Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to thank my friend the member for Jagajaga for moving this motion. I also thank the Minister for Aged Care, the member for Lilley, for her work in helping lift the standards of our aged-care sector. I think how we look after our aged in our community reflects how we as a society view some of our most vulnerable people. Aged care should not an afterthought of government, nor should key investment and quality standards in aged care be neglected. Sadly, this was the attitude of the previous government, who reluctantly agreed to convene the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, with much prodding, and then chose to delay acting on the commission's findings. This was not only shameful but also a poor reflection of what the Morrison government thought of residents and workers in aged care.

Thankfully, things have changed for the better. I'm proud to be part of a government which cares, commits and carries through for aged-care residents and workers, and is getting on with addressing the recommendations of the royal commission—all of them. So far, we've directly addressed 37 of these recommendations, whereas during their time in government those opposite completed a mere six per cent of the 148 recommendations made by the royal commission, with the then minister for aged care, Senator Colbeck, refusing to accept that aged care was in a state of crisis. 'Shocking' does not adequately capture their lack of action.

Combining the measures from the legislation that we've passed and the two budgets that we've delivered, we've addressed in full or in part a total of 69 recommendations, and we've got no plan to stop our work in reforming and transforming the sector, which was really left to rot under the coalition. It is something that all Australians can be proud of. At the heart of this sector is the workforce who, day in and day out, deal with residents who are ill, frail and stressed and who, from time to time, pass away. In aged care these days it's much different than it was 20 or 30 years ago. Patients are sicker, more dependent and older and have more physical and neurological demands. It's a mentally and physically demanding job. That's why our record 15 per cent pay increase for Australia's aged-care workers is so significant. It's significant not only because it's the largest pay rise ever for this workforce but also because it will go a long way in increasing workforce participation and morale and reducing turnover.

The pay rise is also a reflection of our government's approach towards this sector and our strong belief in improving quality and care for those within it. Whilst I'm again proud to be part of a government that has delivered this important milestone, it's shocking that only now are these experienced, hardworking aged-care workers earning over $30 an hour. This shows the distance that we must still go towards providing adequate support for this workforce.

Another aspect of aged care we are working on is our commitment to increasing transparency over public dollars going into aged care as part of our plan to put security, dignity, humanity and accountability back into the sector. From January 2024 our government will provide a full picture of how residential and aged-care providers are spending their money so that residents and taxpayers can see how much is spent on components of residents' care such as diet and nutrition, personal care et cetera. People will be able to vote with their feet and leave a provider whose performance on these critical measures is poor. This greater transparency will help rebuild trust in the sector and provide assurance for those already in care and for taxpayers that providers are spending money as they would expect.

Our commitment also addresses the royal commission's finding that there's a lack of publicly available and high-quality information to help older Australians make effective comparisons between aged-care services. In my electorate of Macarthur we have some wonderful aged-care providers such as Estia Health Kilbride, located in Gilead, which I've visited on a number of occasions, as well as IRT Macarthur and Uniting Home Care in Campbelltown. I had the privilege of visiting Estia Kilbride with the now assistant minister, Ged Kearney, in 2021. Together we met with staff and residents to discuss their concerns and hopes for better policy.

These are just some of the many steps that we are taking to help residents and staff in the aged-care sector. I'm proud of the way the aged are cared for in my electorate and I'm proud of the way our government is addressing the needs of some of the most vulnerable in our society. There's much more to do, and failings of the past need to be corrected, but I'm optimistic that aged-care people in Australia will get the care they deserve.

James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You never know, when members draft these motions, whether or not the passage of time makes them begin to regret them or whether perhaps their minister from the government didn't quite keep the member updated as to whether or not the government were on track to, indeed, keeping promises they made at the election. In this case it's regarding aged care.

I notice that the first point here commends the government for delivering the 15 per cent pay increase in their budget. The government submitted to the Fair Work Commission to not give a 15 per cent pay rise. Their explanation was that they wanted to spread it over two years. With inflation running at seven per cent, if that maintained itself, an increase of 15 per cent would actually see the aged-care workforce going backwards, which is what the government sought: we don't want to give you 15 per cent straightaway; we want to spread it over the next two years. It's the kind of fine print that never seemed to be used in the election slogans.

