Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I know one of those 335 who have now passed away in residential aged-care facilities. My great-auntie Edie passed away in New South Wales. She did not deserve to go the way she did, but she did, like another 334. My thoughts and prayers are with every single family who has lost someone in these circumstances, whether in an aged-care facility or otherwise.

I would first like to compliment the minister on facing the dogged questioning from the opposition over the course of question time. Every single opposition question was put to the minister during the course of question time and he faithfully gave answers to each and every question. He started his answer to the first question by noting his deep regret that last Friday he was not able to provide the figures which had been asked for. I have no doubt, knowing the minister as I do, that that apology was heartfelt, sincere and genuine, and it was given with great dignity.

Those listening to this debate would be excused for thinking that all of the responsibility with respect to aged care falls at the minister's feet. The answer is very, very different. I refer to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Outbreaks in Residential Care national guidelines which were adopted under the auspices of the Communicable Diseases Network Australia. That document sets out the actual responsibilities for each of the stakeholders in aged care. I just want to give a summary of those responsibilities, because if you were listening to this debate you would think the sole person responsible is Mr Colbeck, and that is simply untrue.

Firstly, under the heading 'Residential Care Facilities', the guidelines state:

The primary responsibility of managing COVID-19 outbreaks lies with the RCF—

the residential care facilities—

in their responsibility for resident care and infection control. All RCF should have access to infection control expertise, whether in-house or not, and outbreak management plans in place.

I repeat those words: the primary responsibility of managing COVID-19 outbreaks lies with the residential care facilities. These are guidelines that were accepted by the entire industry. These are the industry's guidelines. The primary responsibility lies with the residential care facilities.

Then, next, under the heading 'The State/Territory Department of Health', the guidelines state:

State/territory public health section in the Departments of Health will act in an advisory role to assist RCF to detect, characterise and manage COVID-19 outbreaks. This includes:

And so it goes on. Those were the responsibilities of the state and territory departments of health.

I come to the Australian Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission. It's responsibility is as the national regulator of aged-care services. Then there's the Australian government's Department of Health. The guidelines state:

For Residential Aged Care Facilities (RACF) that receive funding from the Commonwealth, the Commonwealth will work collaboratively with the overall management of the response to support the viability and capacity of the RACF to access services …

The Commonwealth government, under the leadership of the minister, Minister Colbeck, has been doing exactly that. It has provided an additional $1 billion in funding. Just as recently as last Friday it provided an additional $171 million.

Those are the roles and responsibilities of each of the players and stakeholders in aged-care facilities. That was the observation also in the independent review that was released today, the final report, dated 20 August 2020, into the Newmarch House COVID-19 outbreak. That responsibility of the residential care facilities was front and centre in that report. Appendix I contained a summary of key learnings numbered 1 through to 20. Those are 20 key learnings covering a diverse range of subjects. It is simply disingenuous and quite reprehensible in some respects, in the circumstances, to try to apportion all the blame to Minister Colbeck. (Time expired)