Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) acknowledges the Government's second budget delivers a record 15 per cent pay increase for aged care workers across Australia, and that this represents the biggest ever pay rise for aged care workers;

(2) recognises the work of the Government supporting the aged care sector to improve facilities and lift the quality of care for residents, including through increasing average care minutes and greater transparency; and

(3) commends the Government for having directly addressed 37 recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety since coming into office, and its commitment to continue delivering reform for the aged care sector.

Today marks one year and a day since the Albanese government were elected, and in that time we haven't wasted a moment. That is particularly the case when it comes to the efforts we have been putting into fixing aged care, because we know that, prior to our government being elected, despite years of warnings and calls for improvement, despite an entire royal commission, older Australians in aged care in this country were not being treated with the dignity that they should have been.

We know that under previous Liberal governments our aged-care system was neglected, and we saw the reality of that in our communities. So our government have put the focus back on improving aged care. We've put the focus on making sure that older Australians, hardworking Australians who have helped build this country, know that, when they get to the age where they need to be looked after in our aged-care system, they can rely on that system to provide the care and support that they need now and into the future.

My community has told me time and time again how important the aged-care system is to them. We all know someone who has needed to be supported by the aged-care system. We all look to a future where our parents or we are going to need to be supported by the aged-care system. At the same time, those same people in my community have told me about the neglect that they've feared, the worry and concern that they have felt, because, while they know that aged-care staff have been doing their best, those staff have been overstretched and they've have been underpaid. People know that they've been leaving their relatives in a system where they can't be sure that they will be treated how they should be treated—with dignity. No-one wants to see more of these stories. Our government has been doing everything we can to turn this around.

Aged-care staff do such important work. They are largely women, working in a very important area for very little pay. But staff tell me how much they love what they do. They tell me how they enjoy getting to know residents and helping them with the day-to-day of their lives. It is hard work and it's long hours. It's work that they've been thanked for, but it's not work that they're being paid for as they should be paid.

That's why I am so proud and pleased that our budget earlier this month is making history. Our government is delivering a 15 per cent pay rise to aged-care workers right across the country. This is the biggest ever pay rise for aged-care workers. There are 56,700 award aged-care workers in my state of Victoria alone who are expected to benefit from this. This historic pay rise means that a registered nurse on a level 2.3 award wage will be paid $196 more a week. That's more than $10,000 extra a year. An assistant in nursing on a level 3 award wage will be paid $145 more a week. That's more than $7,100 extra a year. A head chef or a cook on a level 4 aged-care award will be paid $141 more a week. That's more than $7,300 extra a year. These are just a few examples, but they are so important. These are the people who keep our aged-care system running, and now they are going to be paid as they should be. I am so proud of this reform our government is making.

This is just one part of what we have done to improve aged care in the year since the election. In the very first week this parliament sat after the election, our government introduced two important bills. The first enabled major improvements to aged care: to put nurses back into nursing homes; to ensure carers have more time to care; to improve transparency, integrity and accountability in the sector; and to cap the fees paid for home care. All of these are sensible, overdue changes to help improve the quality of aged care right across the sector. Since the election our government has directly addressed 37 recommendations from the aged-care royal commission. We are not going to let this rest. We know how important it is that aged care is there to support us all.

My friend the Minister for Health and Aged Care has been very clear that the work doesn't stop here—we are bedding in these reforms and we are also working to address more of the recommendations from the royal commission. We are boosting the number of aged-care workers, helping people to recruit the staff they need, training more personal care workers, and much more. There is a lot of work to do; you can't turn around one decade of neglect just like that. But our government knows how important aged care is, and we will continue to do the work to make sure it is there into the future.

Terry Young (Longman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is there a second for the motion?

Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve the right to speak.

Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Jagajaga for this very important motion. The royal commission has shone a light on how, over time, we have undervalued our older people and, in turn, the system that cares for them. It spoke about how we owe our parents, our grandparents, our partners, our friends and our neighbours a safe, kind and quality care—care that I know is possible. At times in my career I had the privilege of working in aged care and I have witnessed firsthand the dedication, professionalism and compassion of the staff who care for our elderly.

The royal commission exposed the systemic failures of our aged-care system. Daily, I hear how these failures result in frustrating and disempowering experiences of aged care. I meet aged-care providers who are trying their hardest in difficult circumstances. I sit down with health and aged-care staff and talk about the burnout that they're experiencing. Recent aged-care measures, including under the budget, are a step in the right direction. Our aged-care workers are at the heart of the system, but across Indi aged-care facilities tell me how incredibly hard it is to attract the much-needed workforce to keep their doors open. They're forced to employ nurses from external agencies at higher costs because they can't attract their own local workforce to fill the shift. Those costs include accommodation in a tight market on top of wages. A 15-per-cent wage increase for aged-care workers is long overdue and a true acknowledgement of their value. Aged-care facilities tell me they hope this wage rise will increase and attract a stronger local workforce to ease some of the financial pressures they're facing. Adrian Johnstone, CEO of the St Catherines aged-care provider in Wangaratta, says this wage rise will reward staff with the pay increase they deserve. Like me, he hopes that this wage increase will spur on more people to take up a fulfilling career in aged care.