Equally, this motion talks about increasing average care minutes and doesn't, interestingly, talk about the government's promise to have a 24/7 registered nurse at every aged-care facility in the country by 1 July 2023, which is less than 10 days away. Why? Because that's not happening. The government has now conceded that they won't be achieving the 24/7 nursing standard that they said they would put in place, leading up to the election. Why? It was for the exact reason that we said, honestly, during an election campaign: that the commitment would be misleading the people of this country because the workforce capability didn't exist to put in place 24/7 nursing in every residential aged-care facility. Worse still, if the government forced that commitment, as Labor in their election campaign said they would do, you would see two things happen. Firstly, aged-care facilities would close down, and/or secondly, other vital health services would lose their nursing staff, because aged-care facilities who are forced to employ nurses 24/7 could only poach them from other parts of the health system, where I promise you those nurses are doing vitally important work, particularly in regional communities.

We had a government that went to an election with a whole range of slogan promises in aged care that since the election, miraculously, are not being delivered. We were honest with the people of this country and said there were challenges in implementing some of the recommendations from the royal commission, particularly 24/7 nursing care. The now government very irresponsibly said, 'No, you've just got a government that's not prepared to listen to an outcome of the royal commission and implement those recommendations,' when we were always absolutely committed to doing so at the first opportunity that it could be done. Now, of course, the chickens are coming home to roost, and the people of Australia are seeing those promises that the government made for what they are—hollow promises designed to trick people into supporting them so they could get into government. Now it's all unwinding as we predicted during the election campaign.

There's no delight in this from our side of politics, because there's nothing more low and disgraceful than misleading people about something as vital as aged care and saying to people during an election campaign, 'We're going to do all these things,' that they absolutely knew could not be done. It was particularly low to try and delay the 15 per cent pay rise. To go to an election and say, 'We're going to give you a 15 per cent pay rise,' and then as a government say to the Fair Work Commission, 'We want that spread out over a couple of years, actually, to get a budget saving,' is particularly low. So this motion surprises me. I take the opportunity to speak on it, because, if I were the government, the last thing I'd want to be doing is talking about my record in aged care and, in particular, highlighting the broken promises—the commitments that were taken to the last election. There were promises made that I'm sure a lot of people believed. They took the now government at their word that they would deliver on those promises. Those people are now experiencing the heartbreak caused by the breaking of callous political promises made by a government that said what they needed to say to win votes. Now that they are in government, they are completely failing to keep their promises, which, I suspect, they always knew they would never be able to keep.

Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I don't know where the member for Sturt was, but things like workforce supplements and dementia supplements were all cut by the previous government. It was almost the first act of their tenure on the Treasury benches in relation to aged care. They couldn't find a budget or a MYEFO from which they didn't want to cut billions of dollars out of aged care. They shuffled the money around. In one budget they cut $3 billion out of aged care. We put $11.3 billion in the budget for 15 per cent pay rises to aged-care workforce salaries and wages, and they've got the gall to criticise us for that, when after nearly a decade in office they did nothing, except deliberately design to keep wages low in the sector. In fact, they cut the workforce supplements and the dementia supplements and the other kinds of supplements we provided under Living Longer, Living Better. Do you know why they cut them? It's because they were going to provide extra care and extra wages in the sector. That's why they cut them as a result of the Commission of Audit in 2014.

So don't give us lectures when we put the money in the budget. Their budget showed cuts to aged care. Their MYEFO showed cuts to aged care. Our budget showed increasing funding to aged care. There was $36 billion in the last budget and $11.3 billion to provide funding for much-needed wage rises for nurses and personal carers and those people providing care for older Australians, many of them living with dementia in residential aged care. What we're doing is acting on the recommendations of the royal commission. I thank the member for Jagajaga for what she has done.

What we're doing here in terms of funding for aged-care pay raises is stage 2 of 3 of the Fair Work Commission journey on its final decision. The government's committed to the final decision on the Fair Work Commission. Those opposite couldn't find a Fair Work Commission hearing that wouldn't not support wage rises. They simply couldn't bring themselves to support wage rises in the childcare sector, the SACS sector or the aged-care sector. Don't give us lectures and be all preachy and sermonising about supporting people in the aged-care sector when you kept on cutting funding in the aged-care sector year after year.

I want to recognise what we're doing: improving standards, strengthening food and nutrition, making sure we've got monthly care statements in the sector, enhancing the star ratings system for better quality of care in the sector and expanding the existing quality indicator program for in-home services. That's what this government is doing in acting on the recommendations of the royal commission: increasing care on the ground and legislating for extra nurses in the sector. Those opposite didn't do that over nine years, not at all. We're providing additional assistance to residential aged care. We have a task force looking at reform in the future. The reform those opposite thought was necessary was cuts in the aged-care sector. That's their idea of reform in the aged-care sector.

