Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise today to speak on the urgency motion moved by yourself, Madam Deputy President Lines, regarding the Morrison government's failure to protect older Australians in residential aged care from COVID-19, from this pandemic. But before I do so I want to do something that has been a bit missed already by some senators in this debate, and that's to acknowledge the more than 300 Australians living in residential aged care who have lost their lives, because ultimately it is them we are talking about here today—more than 300 Australians who've passed away. Our thoughts are with them and with their families, because it never should have been this way. Many of these Australians have died alone, unable to say goodbye in the dignified manner they had the right to expect.

Just imagine not being able to say goodbye to your spouse, to your parent, to your child, to your friend or to whoever it is in there—not being able to say goodbye, not being able to hold their hand, not being able to look them in the eye, not being able to comfort them in those last moments of grief. It's devastating; it's devastating to even think about. These are some of our most vulnerable Australians, and this government failed in delivering a plan to keep them safe during this pandemic. And it's not just a failure of these times. It's a failure built on years and years of successive failures—reports sitting on shelves gathering dust year after year; cuts after cuts in federal budgets, packaged up and designed to look like something else, but the budget papers do not lie. Australia's aged-care system was in crisis under this government long before the pandemic. And let's be clear: this is their responsibility. It is the Prime Minister's responsibility. The government regulates the aged-care sector and it funds that aged-care sector. Whilst the government is not responsible for the pandemic, and it's not responsible for a global economic downturn—sure—but it is responsible for our aged-care system and it is responsible for the failure to prepare that sector for what we've just seen.

This Prime Minister has not genuinely taken responsibility. We have passing of the buck, which we see with him all the time. But his hands are all over these failures as well. He was the Treasurer who cut $1.7 million from the aged-care budget. He has been there as funding has been slashed and safeguards have been removed. He has been there with changes to the workforce. The fact is that he can't spin his way out of this one. He can't spin his way out of the things we've heard at the royal commission.

The recent three-day hearing in August revealed some terrible truths that the Morrison government and the Prime Minister need to own up to. These are truths that show they weren't prepared to handle the pandemic, truths that show they did not have a plan—the plan they needed. These are the truths that show that face masks should have been made compulsory earlier and that basic issues around PPE should have been addressed. These are the facts outlined, but we don't see responsibility from our Prime Minister. We see him stepping away from that responsibility and seeking to blame anyone but himself. It's not enough for those families. It shouldn't be enough for any of us. The Prime Minister needs to take responsibility for the failings of his government, for the failings of the sector he funds and regulates and for the failure to protect older Australians during this pandemic.

The saddest thing about these tragedies is that perhaps with better planning they could have been avoided. We saw what happened at Newmarch House. We saw what happened at the Dorothy Henderson Lodge. Yet the Prime Minister has told us that the outbreak in Victoria could not have been anticipated or foreshadowed. But it was. It was foreshadowed for the government and it was foreshadowed for the Prime Minister. There was an opportunity at that point to step in with a better plan. They should have been better prepared in an area that is their responsibility, but they weren't.

We've heard today, during this debate and others, members from the government side saying that Labor, by asking questions about these successive tragedies, are politicising the issue. What kind of joke is that? What kind of an accusation is that? What is the point of this place and this chamber if not to scrutinise the government for the things they are responsible for? What is the point of this place if we are not here to ask questions of the executive, if we are not here to get to the bottom of government failings? Do government senators honestly believe it is not our place to hold the government to account, to ask questions about failures for our most vulnerable Australians? How dare these senators say that we can't ask these questions. That is disrespectful of the role of this chamber and the role of senators.

I've also heard senators on the other side look back further into the past, but the reality is that you guys got the keys to the Lodge—you've had them for seven years—this is your responsibility. These seven years of failures are your responsibility. You're on that side of the chamber so step up to it. When you can't step up to it, take responsibility for it. Australians are scared. They are terrified that what they are seeing, even if they don't live in Victoria, is coming to their homes and to their loved ones in aged care. You have an opportunity now to fix it for them. But you also have to take responsibility, stop deflecting and just fix it. (Time expired)