Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to take note in regard to the questions that Senator Watt asked Senator Colbeck, the minister for aged care. I agree with Senator Canavan that we need to take care of our elderly Australians. We need to respect them. But we need to make sure that they're living in a safe environment. This government is in its third term. You are in your third term. You cannot pretend that these things just happened yesterday. You guys need to step up to the mark and actually make sure that aged-care facilities are run in the way that they should be. Seven sanctions, as Senator Watt mentioned, for basic issues. Not supplying a caring environment or a safe environment. A sanction around nutrition and hydration.

Now, I don't know how many aged-care facilities people on that side have been in, but I've been in quite a few over my lifetime. In fact, I worked in an aged-care facility for two years when I was a student nurse, to subsidise my student-nurse income. I've seen it firsthand. That was some time ago, I will admit; that was a number of decades ago—