Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Environment and Water (Senate)) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise this afternoon to take note of answers given by Senator Scullion. That is because Australians, through their own personal experiences, have been shocked and appalled at what they've seen happen in our aged-care system. The Four Corners episode last night had its genesis in thousands of people reaching out to the ABC to share their shocking and appalling stories about what has been happening in the aged-care system, particularly in relation to the standard of care being delivered in some nursing homes—a standard of care that does not meet community expectations and that has seen things like people left on the toilet for hours because no-one comes to attend to them and people left lying on the floor overnight when they have fallen over because staffing ratios have meant that there's been no-one to check on them.

We should, as a nation, judge ourselves by how we treat our elderly citizens. We're not a fair and generous country unless we treat all Australians with the dignity, care and respect that they deserve. But it's very clear that this is a standard that is not being met in many nursing homes around the country. I've spoken to staff, to people in nursing homes and to the families of people in nursing homes not only about the conditions but, more importantly, also about the abuse and cover-ups that are happening in the aged-care sector. There is a failure to maintain the expected standards.

The Liberals shouldn't be waiting for a royal commission before they start fixing this crisis. Let's be clear: I don't accept what Senator Paterson has said about the effect of budget cuts in this space. I have spoken to aged-care providers about the impact of things like the withdrawal of and decline in the dementia funding packages, and the very real impact of the changes that this government has made on the capacity of aged-care services to provide quality and sustainable care for their residents. In addition, we know that there are some 108,000 people waiting for a home care package, including 88,000 people with high needs, many living with dementia.

We have before us a shocking record from this government on aged care. It cut the dementia supplement—funding that was meant to go to older Australians who need our care and support most of all. We have said for a long time that the system is in a state of crisis. Back in May, Bill Shorten said to this parliament that the government likened his statements to committing elder abuse. That was the Leader of the Labor Party raising the profile of these issues to highlight them to the parliament and to the nation. What did those opposite call it? They called his statements 'an act of elder abuse'.

I don't think that there is anyone in our nation who would disagree that there need to be more workers and better-trained staff in our nursing homes. I have spoken to staff who are members of the United Voice union about their desire to be able to access training and to lift quality standards in the homes in which they work. Time and time again, they've told me stories like: 'I've been offered an online package to go and do my personal care training but there's no time to do it. I can't even leave the nursing home to go and do this training because we do not have the staff available. If I leave the nursing home to go and do training, then there is no-one here to do the personal care for the residents of my home.' There are real reasons why staff have been unable to do the training that they need, and that is because they don't have access— (Time expired)