Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Congratulations, Mr Speaker. My question is to the Minister for Aged Care. The report of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety revealed the shocking neglect of our aged-care system. Can the minister advise the House on how the new government is addressing the current failings in aged care?

Anika Wells (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Paterson for both her question and her powerful advocacy in trying to drive up eligible Australians to get their third and fourth vaccines and you, Mr Speaker, for lending your voice to the imperative of winter vaccinations in aged care when together we visited Sinnamon Village in your electorate of Oxley a few weeks ago. It is a community in Queensland that receives some really standout representation at both the federal and state levels, may I note. We were on the ground with our mobile vaccination teams, learning from their work. Alongside your constituents John and Joan, I got my fourth dose as part of our efforts to drive vaccination rates, a focus of our winter plan in aged care.

I only regret that I can't follow that lovely team of dedicated clinical legends around the country, getting my fourth dose at every facility to drive up awareness and vaccination rates, such is my determination to leave no stone unturned in getting aged care through winter. Alas, I am advised that that would be against medical advice, and we on this side of the House actually follow the medical advice. Where are your masks?

The final report of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety challenged us to create a better aged-care system. It challenged us to deliver an aged-care system which gives older Australians the security, dignity and equality that they deserve, that their families and loved ones deserve and that the workforce that looks after them so tenderly deserves as well. The royal commission did not say that reform would be easy, but it did say that it would be crucial, and it mapped out the roadmap for us to do just that. The former government packed much of the roadmap into the too-hard basket and kicked it into the long grass and continued their neglect of the aged-care sector and those who rely upon it.

The royal commission asked the former government to do 148 things. The royal commission's damning report said that the former coalition government's main consideration was the minimum commitment that it could get away with. Even after that searing indictment, that clarion call of the royal commission, the former government's approach did not change. In the 17 months between receiving the final report of the royal commission and losing office, the former government implemented only six per cent of the commission's recommendations. The former government implemented only nine of 148 recommendations of the royal commission.

We in this new Labor government are not afraid of tackling the challenges before us. Earlier today, I introduced two bills to this House, one of which was the very first bill to pass this House. It was an aged-care bill, because for this government aged care is a top priority. In our first full day of parliamentary business, we have already passed—(Time expired)