill will also change the funding and finance landscape for aged care in three important areas: the introduction of a new residential aged-care funding model, known as the Australian National Aged Care Classification; the introduction of new powers for the Department of Health and the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission to request information about loans made using refundable deposits; and the establishment of the Independent Hospital and Aged Care Pricing Authority, which replaces the existing Independent Hospital Pricing Authority.

Providers say that they are concerned about transition funding, but, frankly, they haven't been consulted to an appropriate extent to know if they should be concerned or not. There are simply too many questions being left unanswered by this bill. There must be greater consultation. A Senate inquiry would at least be a good start to getting to the bottom of how this legislation will actually affect the sector. The Morrison government must do more to fix the aged-care crisis under their watch and must do more than this bill will actually achieve.

Katie Allen (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response No. 2) Bill 2021, which is the second response to the findings of the royal commission. Aged care, quite frankly, is about dignity. It's about providing our older Australians, who have given so much to our country— (Quorum formed)

The stories we've heard through the royal commission are shocking, to say the least, and now is the time to face the issues plaguing the industry and allow all Australians to age with dignity and respect. This government is striving to provide those Australians with a home and a hospital in one—the comfort and familiarity of a home with the care of a hospital. This vision is important, arguably, for every Australian, as ageing is a future we all face. Quite frankly, the alternative doesn't bear thinking about. This, along with the recognition that senior Australians need tailored approaches, forms a cornerstone of aged-care reform that will act to give comfort and security to our citizens. There is good reason that the Prime Minister called for this royal commission as one of his first acts the position of Prime Minister. This government cares. The bill before us today helps solidify concrete and effective policy that will serve the Australian people.

This bill acts as the second stage in the implementation of the government's $17.7 billion aged-care reform package. The reform focuses on ensuring older Australians can be at home for as long as possible before residential care may become a necessity. It's what Australians have told us they want. With aged-care residents ageing, it is more important than ever to provide high-quality clinical service that gives the dignity we all know our older Australians deserve. The bill stands to not only improve the governance of aged-care providers by increasing the influence of those with clinical experience but also restructures the funding model to ensure the individuality of not just the service provider but also the residents, to be treated with utmost importance in important decisions relating to finding. The royal commission exposed a lot of shortcomings in the sector, and the Morrison government sees this bill as one part of the efforts to increase the quality of this sector.

The first schedule acts to amend the Aged Care Act and the transitional act to enable the introduction of an Australian national aged-care classification. This new funding model aims to achieve more equitable funding by including three components: a fixed component relative to the type of service provided, a one-off entry payment and a variable payment depending on the individual needs of visitors. This funding model places focus on the individuality of the resident and the service offered, ensuring Australians can actually get the services they need. This makes sure funding is utilised effectively.

Schedule 8 closely acts with this, as it expands on the functions of the Independent Hospital and Aged Care Pricing Authority. The authority will now be responsible for providing advice to government for aged-care pricing and costing as well as conducting costing and other studies to inform advice given to the government. As the baby boom generation reaches 80-plus years in the next decade or so, this preparation is more important than ever. This will serve to ensure that the government is properly informed when making decisions regarding the quality of life of aged-care recipients—all part of our support for the sector.

At this juncture, I'd like to acknowledge and recognise the many wonderful aged-care workers in Higgins who have worked tirelessly to support our older Australians through the COVID pandemic. As we know, last year Victoria faced an incredible outbreak of COVID-19 with a very high mortality rate in our aged-care sector, since we know those aged over 70 were at most risk of dying from COVID. I'm pleased to say the vaccination rates across Australia for both aged-care workers and aged-care residents is well over 90 per cent, which means that that sector is very well supported and protected as we have had to deal with the delta outbreak this year.

I also want to thank the fantastic aged-care providers in my electorate of Higgins, including Arcare Morgan East, Regis Armadale, Samarinda in Ashburton, Brimley in Carnegie, Darnlee in Toorak and Emmy Monash, which is just across Dandenong Road. They have provided such a great service locally for many people in my electorate.

The second schedule relates to the manner in which aged-care workers are screened pre employment. Instead of existing police-check obligations, aged-care workers will be screened by a nationally consistent check specifically for them. This allows aged-care services to spend more time caring and less time burdened with paperwork.

The third schedule is closely related to this and serves to allow the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner to construct and enforce a code of conduct applying to all approved providers of aged-care services. The commissioner will be able to receive information and make informed decisions regarding enforcement actions in the case of substantive breaches. This gives the commissioner the necessary teeth to provide the necessary oversight. It directly addresses royal commission recommendation 77, which suggested the development of a code of conduct.

