Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

I made clear at the outset that Labor supports this bill. The Aged Care Legislation Amendment (Emergency Leave) Bill 2020 amends the Aged Care Act 1997 and the Aged Care (Transitional Provisions) Act 1997 to introduce a new type of leave that permanent residential aged care residents may utilise during situations such as natural disasters, pandemics or other large-scale emergencies that can impact the safe provision of residential aged care and the safety of the resident.

Once an emergency situation has been determined, the leave would be applied to a specific area, such as national, state and territory aged care planning for an individual service. This leave is for a specified time period and provides for a level of flexibility needed to allow the Commonwealth to address situations such as floods and bushfires or future instances of isolated or regional outbreaks of COVID-19.

Under each of the above-mentioned acts, permanent aged-care residents are entitled to take up to 52 days of nonhospital related leave, known as social leave, within a financial year. When an aged-care resident exceeds their annual social leave entitlement, the aged-care home no longer receives a Commonwealth residential care subsidy for that person, and the provider passes those costs onto the resident.

The emergency leave is not limited to a number of days or a specific timeframe. The minister can deem the length of time that emergency leave remains in place as well as an end date. Any declaration of emergency by a minister or his or her delegate for the purposes of this bill will be done as a disallowable instrument to allow scrutiny and oversight. There is no financial impact for the government by the proposed amendments. Any costs associated with updates to the aged care payments system will be funded from existing programs.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the minister for the spirit of bipartisanship he has undertaken to date. I understand the shadow minister has been briefed regularly in relation to COVID-19 but also in relation to this bill. We're also pleased that the government has listened to Labor around the issues of social leave. It is an issue that we have raised directly with the minister because we know there would have been an ongoing financial burden for many Australian families who are caring for their loved ones at home. There are around 500 Australian families currently caring for their loved ones under social leave arrangements.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, many family members have made a decision to continue caring for their loved ones in their own home and not return them to their residential facility to receive care. This has and will result in many older Australians passing the capped 52-day social leave arrangements. The consumer would ordinarily then be required to pay the government subsidy of around $230 per day to save their place in the residential aged-care facility they are taking leave from. For many families and consumers, this is a cost that they are unable to sustain. Amending the acts will ensure that the family or consumer will not take on any unnecessary financial burden if they have passed the 52-day social leave arrangements.

For social leave, there will be a retrospective date of 1 April 2020 so that families are covered as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is understood that the Commonwealth will continue to pay the subsidy to those residents accessing social leave from 1 July 2020, and this we welcome. At this stage, no end date has been put forward. However, we will monitor this as we enter a new financial year.

We acknowledge the difficult and challenging times for residents, their families and of course those who care and support older Australians, all aged-care workers. The COVID-19 virus has had a significant impact on residential and home care. It has infected residents and aged-care workers, and, sadly, the virus has claimed lives. Our deepest sympathies go to the families who have lost loved ones.

Labor has welcomed the opportunity to put forward ideas when it comes to supporting older Australians and aged-care workers. Social leave, as I've already stated, was raised as an issue by Labor, and again I thank the minister for listening to those representations. So, too, was the expanded support for vulnerable older Australians through the Community Visitors Scheme. Again, we acknowledge the government's $10 million announcement in relation to this measure. We hope it provides some much needed support.

Labor has also put forward ways that aged-care workers could be supported during the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, the government's announcement around the retention bonus has failed to support all aged-care workers. The government has excluded aged-care workers from receiving the retention bonus. It depends on where you work and what role you do. Frankly, this just is not good enough. The shadow minister has written to the Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians twice, calling on the Morrison government to value all aged-care workers for the care and support they all provide as a team to older Australians.

There have been infection control failures. Residents, their families and staff deserve answers to what went wrong. It is our hope that the Morrison government will join Labor in calling for the royal commission into aged care to investigate the COVID-19 virus' deadly impact at Newmarch House. It's the right thing to do, and the royal commission has the investigatory powers to do this special investigation. This special investigation is important: it will provide many answers so that if a pandemic happens again we will know more about how best to manage this situation in a residential aged-care facility but also Australians must be assured that we have the best infection control practices in aged care. In conclusion, this bill will make a difference to families who are caring for their loved ones. As I've said earlier, we are pleased that the government has listened to Labor's concerns and acted.

I also wanted to take this opportunity to put on the record our thanks to all of our aged-care workers who continue to work tirelessly through the COVID-19 pandemic. We know it's been a tough and challenging time for you and your families. We appreciate the work that you do. You are valued. We value the work that you do, and we thank you for the work that you do to care for and support older Australians.