Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Watt, for the question. Quite simply, it is because, as sanctions, which are a function of the quality system that we operate in this country, are applied, corrective action is taken to deal with the sanctions. Sanctions aren't necessarily a mortal process in the quality system. They are actually a mechanism by which the quality agency goes in, conducts reviews of the activities within a service, says to the service, 'You need to take corrective action,' goes back, and assesses the corrective action that's been taken. Once the corrective action has been taken to resolve the issues, the sanctions process is closed. On each occasion in previous circumstances, that's exactly what happened. So the agency went in, corrective action was taken to resolve the issues and then the sanctions process was completed. That's what happens in all circumstances where there are issues that are found in aged-care facilities across Australia. That is actually how a quality system works.

The process is: an inspection is undertaken, defects or faults are found, corrective action is taken by the facility under the supervision and direction of the quality agency and, once those processes are completed, the sanctions process is closed. That's happened, as you've noted, on a number of occasions.