Moreover, recommendation 103 is addressed, since the commissioner will be able to issue banning orders against aged-care workers, prohibiting or restricting them from being involved in specific activities. This forms part of a key recommendation so that we can ensure not only that aged-care workers are checked to ensure that they do their role honestly but also that sanctions are provided in the case of misdeeds. Schedule 6 serves to add to this by acting to increase information sharing between Commonwealth bodies across aged care, disability services and veterans' affairs in relation to noncompliance of both providers and workers. This is so that aged-care residents' safety can be ensured, with efficiency, open reporting and information-sharing abilities.

Schedule 4 adds to the existing Serious Incident Response Scheme, also an initiative of the Morrison government, which I have spoken about on this floor before. The existing scheme is to be extended to cover at-home care, as well as flexible care, instead of simply covering residential care. We know Australians want to age at home. They want to be in their home for as long as possible, and the Morrison government has provided a significant injection of funds to increase home-care packages so that Australians can age at home for longer. In the last budget, 80,000 new home-care packages were provided, taking the number of aged-care home packages to many hundreds of thousands. The schedule in this bill will help to respond directly to recommendation 100—that the Serious Incident Response Scheme be extended to home care.

Of particular importance, under schedule 5 of this bill, approved providers of aged care will be required to ensure that their governing body is presided over by a majority of independent and non-executive members, as well as having at least one member with experience in providing clinical care. This is key because we know, as I said before, that residential care is being filled with more and more residents who are older when they enter into aged care. The good part about having more in-home care is that people are staying home longer. The difficulty is that the aged-care residences are being filled with people as they're getting older. The average age of someone in an aged-care residential facility has moved now from being in the 70s to being in the 80s—there has been an increase of the median age of residents by about a decade. This is quite significant because, as they're growing older, people are more likely to be frailer and they're also more likely to have comorbidities and other chronic conditions. That is why the aged-care facilities are finding that they're having to provide more clinical care.

People want to age in their homes, but they also want to age in an aged-care facility and not have to be shipped off to hospital. Increasing clinical care in the governing bodies of our aged-care facilities means that more attention will be paid to the clinical responsibilities of an aged-care provider. This schedule helps see the end of out-of-touch governing bodies in the industry, ensuring that the voices of those working on the ground are heard in every meeting and cannot be ignored. Moreover, schedule 7 strengthens the ability to punish providers for misuse of accommodation deposits made by residents. Both schedule 5 and schedule 7 will act to improve the quality of governance within the sector, which will of course help our ageing Australians.

This bill is a crucial step in the reformation of the industry, which is so damaged, as we have seen through the findings of the royal commission. This bill does not spell the end of the efforts, however. This acts as a key stage in returning dignity to older Australians. The bill before us today strengthens the regulations of industry and streamlines funding so that not only are the deserving provided with the right government support but the service itself is also improved.

Lastly, let's continue to work together to help make life better for older Australians. Providing dignity and respect for them is so important, because a society is judged by the way that it deals with those who cannot help themselves. We need to provide dignity and respect for ageing Australians and we need to provide hope for all of us that we ourselves will be given the same support, care, love and service that our older Australians have been given. It provides hope for all of us as we age that we will age with dignity and respect. I commend this bill to the House.

Libby Coker (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

[by video link] I rise to speak to the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response No. 2) Bill 2021. When each of us reaches a ripe old age, we hope that we will be cared for. We hope that our parents and our loved ones will be cared for. But the sad reality is that, despite the care and compassion that our aged-care workers provide, the aged-care system, which is the responsibility of the Morrison government, is broken. No-one wants families to fear placing an elderly parent into an aged-care facility. We've all heard the horrific stories of abuse. Only now, on the cusp of an election, are we seeing a follow-up response from the government to the royal commission into aged care—a royal commission that revealed the systemic failures and abuse of so many older Australians.

While there are some worthy actions in this proposed legislation, it comes too late for all those who have tragically suffered from eight years of inaction by the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government. The royal commission actually said that this federal government has been focused not on what should be done to address systemic failures in the aged-care sector but on 'the minimum commitment it could get away with'. They were the actual words of the royal commission—'minimum commitment'. And the response of the Morrison government has been minimal. After 21—that's 21—expert reports, this government knew older people were suffering in aged care and yet they didn't fix the problems. The Prime Minister, when he was Treasurer, even cut funding to aged care. It's just unbelievable. But, true to form, the Morrison government is continuing with its minimum-commitment approach in this bill.

