Stirling Griff (SA, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians, Minister Colbeck. This week the ABC Investigations Unit highlighted the fact that aged-care facilities can employ as few staff as they like and that a study of 800 nursing homes showed the average food spend for residents was a paltry $6 a day. The ABC story also referenced an amendment I put forward in December which would have required aged-care providers to reveal what proportion of their funds they actually spend on delivering care and how much goes to other things, like lining the pockets of their parent bodies. The government, joined by Senator Hanson and Senator Roberts, voted against this simple but necessary reform. Why does the government not believe that the sector needs to be more transparent in how it spends taxpayer dollars?