The royal commission handed down its decision, in terms of recommendations, about two years ago, and those opposite couldn't bring themselves to implement many of the recommendations at all. I want to commend the government for having directly addressed 69, almost half, of the 148 recommendations of the royal commission since coming to office. Those opposite were in power for about two years while the royal commission's recommendations lay dormant, languishing, while they didn't act upon them. The reality is that the aged-care system in this country has been in crisis for years, and they lacked the wisdom and the wit to do anything about it. Lethargy, inertia and idleness were the views of those opposite. A recurring number of ministers saw the aged-care sector as a stepping stone. Poor old Minister Colbeck really struggled all the time, all the way through. Like with the Department of Veterans' Affairs, those opposite, in government, couldn't find a way to fund it, and they couldn't find a way to support it, but they found a way to cut it. That's what happened every single year.

When you've got a situation where the royal commission's recommendation come in an interim report titled Neglectone word. A huge percentage of people were malnourished and starving, with maggots in their wounds. Those opposite failed on quality, funding and in so many ways in relation to aged care. (Time expired)

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

The member for Blair, who just spoke, put across the government's arguments. I've been around this aged-care issue since the Hawke government. There have been difficulties, of course, as the aged-care sector evolved and changed, and I've said this many times before. In the last year of the Howard government, I went to see the Prime Minister about something. He said to me, 'Russell, I hope you're not here again on aged care, because we haven't got any more money to give them.' We had increased the money, nearly doubling it, year after year because of our aging population.

There was always going to be pressure put on a sector whereby, in the fifties, sixties and seventies, people would go into an aged-care home, sometimes as young as 50, as a care facility. It was used as a community care facility. Some people would go in and would have been there for 10, 15 or 20 years, living a great life, many of them very well. In those days, I remember few in high care. High care was when people, strangely, lived longer, but not now. It is because of the care that we give them, the drugs that are available to them and the attention that they get.

Neglect cannot be put on any one of the nursing homes and aged-care facilities in my electorate. I've had to write to my aged-care sector, every one as individuals, and say to them, 'It's not you they're talking about.' But they say, We're being tarred with the same brush.' I say, 'No, you're not,' especially my not-for-profits. Have I had complaints over the years? Yes, I have, but not about any centre that I have personally attended or been invited to.

The aged-care sector has really struggled over the past two years to get staff, especially in regional areas. When you pay them more, you say, 'That's great for the staff. They're being paid more money by this new government.' But then the people in disability are saying, 'Well, if they're getting that much in aged care, I'm going to go and work in aged care.' So you distort the market of where people might go and work. So then NDIS comes in and says: 'We'll pay you more. You come and work in the NDIS. You can work with people with disabilities. We will pay you more.' So then the aged-care sector loses.

When they said we're going to introduce 24-hour nurses, I thought it was a laudable idea. Fantastic. I love it. That means Mrs Jones down on the corner, who may have gastroenteritis, is checked on that day and she's not waiting for the GP to come a week later, which may be too late. Mrs Jones may be so dehydrated she may pass away. That has happened. There's no doubt about it.

In the most expensive nursing homes there have been people who've been treated badly and not cared for properly. There's no doubt about that. So it's not the money you pay to go into a nursing home; it's the actual care you get within the nursing home, so who the people are and how they attend to their responsibilities.

I'm not going to admit to all the accusations that were thrown by the member for Blair. I'm not going to, because every government, to my knowledge, has done the best they can in the aged-care sector, having regard to the budget that was available to them. I remember when Kim Beazley was giving his valedictory speech. He said in that valedictory speech what the Hawk government would have given to have a $1 billion surplus or a $100 million surplus, but, for years and years, this nation couldn't ever get itself into surplus until the Howard government came along. So the aged-care sector benefited from one of the wealthiest governments since the gold rush. The Howard government was able to pour an enormous amount of money into aged care that benefited every community—small, large, country, regional—in Australia. Thank you, John Howard.

Alicia Payne (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise in support of this motion acknowledging the significant process that the Albanese Labor government has made in aged care, and I want to thank the member for Jagajaga for bringing this motion forward and providing this opportunity to talk about this incredibly important issue.

Most of all, I do want to acknowledge the progress in aged care and the priority that our government has placed on aged care. In particular, I acknowledge the incredible work of the Minister for Aged Care, Anika Wells, over the year that we have been in government, not only for the things that have been achieved in that relatively short time but also, importantly, her acknowledgement of the importance of having ambition for aged care. The minister spoke about this at an address to the National Press Club recently, and I was really pleased to be there in person. This shouldn't be a significant thing that we say we have ambition in aged care, but it is because we have not seen that for such a long time. I think it's really significant, when we have been talking about aged care a lot in the political sphere—for as long as I can remember—and at a time when we have had a royal commission, which has exposed some of the most harrowing experiences of Australians in aged care and that showed that over 30 per cent of people had substandard experiences in aged care, that this is the first time we are starting to talk positively about it, because it is something that should be positive. It should not be normal that Australians are actually fearful of themselves or their loved ones going into aged care. When the minister spoke at the Press Club, she was the first Minister for Aged Care to speak at the Press Club. I found that so surprising, given this has been one of the key policy issues of our recent memory.

