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

It was a very good speech, Senator Farrell; I agree. As this government has absolutely no idea how to deal with any of the issues in aged care, the Labor Party will once again make some suggestions for them on what they can do. When Mr Albanese spoke in the National Press Club, he pointed out that in the absence of a government plan there are eight points the government could consider. This is once again Labor having to do the work of the government because they are so inept and incompetent that they can't actually work out what they need to do. What did Mr Albanese suggest?

He suggested pretty basic stuff: minimum staffing levels in residential aged care; reducing the home-care package waiting list so more people can stay in their homes—that reminds me about a survey which showed that Australians have lost confidence in the system under this government. A survey by Fifth Dimension found that 54 per cent of people with family members in aged care are thinking of moving their loved ones into their own homes. This survey was conducted between 31 July and 3 August, after the deadly outbreak of coronavirus in nursing homes in Sydney and Melbourne. Of these, one-third are considering doing that permanently. That might actually solve a bit of the problem for the aged-care facilities, but it opens up a whole new problem for the government because I think they've got over 130,000 people on the waiting list for home-care packages. If these people have moved out, then a hell of a lot more people will be waiting for home-care packages.

The third point that Mr Albanese talked about was ensuring transparency and accountability of funding to support high-quality care. I've got to say— (Time expired)