While I welcome this bill as a partial step towards correcting the mistakes of the government, as a full and compassionate response to the aged-care crisis it falls well short. The Prime Minister's well known tin ear is once again apparent. He has failed to hear the voices of those Australians who he should be listening to on this bill—those in aged care, their families and the hardworking staff on the front line. Where's the due diligence? Older Australians just don't appear to be a priority for the Morrison government. Only now are they rushing to ram through this bill simply to tick another box on the pre-election list of things to do. There was a lack of consultation, and as a result there is widespread frustration and anger across the aged-care sector. It is made worse because of the lack of consultation on the bill. The government apparently believes it's fine to sideline and ignore the experts—our older Australians, their families, advocates and aged-care workers. Yet these are the very people with the hands-on and lived experience who, surely, are entitled to be consulted on the bill that will impact them most.

This bill has profound ramifications for residential aged-care funding, workforce screening, provider governance and the code of conduct for the sector. Each of these matters deserves proper consideration. There's no better proof of the government's lack of consultation than its failure to establish two major bodies recommended by the royal commission. They should have been established by July this year, in time to consult on the drafting of this bill. In fact, of the aged care royal commission's 148 recommendations, over half either are not being implemented or are being implemented only in a half-hearted fashion.

How did we get here? It's worth recapping how we got this far. It took the brave words of individuals to force this government to even consider holding a royal commission. Six long years ago, the Australian Law Reform Commission made recommendations to the Liberal-National government to stop the overuse of physical and chemical restraints, labelling them as human rights abuse. But the reforms were ignored by this government, leaving our elderly at serious risk of mistreatment. For example, in January 2019 we saw footage of Terry Reeves. Terry had dementia and was regularly tied to his chair with a lap belt, sometimes for a total of 14 hours a day, and heavily sedated with psychotic drugs. Terry's daughter gave evidence at the royal commission of other residents with dementia being kept in small rooms and strapped to their chairs, just like her father.

Statistics speak loudly. In the final three months of 2019 residential aged-care services made 24,681 reports of intent to restrain and 62,800 reports of physical restraint devices. The stories were so shocking that the former Liberal aged-care minister announced that the government would consider introducing new legislation. Well, here we are, many months later, and we have before us a bill that is not fit for purpose. This bill is nowhere near what we need to overhaul a broken system—a system that is no longer trusted by Australians due to the inaction of the Morrison government. The government has fobbed off, delayed or rejected key recommendations of the royal commission, and a number of its other measures are flawed.

Change can't happen without the reform of the workforce. There is nothing in this bill to improve wages of undervalued and overworked aged-care workers. How can it be that workers in this female-dominated profession get paid less than someone stacking supermarket shelves? Instead of a robust aged-care workforce national registration scheme, as recommended by the royal commission, the government is opting for an inferior worker-screening process. Unlike this government, Labor values workers and the tireless dedication of aged-care workers, who daily go above and beyond for elderly people in their care. It's insulting to aged-care workers that the government has undervalued them so much.

We have an ageing population. It's estimated that to meet future demand for aged care, an additional 70,000 workers will need to be recruited by 2050. How does the government expect to recruit these workers if they don't make the industry attractive to them? It's quite literally that simple. On the other hand, the government is effectively gifting $3.2 billion to providers in the form of a daily basic fee increase, with nothing to ensure that it actually goes towards better care or improved food nutrition. Forgive me if I see comparisons between the lax governance around these handouts to aged-care providers and the ill-targeted JobKeeper handouts that allowed some big businesses to line their pockets during COVID. As far as Labor is concerned, every extra dollar spent on aged care should be going to care, not to a provider's profits. Labor will do things differently if elected. Labor will ensure that there is accountability and that people are put before profits.

The government has ignored the recommendation to require a nurse to be on duty 24/7 in residential care. This is surely a commonsense necessity to improve clinical care.

In the most practical of failures, the government hasn't cleared the home-care package waitlist, which is around 100,000. Only 80,000 packages were included in the budget over the next two years; yet thousands join the wait list every year. These packages are critical to allowing people to stay supported for longer in their own homes.

