Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Hansard source

I inform the Senate that at 8.30 am today 16 proposals were received in accordance with standing order 75. The question of which proposal would be submitted to the Senate was determined by lot. As a result, I inform the Senate that the following letter has been received from Senator Keneally:

Pursuant to standing order 75, I give notice that today I propose to move "That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

The need for the Senate to:

(1) note:

(a) Aged care is in crisis, and as at 23 August 2020:

(i) 1,745 COVID-19 cases have been recorded in aged care facilities.

(ii) 313 aged care residents have died

(b) Evidence to the Aged Care Royal Commission that Australia has "one of the highest rates in the world of residential aged care deaths as a proportion of deaths from COVID-19".

(c) The Federal Government is in charge of aged care, it regulates aged care, it funds aged care, it has the legislation that determines the quality of aged care older Australians receive, and its own document on the health responses to COVID-19 in February clearly stated that it would be responsible for residential aged care facilities.

(d) The Morrison government has failed to plan to protect older Australians in aged care during the coronavirus pandemic, leading to unnecessary deaths.

(e) Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Morrison government had been warned of widespread neglect in its aged care system.

(f) The Morrison Government has let down hundreds of thousands of aged care residents and workers.

(2) express its sympathy to the families of all those residents of aged care who have died as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

(3) call on the Prime Minister, Mr Morrison, and Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians, Senator Colbeck, to demonstrate leadership, stop seeking to deflect blame, take responsibility for the tragedy unfolding in aged care."

Is the proposal supported?

More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

I understand that informal arrangements have been made to allocate specific times to each of the speakers in today's debate. With the concurrence of the Senate, I shall ask the clerks to set the clock accordingly.