Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Aged Care, Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. How does the department then verify whether an individual is key personnel under the act? Doesn’t this case clearly show that the government carries out no real checks on the ownership or control of approved providers of residential aged care? Under current arrangements, isn’t it a fact that the department does not know who actually owns and controls the approved providers that are operating government funded nursing homes? Given that the sector receives over $5 billion in taxpayers’ money every year, why hasn’t the government done more to ensure that owners of residential aged care facilities are of proper character?