After everything the sector has been through, you might expect that greater transparency would be a government priority. It's quite the contrary. The government's bill fails to implement a royal commission recommendation to remove the existing freedom of information exemption for aged-care providers. The Morrison government has told the health department secretary to conduct reviews into the arrangements for the delivery of home care—and that's a good thing—and it wants you to believe this change will increase transparency, but there will be no requirement for the health department secretary to release these reports for public scrutiny. The government needs to follow more closely the recommendations from the aged-care royal commission to increase transparency and accountability measures.

Older Australians helped build this nation. They worked hard, paid taxes and raised their families. Yet the Morrison government has consistently let them down. Not only did this government have to be shamed into trying to fix the aged-care system; it reneged on implementing the fixes recommended by the royal commission it appointed. Older Australians and their families deserve so much better. They deserve respect, dignity and the knowledge that the federal government will ensure they are well looked after in their later years. I don't see enough of that in this bill. It goes part of the way, but it falls well short.

My electorate has a large proportion of elderly people. I've visited many in their homes, in retirement villages and in nursing homes. I've heard firsthand from elderly residents in my community the strength of opinion on this issue and on this bill. They are anxious and fearful. Many worry about their own welfare and the welfare of their loved ones. The government clearly underestimates the voice of our older Australians, but it does to at its peril.

Coming after almost a decade of a Liberal government, this bill gives little confidence that the Morrison government fully understands the needs, nor properly values the contributions, of older Australians. It seems the Morrison government's minimum commitment approach to aged care, as highlighted by the royal commission, will continue. We cannot let this happen. Our older citizens deserve better. We all deserve so much better.

Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Morrison-Joyce government is dedicated to meeting the needs of our ageing population by undertaking the necessary and imperative reforms in aged care. The coalition government is acting to ensure that we are implementing these measures to develop and safeguard aged care in Australia. We not only look to tomorrow but we also look to five years from now and further ahead to 20 years and beyond. It is important that aged care in Australia is of the highest standard not just for now but also for my children and my grandchildren. This reform, the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response No. 2) Bill 2021, seeks to do just that.

Throughout my time serving as the member for Mallee I have always strived towards an Australia where the health status of our citizens is not determined by their postcode. This should also include our aged-care services. As the representative of some of the most rural constituents in Victoria, I have seen the challenges that face our older population. Many aged-care services in Mallee are stretched and under-resourced. As we get older, our health have raptly deteriorate and we cannot always plan for these things. In regional areas, too many are placed on lengthy waiting lists to receive essential services, including home care packages. Delays such as these are unacceptably part of our aged care in regional and rural Australia.

Another issue experienced in regional Australia is workforce shortage. This issue is not uncommon in most industries in Mallee and aged care is no different. Aged-care employers in my electorate do not have the luxury of a plethora of people lining up for job vacancies. The recent introduction of COVID vaccine requirements for employment in the aged-care industry have also created and additional strain on employers looking to recruit people to regional and remote areas, such as Cohuna, Horsham, Maryborough, Mildura and Warracknabeal.

The great news is that Australia's personal care workforce is being strengthened and increased under a $91.8 million Morrison-Joyce government initiative, helping older people live at home for longer. The government is committed to ensuring older Australians can remain in their homes and in the communities they know and love for as long as possible. In another comprehensive response to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, the Home Care Workforce Support Program will help administrators attract, train and retain approximately 13,000 new personal care workers by mid 2023. This is good news for Mallee. Making sure we have enough carers with the right skills to provide these services is vital as we expand the number of care packages and wipe out our waiting lists. Our reforms will ensure all senior Australians can access the care they want and need when they need it.

Under the legislation that is before the House, regional services will be allocated additional funding support to address the disadvantage of rurality. The new funding model will offer subsidies in accordance with the recipients AN-ACC level as well as the characteristics of the aged-care service. One of the notable characteristics would include service providers in regional locations. I support this reform and welcome the reprieve that it will bring for many rural and regional facilities in my electorate of Mallee. This implementation will provide peace of mind for residents in Mallee who, in the future, will utilise the aged-care services. These people can have added assurance that local service providers are resourced to be able to help keep up with the need for aged-care services. I have spoken with local leaders in aged-care services in my electorate and they have echoed this sentiment.

Princes Court is an aged-care facility and assisted living provider in Mildura, in the north of my electorate. I have worked with their chair Lyn Heaysman and CEO Jenny Garonne to address their concerns and advocate for this funding. Jenny and Lyn have told me of the challenges that regional communities face in providing aged-care services. Higher acuity residents are coming into aged care at a later stage and presenting with greater needs. This reality challenges facilities.

Debate interrupted.