The minister finished her speech on a personal note. When she was studying, she worked in aged care, and her mother worked for 15 years in aged care. It really resonated with me, because she said that when she was working there the problems that she saw were the same problems that she saw coming in as a new minister a year ago and visiting aged-care facilities all around the country. This resonates with me because, as I have talked about before in this place, both my grandmothers were in aged care here in Canberra. Their experiences were the same things, the same issues we are still dealing with. When the royal commission came out, I honestly felt that, while a lot of the stories and findings that came out were completely unacceptable, they were not surprising to anyone who has had a loved one in aged care, because we had seen many of those things happen. I have spoken before in this place about it. When my grandmother was in aged care here, staff would be very dedicated and would work really hard to do their best, but with the resources and the staffing shortages they just couldn't care for the residents in the way they wanted to.

That really did resonate with me, and I'm very proud that our government is putting that ambition into this and wanting to see improvements. In particular, we have recognised the dedication and hard work of aged-care workers by announcing a record 15 per cent pay increase, representing the biggest ever pay rise for aged-care workers—overdue and much deserved. These people are doing some of the hardest and most important work in this country. At the many aged-care facilities I've visited here in Canberra, and going back to when my grandmothers were there, these workers care so much. We need to support them in that and the incredibly important work they are doing.

Labor has also committed to improving the facilities and quality of aged care for aged-care residents and has legislated for 24/7 nurses and increased came minutes, which will allow those workers to actually spend that time with the residents and ensure that they are getting the care they deserve. I have run out of time to talk about all the achievements we have made in just a year, but I think ambition is a really important part of this. We actually want to see this as something we can be proud of, and we want people to be able to look forward to the care that they will receive.

Jenny Ware (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this motion that has been brought by the member for Jagajaga regarding the aged-care sector. All Australians want and expect our older Australians to be well supported and cared for in our community, including and particularly in residential aged-care homes. The opposition remains committed to supporting the health, safety and wellbeing of older Australians and understands the important role of healthcare providers, care workers and nurses play in ensuring that support is provided in the residential aged-care settings.

I was listening to the honourable member talking about her experiences with her grandparents. I can even remember being taken to see my great-grandmother many, many years ago. At that stage it was in a facility in Sydney, and she was in one room with seven other women, and they were taken out of bed each morning, put on a chair and left there for the entire day. I was a very little girl at the time, but I still have that visual. I am most relieved that these days we are providing technology and our understanding of aged care has moved on so that we are no longer treating our elderly as if they are patients in a hospital—I think that's probably the best way of putting it. A long time after that, my mother's mum, my nanna, also in an aged-care facility towards the end of her life. She did receive very good care, but I could see firsthand the experiences of the aged-care workers and how under-resourced and overworked they were.

In my electorate of Hughes, I have over 15 aged-care facilities that offer just over 1,600 residential places. I take this opportunity to thank everybody within my electorate who works within the aged-care sector, whether they be the doctors, nurses, cleaners, cooks or the helpers. I particularly acknowledge those who are working in some of the higher needs facilities, particularly in dementia and Alzheimer's wards. The work that they are doing in those facilities to provide quality of life to our elderly in their last stage—to provide them with stimulation and activities to keep them engaged—is phenomenal work. I recently visited HammondCare over in Hammondville, St Vincent's Aged Care Heathcote as well as IRT Thomas Holt Kirrawee Aged Care Centre and Catholic Healthcare Percy Miles Villa at Kirrawee. Again, I say thank you to everybody, particularly in my electorate, who is working in those facilities.

The Albanese Labor government has sought to act on some of the recommendations that have come out of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. There were some very shocking findings that came out of that. Unfortunately, while the minister said she would put the care back into aged care, instead, we have had a number of aged-care homes close under the minister's watch. One, in particular, Wesley Vikery Sylvania, was very close to me—just outside my electorate—and is where many from my electorate had moved to live. So I think that there is still far more work that the government needs to do and that the minister needs to do.

The policy of having a 24/7 nurse in every facility is a beautiful dream. It is aspirational, but it simply has not worked, and we've seen that with the closure of these facilities, amongst other things. Again, I commend all of those in the aged-care sector. (Time expired)

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There being no further speakers the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.