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

As of 8 o'clock this morning, 457 older Australians have died either in residential aged care or other aged-care settings as a result of COVID-19. They've died in circumstances where their families and loved ones were unable to hold them, unable to comfort them and unable to say a proper goodbye. Over 120 residential aged-care facilities have now had COVID-19 outbreaks, including at least 10 facilities that have had more than 100 infections. The government had months to plan for an outbreak in aged care, and they did nothing.

One of the most damning indictments of their performance was given by the aged care royal commission. Let me remind people once again of what the commissioners said:

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.

I quote the commissioners to make the point that it's not just Labor that has been saying this. The government's own appointed commissioners have criticised the government's failure to plan for an aged-care outbreak. Even the New South Wales Liberal government released a report saying that the Morrison government had no plan to deal with what has happened in aged care. I also remind those opposite of this part of the statement made by counsel assisting the commissioners, Peter Rozen QC, about the government's attitude following the Newmarch House outbreak:

… a degree of self-congratulation and even hubris was displayed by the Commonwealth Government.

Failure to plan, hubris and self-congratulation—that's what we've heard stated by the aged care royal commission.

We've also heard of the errors and the delays in communicating with relatives about whether their loved ones were dead or alive and, despite the numerous warnings the government had about communication issues on outbreaks from both Newmarch House and Dorothy Henderson Lodge, they still failed to fix these issues when further outbreaks occurred. With three months to learn from the failures of the Newmarch House outbreak, it's astounding that exactly the same issues were repeated in the St Basil's outbreak. The minister had three months to learn from what happened at Newmarch House, yet he still failed to put in place plans for the sector.

Given these failings, I wonder how those relatives of the hundreds of older Australians who've died felt when the minister turned his back and walked out of the chamber during the debate on his mishandling of the crisis. I wonder how those relatives of older Australians who have come close to death felt after they'd gone through the pain and uncertainty of not knowing where their relatives were or what condition they were in. And how did they feel when confronted with Mr Morrison's response to being told that Australia's aged-care sector has one of the highest COVID-19 death rates in the world? When Mr Morrison was confronted with this tragic fact, he said, 'When it rains, everyone gets wet.' Seriously? What an insensitive sort of comment to make. What a glib, insensitive and stupid response to this national tragedy. It's the kind of response, however, that typifies this government's attitude to the aged-care COVID-19 outbreak—no care, no plans and no responsibility.

When Mr Colbeck turned his back and walked out of the chamber last week he turned his back on the more than one million Australians receiving aged care, their families and the 360,000 workers who care for and support them. While the minister can walk out of the Senate chamber, he cannot turn his back and walk away from his, and his government's, disastrous handling of the COVID-19 outbreak in aged care. He can try and run and he can try and hide, but he cannot do it forever. The Prime Minister continues to claim that he's got confidence in the minister, but Mr Morrison's actions actually spoke volumes when he cut the minister out of key decisions relating to managing the outbreak in aged care. There's no way of spinning this: Mr Morrison has shown his lack of confidence in Senator Colbeck by effectively demoting him.

You would think that at this stage, with where the crisis is and the amount of scrutiny that the minister and his government are under, they would have got a handle on what is happening in aged care, but they haven't. Around half of the active cases in Victoria are in aged-care settings, but the failures are still continuing. The Morrison government has no idea how many aged-care workers in Victoria are working across multiple sites. We still don't have assurances that all workers have access to adequate PPE and that they've completed the PPE use and infection control training. As of Thursday last week, only one in four had, and it is still voluntary, as I understand it. I'm happy to be corrected if it's been made compulsory since Thursday. Maybe someone could tell me. But why is it not compulsory? It is bizarre. There are still new infections in aged care in Victoria, which points to an obvious lack of adequate infection control.

Senators on the opposite side of the chamber claim that Labor are making this a political issue. The minister himself accused us of playing games. Let me tell everybody listening: nothing could be further from the truth. It's our job as the opposition to highlight the government's aged-care failings and demand some accountability for them. It is our job to call on this government to do better. It is also our job to offer constructive suggestions as to how it can do better because, in doing so, there is a chance we can save lives.

The shadow minister for aged care, Julie Collins, the member for Franklin, has done an amazing job over the last seven years, trying to hold this government to account for the litany of issues around aged care and the concerns she's had about aged care. I just want to take my hat off to shadow minister Julie Collins and to say: Thank you for the work, Julie. I think without your hard work the aged-care sector would be in a much worse situation than it is now. Thank you for holding the government to account.

There are thousands of families out there with relatives in aged care who expect us to take up this issue on their behalf. They're afraid for their relatives—their mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts and uncles—and they want some assurance that those people are safe. As I mentioned last week in this place, according to a recent survey, 54 per cent of people with loved ones in aged care want to get them out. This shocking statistic is a clear demonstration of the level of fear that Australians have about the state of aged care and the level of distrust they have in the government's ability to manage this outbreak.

Residents and their families are not the only ones who are scared. We've got aged-care workers who are scared too. They're dealing with the fear of being infected day in, day out while trying to work in an aged-care system which is under the most incredible pressure. It's underfunded. They can't get appropriate PPE. They worry about going home to their families and maybe infecting them. It's completely unreasonable for this government to not take responsibility and to not have dealt with it over the past few months. The emotional toll this crisis is taking pushes those workers to exhaustion. All those workers are looking for is an assurance that the government overseeing the sector that they work in, the Australian government, is looking out for their health and safety. They want to hear that the government has a clear plan to end the COVID-19 outbreak in aged care and to prevent further outbreaks in the sector, and that's what Labor wants too.

We are simply looking for action. We are looking to this government to take responsibility for their role in managing the COVID-19 outbreak in aged care. We are raising these issues here to help save lives, and that's why we've done more than just criticise, more than just point out the failings of those opposite; we have outlined a positive plan to address the crisis. Mr Albanese outlined Labor's eight-point plan on aged care to the National Press Club last week. I hope those opposite have taken time to read and consider the eight points, but, just in case they haven't, I'll quickly go through them: establish minimum staffing levels in residential aged care, reduce the home care package waiting list so more people can stay in their homes for longer, ensure transparency and accountability of funding to support high-quality care— (Time expired)