In the 2021-22 financial year, 74 per cent of aged-care homes in regional Australia were operating at a loss. This is a startling figure. We feel this close to home. In the last few months, three aged-care facilities in my electorate of Indi have sounded the alarm on the extent of their financial losses. One is experiencing losses of $100,000 every month. In rural and regional Australia, when facilities go under, the consequences are felt right across the community. It's about losing a major employer and a skilled workforce. When a facility closes, I hear heartbreaking stories of husbands or wives having to drive for an hour or more to visit their loved one, when once they could just pop down the road. Likewise, lifetime friends can no longer just pop over.

Under the budget, the indexation for the Australian National Aged Care Classification price will increase by 17 per cent, and this means Commonwealth support given to facilities per bed per day will increase. The government say they are confident this increase will see a real reduction in the huge financial losses that aged-care facilities are experiencing right now, such as those I have described in my electorate, and I'll be watching very closely to see whether this is the case, because one thing's for sure: we can't continue to lose local aged-care providers at the rate we're experiencing now.

As our population ages we must also support people to age at home when they want to. While the government is trumpeting the 9,500 extra home-care packages in the budget, the problem we're now seeing isn't about getting approved for a package; it's about finding a provider to deliver the services they're eligible for. One of my constituents—let's call her Mary—was approved under My Aged Care for help under the Commonwealth Home Support Program for gardening and for cleaning her windows and gutters. After this approval, Mary started calling the local providers listed on the My Aged Care website to see who could offer her this support. Unfortunately, Mary cannot even get on their waiting lists, as they've closed their books. Providers say there are simply not enough workers to offer the services people are entitled to.

Benalla in my electorate is yet another example. The private providers are at capacity and clients are left for long periods without services. There are last-minute cancellations, the changing of workers and very little continuity of care. I met with the age-friendly Benalla U3A and Benalla Rural City Council about this crisis and I've written to the Interim Inspector-General of Aged Care asking that they do something to get this back on track. I'll be approaching the minister about this as well. This program must address the frustrating inadequacies that my office constantly hears about. It must ensure the support of quality care and the appropriate support that we owe our elderly people.

Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to second this important private members' motion, put forward by the wonderful member for Jagajaga, because aged care is a massively important issue in my electorate of Gilmore. Just as we said before the 2022 election we would be, here we are 12 months later, having directly addressed 37 recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety since coming to office. That is huge.

For years, aged-care workers knew what the problems were and pleaded for the former government to fix the issues, but the government weren't listening, and they certainly weren't acting. I had local aged-care workers from across Gilmour tell me clearly that aged-care workers were leaving aged care because the pay of aged-care workers just didn't stack up. There just weren't enough aged-care workers in nursing homes and there just wasn't the necessary time to care for residents—people's loved ones. It wasn't because aged-care workers didn't care; it was because they did care. Today I say: we have listened, acted and delivered.

The aged care royal commission interim report, titled Neglect, came up with 148 recommendations, but it should come as no surprise that the former government did the absolute minimum. Combining the measures from the legislation we've passed and the two budgets that we have delivered, we have addressed in full or in part a total of 69 recommendations, and we have no plan to stop our work of reforming and transforming aged care.

Our second budget delivers a record 15 per cent pay increase for aged-care workers across Australia. This represents the biggest ever pay rise to aged-care workers. This budget allocates $11.3 billion over four years to fund the Fair Work Commission's interim decision for a 15 per cent increase to minimum wages for many aged-care workers. This will support around 92,100 award aged-care workers in New South Wales, who will earn between $129 and $341 more per week for a 38-hour week. For too long those working in aged care have been asked to work harder for longer without enough reward, but with this budget that changes.

As a result of the historic investment we are making in the budget, a registered nurse on a level 2.3 award wage will be paid an additional $196 a week. An enrolled nurse on a level 2 award wage will be paid an additional $145 a week. An assistant in nursing on a level 3 award wage will be paid an additional $136 a week. A personal care worker on a level 4 aged-care award or home-care worker on a level 3.1 SCHCADS award will be paid an additional $141 a week. A recreational activity officer on a level 3 aged-care award will be paid an additional $139 a week. A head chef cook on a level 4 aged-care award will be paid an additional $141 a week. But there's more. With the implementation of our aged-care legislation, we recognise the enormous amount of work of the government to support the aged-care sector to improve facilities and lift the quality of care for residents, including through increasing average care minutes and greater transparency.

