Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader (Tasmania)) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Indigenous Affairs (Senator Scullion) to questions without notice asked by Senators O'Neill, Brown and Chisholm today relating to aged care funding.

What I thought was extraordinary today was the minister's lack of ability to answer any of the questions relating to the aged-care cuts and whether or not the minister watched the Four Corners program last night. But just to highlight one of the answers that was given by Senator Scullion, when we asked about former Treasurer Scott Morrison's cut of $1.2 billion, the minister said that it wasn't a cut; it was just an efficiency dividend. When isn't a cut a cut?

The answers, and the lack thereof, from this minister demonstrated very clearly why the aged-care sector has been in crisis and why this government has failed to address those concerns. The minister didn't even know who Sean Rooney—the CEO of LASA, the national body of aged-care providers—was. It was Sean Rooney, in fact, who said that over the last four years there has been $3 billion taken out of the aged-care sector. When the sector is in crisis it's not the time to cut—as this government has done.

They've been in government five years and what they want to do is point back to when Labor was in government. Well, I'm quite happy to talk about what we did when we were in government, because it was former minister Mark Butler who worked with the then opposition to deliver a new platform for aged care in this country with the Living Longer Living Better reforms. That was reinforced with an investment of $3.7 billion. All this government had to do when they came into power was to continue that reform. They failed to do that. Three ministers have had this responsibility over four years. Not one of them has actually had their eye on the ball, otherwise they would have known what this sector was facing. They would have known the issues and the challenges around the work force. What have we seen? In the last three years at least 14 reports have been handed down, ranging from issues with staff and the challenges there to the cost of aged care. What have we seen from this government? All they've done is stack them one on top of the other. All they're doing is gathering dust. One of those reports was mandated through legislation which we introduced when we were in government. That was the David Tune report. It was a very thorough report, and he was a very highly respected public servant. But what have we seen from this government? They have just cherrypicked a few things—that's all that they have done.

I understand the anguish the Australian community would have felt watching the Four Corners program last night. They have every right to be ashamed at the lack of high standard of care in this country. We support the call for a royal commission, but what I want to make very clear in this chamber is that this government cannot use the royal commission to stall any further investment and reform into this sector. They can take immediate action now. There are 108,000 older Australians who are waiting for aged-care support to be provided to them in their own home. Fifty-four thousand of those—that's half of those people—aren't getting any support at all. Eighty-eight thousand of those people who are waiting have already been diagnosed and are living with dementia. That funding can be restored. What this government should be doing is taking action now to make sure that that waiting list is cleared. Those figures were from March. I can't even imagine, when the government finally has the gumption to release the latest figures from June, how much they would have increased by.

This government has a lot to answer for. They could do a lot more, when it comes to leadership around employment, about the wages and conditions of the people that are working in the aged-care sector. They need to have a career opportunity and a pathway going forward. This government at every opportunity says, 'This is not our responsibility; this is the responsibility of the sector.' A mature government would sit down with the sector and with the opposition and try and resolve these issues. We have put that olive branch out countless times, but what have we heard? The Prime Minister has instructed the minister not to talk to us. This is how committed this Prime Minister is! All of a sudden he has found out there are old people in this country. Well, he's in political trouble, because he knows that having this job means he is not up to this job and there's no reason to replace the— (Time expired)