Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. My question is to the Prime Minister. Quality aged care needs a properly supported workforce. The aged-care workforce is highly casualised and low paid. Why won't the Prime Minister support a permanent wage increase for these exhausted workers to help relieve critical workforce shortages affecting the care of vulnerable residents?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for the question. Soon after becoming Prime Minister, one of the first things I did was to call the royal commission into aged care. That royal commission was called, as the Minister for Health and Aged Care has reminded the House, and it followed the Oakton crisis—the state-run aged-care facility in South Australia run by the former Labor government. That royal commission has highlighted so many important issues. When we received the response to that royal commission, in last year's budget we supported a detailed plan to address the recommendations of the royal commission totalling more than $17 billion in investment to address the many issues in aged care. No other government has done that before. No government other than the government that I have led has been prepared to call a royal commission into this issue and then announce a record investment of over $17 billion to address the many issues, including the ones which the member highlights when it comes to workforce. And the workforce issues—

Andrew Wallace (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister will resume his seat. The member for Hotham.

Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on relevance. The question was about aged care but it was very specifically targeted at the crucial question of aged-care wages. I wonder if the Prime Minister could go to that point, please. It wasn't a general question about aged care. The question is entirely about the crucial issue of the pay of aged-care workers. The Prime Minister is more than a minute in and has not touched on that topic at all.

Andrew Wallace (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Hotham for that clarification. The question did go to the quality of aged care and its workforce. So it wasn't purely confined to the issue of wage increases. The Prime Minister has the call.

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. The royal commission did address issues of workforce, and, in the more than $17 billion of response that we've provided to the royal commission, those recommendations do address that in the funding commitments that are in the budget. The particular issue the member has raised, as she will know, is actually before the Fair Work Commission. And I'm not aware of a difference in policy between the government and the opposition. Whatever the Fair Work Commission decides on this matter, the government will support those arrangements, as the opposition would. So I'm not quite sure what difference the member opposite is seeking to suggest here. The Fair Work Commission is addressing this issue—that's where it should be addressed—and we will work with the outcome that comes from the Fair Work Commission.

Andrew Wallace (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Minister for Health and Aged Care has the call.

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The specific measures the government has undertaken in response to the royal commission with over $17 billion of funding, as part of the Respect, Care and Dignity national plan, include the growing of a skilled and high-quality workforce to care for senior Australians and payments to registered nurses of $216 million over seven years. In addition to that, there is $3.9 billion for mandatory care time standards, which is the payment, for the average of 200 minutes per day, of registered nursing staff. In addition to that, we have engaged with the Fair Work Commission. I would note, however, that when the Leader of the Opposition was asked about the very question which was put to the Prime Minister, his response was: 'It's up to the Fair Work Commission to determine what they want to do.' Utter hypocrisy!