I had the honour of having the Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care visit my electorate this past week, and we visited Uniting Osborne House Nowra. We talk with aged-care residents over a cuppa and a scone. We talked with aged-care workers. We took a tour of the facility while talking further with aged-care workers. It was easy to see and hear the buoyed confidence in this aged-care home. The increase in pay, of course, is a game-changer, but the implementation of these recommendations will make a profound difference on aged-care workers lives, aged-care homes and our most treasured aged-care residents. We were also told how our fee-free TAFE is making a noticeable difference locally in people taking on aged-care courses and helping grow aged-care workers.

We said we'd put the care back into aged care, and we have. We're supporting aged-care workers. To all those thinking about a career or retraining: aged care has a bright future. Go for it.

Russell Broadbent (Monash, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Deputy Speaker, you've heard the last two speakers. One spoke glowingly about her facility in Nowra, and I asked if they have been able to get a full-time registered nurse to service their organisation. I wonder whether that's the case? You heard from the member for Indi a very in-depth discussion around the problems she is facing is a member of parliament in regional Victoria. I am equally a regional member of parliament, and every word that was spoken by the member for Indi is impacting directly on the people of Monash. They are exactly the same issues. They are everywhere right across the regional state. I haven't had closures, but, when the member for Indi said 74 per cent of aged-care facilities were running at a loss, you had to say, 'Well, has the government got a plan here?' You really have to ask the question.

It's great that the government had decided that aged-care workers across all levels are going to get a 15 per cent pay increase. That then puts pressure on other organisations that are not getting a 15 per cent increase, and the competition for workers within community becomes quite strong. Therefore, it creates other problems. I am not denying the aged-care workers, as I have said for all of my political career, because I have had a long-term issue around aged care. I have been as hard on my own governments as I have been on Labor governments in the past. I have negotiated between state governments and federal governments when the state governments and federal governments were involved, right back to 1990, with Peter Staples as the minister up here and with the aged-care minister in Victoria—both Labor that couldn't get on. I was the negotiator between the two to try to get some action as to what might happen in one of the facilities in my electorate.

My big question here is: yes, you've given a wage rise to aged-care workers. Yes, you've addressed the royal commission's recommendations. Yes, I think your intent is desirable, and I have heard intent before. When Labor members stand before us today and say 'nine years of neglect', that is not the truth. There were nine years of change, but it goes all the way back to 1996, with John Howard, when his outlay was $2 billion on aged care in those days. That went from two to four to six to eight to 12, and now we're in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

An honourable member: That's why they called the royal commission's report Neglect: because it was neglect.

I'll take the interjection. The royal commission was called by the former government, not this government. The former government was quite committed to whatever the recommendations were from that royal commission. I reject the 'nine years of neglect', but I would put to you that the royal commission identified certain establishments, certain providers, that were in neglect. I don't know what other members are faced with, but you would've visited your own aged-care centres. I can proudly say that my providers on the whole do a magnificent job. Every time there's been criticism of providers, I've had to write to every one of my aged-care workers and say, 'I know it's not you.'

Labor does not have a plan for an overall future. If you give a wage increase like that, have you indexed it every year so that providers won't be paying that extra money every year and having to cop that as an expense against their business? Then, over 10 years, you have that increasing expense with no support from government to cover it. They're the issues that I'm concerned about, because providers are the last ones who are left with the bucket of money that they have to spend on their residents. I want the best for my aged-care people. I'm sure every member of parliament wants exactly the same thing.

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

The Albanese Labor government cares deeply about aged care, those who rely on it and the dedicated individuals who work hard to provide quality care. We know that older Australians deserve better than the broken system that resulted from a decade of neglect by the previous government, and we are steadfast in our commitment to reforming aged care and addressing the critical issues facing the sector.

It's been a big first year of an Albanese Labor government for aged-care reform. We know that attracting and retaining aged-care workers has been one of the toughest challenges plaguing the aged-care sector, and that's why the Albanese Labor government's 9 May budget delivered an historic 15 per cent pay increase for aged-care workers across Australia. This is the largest pay rise ever for aged-care workers. This will benefit more than 250,000 workers. It reflected the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety's final report, which emphasised the need to improve remuneration for aged-care staff. It was a very clear direction from the royal commission, and our $11.3 billion investment delivers on our commitment to fund the outcome of the Fair Work Commission's decision. It's an independent decision of government, but we said we would back it because, unlike members opposite, we actually want to see wages growing in Australia.

Working in aged care involves physically and emotionally demanding work that requires great skill. The aged-care workforce deserves proper recognition for its efforts through fair pay. This pay rise was achieved through the advocacy of workers themselves, with strong support from their unions and this Labor government. Given that 90 per cent of aged-care workers are women, this wage increase not only helps make ends meet but helps address a gross gender pay inequity that has dogged this nation for a long time. The funding provided by the Albanese Labor government will help restore dignity to older Australians, as requested by the royal commission. It's also an essential part of our government's plan to create more opportunities for Australia by investing in health and aged care.

