Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

The need for the Senate to:

(a) note:

(i) even before COVID-19, the Morrison Government had pushed the aged care system into crisis and older Australians were suffering,

(ii) the aged-care system has endured a revolving door of ministers - with seven in seven years,

(iii) the Morrison Government has cut funding and removed safeguards in aged care, including:

(A) abolishing the $1.2 billion aged-care workforce supplement for 350,000 front-line aged care workers within 18 days of forming Government in 2013, and

(B) Mr Morrison, as treasurer, cutting $1.7 billion from the aged care budget;

(iv) almost 150 recommendations have been made to the Morrison Government in a dozen inquiries and reviews, to protect older Australians in aged-care, but too many recommendations have been ignored, including:

(A) six years after then-Minister Fifield promised an aged-care workforce strategy, Australia still does not have one, and

(B) three years after the Australian Law Reform Commissioner recommended a Serious Incident Response Scheme to reduce the risk of abuse and neglect in aged care, Australia still does not have one;

(v) the Morrison Government's own statistics reveal that these cuts, confusion and chaos have resulted in:

(A) more than 100,000 Australians are waiting for their approved home care package,

(B) the average waiting time for older Australians going into residential aged care has blown out by more than 100 days, and

(C) Australians needing high-level home care are waiting, on average, 3 years for help;

(vi) Royal Commissioners, the Hon Tony Pagone QC and Lynelle Briggs AO, said that, "Had the Australian Government acted upon previous reviews of aged care, the persistent problems in aged care would have been known much earlier and the suffering of many people could have been avoided; and

(b) call on the Prime Minister and Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians to:

(i) recognise that Australia's aged care crisis is seven years in the making,

(ii) apologise to the many mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, grandmothers and grandfathers that would be alive today if not for these seven years of neglect, and

(iii) demonstrate leadership, stop seeking to deflect blame, and take responsibility for the crisis in our aged-care system.

There's no excuse, no amount of dodging and no amount of buck passing that can help the government avoid their responsibility for the disaster that is occurring in residential aged care. Today, there are more than 1,300 active cases of COVID-19 in aged care and, tragically, 328 aged care residents have died from the disease. That is a death rate of more than 18 per cent of the 1,761 cases so far, and that rate may get worse as active cases progress. These are more than just numbers on a screen. These are some of the most vulnerable Australians, and I would like to pay my personal condolences to those who have lost loved ones during COVID. I also want to thank the workforce that has worked so tirelessly throughout, often without suitable PPE, without the appropriate equipment and with a lack of training. I want to say that my thoughts are with every single person who has lost a loved one during the pandemic, but, as I said, particularly with those families who have loved ones in aged-care facilities.

I'd say to the Australian people: it's been said not just today but previously that the Labor Party are turning this into a political game—because we dare to ask questions, because we dare to speak up, because we want to know what's gone on and what hasn't—but the Labor Party are not turning this into a game. There are questions that need to be asked for these families. These families have questions. They want to know why their loved ones have died. It's up to us to ask those questions, and we will continue to do so.

The Morrison government and the Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians, Senator Colbeck, I'm sad to say, have failed in their duty to protect our most vulnerable Australians during the pandemic, but they also failed in the lead-up to the pandemic. As if the present failure of those opposite were not bad enough, the crisis in aged care before the COVID-19 outbreak has most certainly contributed. Mr Morrison and Senator Colbeck have serious questions to answer about this growing list of failures. Australians are demanding answers, especially those aged-care residents and their families, as I've said, who have been directly impacted by this tragedy. We've heard shocking evidence about these failures through both the COVID-19 Senate inquiry and the aged-care royal commission.

Instead of preparing residential aged care for a possible COVID-19 outbreak, the Morrison government failed even to develop a COVID-19 plan specifically for the aged-care system. In fact, when they did come up with an alleged plan they just renamed the CDNA's. It speaks volumes about the spin that the government go to and the announcements that they make. They're constantly spinning, making announcements, but they don't really do anything. I suppose that's part of the problem. When your leader has had a bit of experience in the marketing area—he's had to leave some of it for reasons we've never quite got to the bottom of—and it's all spin and no substance then you've got a problem.

The aged-care royal commission confirmed that the government wasn't prepared. They went so far as to say the government had engaged in self-congratulation and hubris. There was a four-day delay in the government acting on the St Basil's outbreak, despite the many warnings it had received about the need to improve communication between the regulator and the department. It was revealed to the COVID-19 Senate inquiry that only one in five aged-care workers had completed the government's training in infection control and personal protective equipment use—one in five; four out of five had not completed it. That was just before the explosion of cases in Victorian aged-care facilities. Earlier this month there were still over 200,000 workers—200,000 workers!—yet to complete the training. The government has spent only half the money allocated to funding a surge workforce to assist aged-care facilities impacted by the pandemic, even though its workforce has been insufficient to deal with the staffing shortfall. I hear you ask yourself: 'Did I hear the senator correctly? Has the government spent only half the money allocated to funding a surge workforce to assist aged-care facilities impacted by the pandemic?' Sadly, the answer is yes, you did hear correctly. And that is completely unacceptable.

These failings shouldn't be happening, and they wouldn't be happening had the Australian government been properly prepared. It's no wonder that the aged-care regulator has had a surge in complaints—a 50 per cent increase—between February and April this year. After all, the government have had the benefit of the independent reviews of the handling of the Newmarch House and Dorothy Henderson Lodge outbreaks for some time now. It's not good enough that they keep trying to pass the buck to Daniel Andrews and Gladys Berejiklian. The buck-passing was continuing as late as last Wednesday. In a press conference, the Prime Minister said, 'We regulate aged care, but when there is a public health pandemic then they are things that are managed from Victoria.' That is contrary to the Australian health sector emergency response plan for novel coronavirus (COVID-19), which states:

The Australian Government will also be responsible for residential aged care facilities; working with other healthcare providers to set standards to promote the safety and security of people in aged care and other institutional settings; and establishing and maintaining infection control guidelines, healthcare safety and quality standards.

It is pretty ironic that, in passing the buck to Victoria, Mr Morrison contradicted his government's own plan, given he was waving it around back in February when it was released. It would help if Mr Morrison had read the document rather than just use it as a prop. The fact is it is the Morrison government that funds and regulates aged care. It is in charge of the system and the buck stops with it.

The revelations today that Minister Colbeck has been cut out of decisions to activate emergency measures during a COVID-19 outbreak in aged care demonstrates that Mr Morrison has clearly lost confidence in his minister. To be honest, it's no surprise, with the difficulty the minister has in answering basic questions, such as how many COVID-19 deaths there have been in aged care or whether he briefed cabinet on the interim report of the royal commission. Ministerial Training 101 surely should be that you have those notes in front of you. If it wasn't the minister's fault, was it someone in the department that failed to prepare properly for the minister? Truly, it is disheartening. It is so sad for people who have lost family members to feel as though they haven't been taken seriously and that the issue is not being taken seriously.

But it is not just the government's mishandling of aged care during the pandemic that has led to the current crisis. It is a crisis that has been brought about by $1.7 billion in budget cuts which Mr Morrison oversaw as Treasurer, by the abolition of aged-care workforce supplement for 350,000 aged-care workers and by the revolving door for ministers in the aged-care portfolio. There have been seven ministers in seven years. Need I mention— (Time expired)