I am confident that this will make a significant difference in my community of Newcastle. Aged-care facility workers in Newcastle tell me that attracting and retaining excellent staff is one of their toughest challenges. Like many female dominated sectors, aged care has been a severely underpaid sector for a long time, leading to staff seeking employment in other sectors. This pay increase addresses the initial two stages of the Fair Work Commission's decision on wages. However, the commission is still deliberating on a third, final stage, which pertains to the pay of support and administration staff in the sector. But those staff members can be assured that this government is committed to accepting and providing funding for whatever determination the Fair Work Commission arrives at. The government's commitment to boosting the aged-care workforce also includes initiatives such as fee-free TAFE, more university places, student clinical placements, extended visas and training programs. Collectively, these measures will help alleviate workforce pressures and support the sector, increasing actual hands-on care and ensuring that we are able to provide registered nurses available in each of the facilities 24/7.

There are big challenges ahead, but doing nothing is not an option. The pay increase for aged-care workers is just one of 37 recommendations that the Labor government has now implemented from the royal commission's report since we took office just one year ago. The Albanese Labor government is committed to reforming the aged-care sector to provide the quality care our older Australians need and deserve. We've allocated a record $36 billion to fund the 15 per cent pay increase for aged-care workers. We've increased the hands-on care and provided for 24/7 nursing care to be available.

Additionally, this funding will improve transparency regarding public funds allocated to the aged-care system and assist with the process of drafting a new rights based aged-care act. The Albanese Labor government stands resolute in its deep care of the aged-care sector. (Time expired)

Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In my electorate of Kooyong, more than 25 per cent of people are aged 65 or more. We have more than twice the nation's average proportion of residents aged more than 85. Aged care is a really important issue for this country. Our ageing population wants, deserves and needs high-quality aged-care services.

There are at least 27 aged-care facilities in my electorate alone. Last week, I was fortunate to have dinner at one of them, The Gables in Camberwell, with BlueCross CEO, Ingrid Harvey. The aged-care residents, my constituents, told me that in their residential facility, their home, they wanted to be cared for by people that they knew and that they felt comfortable with. They want to feel safe and secure. They also told me that they were very concerned about cost-of-living pressures and the effect of COVID on both themselves and their families.

The recent Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety highlighted the inadequacies of our aged-care system. It identified significant problems with the quality and safety of aged-care services across our country. It noted barriers to navigating and entering the aged-care system, including a lack of information to help people understand which aged-care services would best suit their needs; inadequate access to healthcare support amongst people who are receiving aged care; and, heartbreakingly, frequent instances of substandard care and abuse. We've heard a lot about that in the media in the last week alone.

The royal commission made a total of 148 recommendations proposing a detailed strategy to change and improve our aged-care system. This government has addressed 37 of those recommendations, but there is still much work to do. We still need, as a matter of urgency, to address food and nutrition, dementia care, the use of restrictive practices and best practice palliative care in our aged-care system. We also need to address the aged-care workforce as a matter of urgency.

Aged care is a gendered issue in Australia. About two out of three people accessing aged-care services in Australia are women. Almost nine out of 10 aged-care workers in Australia are women. One-third of them are culturally and linguistically diverse, and one-third of them were born outside this country.

In the recent budget, the government did deliver on its pre-election promise of a 15 per cent pay rise for aged-care workers. It's great to see that rolled out, but there are persisting issues with this workforce. Most of the 280,000 workers in our aged-care workforce are part-time—many of them, not out of choice. Residential providers in Kooyong tell me of the staffing shortages they face every day. The most recent CEDA report showed that 65,000 employees are leaving the aged-care sector every year, yet we need an additional 35,000 employees across the sector to meet care needs. Many aged-care workers are exhausted after working for three years to keep our community safe from COVID. In that context, it's disappointing to see the government cut the number of hours international students can work, given that student visa holders were crucial to the provision of aged care in this country during the pandemic.

There's no doubt that we have let down older Australians in recent years. By May 2021, three-quarters of the COVID-19 deaths in Australia were in aged-care residences. During the pandemic, many aged-care workers had to work in more than one facility because of issues with their rosters and work conditions. In doing so, they placed both themselves and aged-care residents at risk. Our government has now removed all workplace protections and paid-leave provisions for workers affected by COVID-19. This tells us that we have not yet learned the lessons of the pandemic.

There's still much to do to ensure that older people are supported to live self-determined and meaningful lives and that our educated, skilled and dedicated aged-care workers can provide best practice, compassionate care. I look forward to working with the government to that end.

Terry Young (Longman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned, and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.