Kristina Keneally (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

You're too young, Senator Duniam, but I'm sure that Senator Abetz remembers it! I remember it. Senator Stoker probably remembers it. Here's the thing: Jim Hacker was a famous fictional character. What do we have? We have the all-too-real Senator Richard Colbeck. Jim Hacker: he was bumbling, he was accident prone and he occasionally got it right, but he was an object of derision. He made a mockery of being a minister, but he was fiction. Richard Colbeck is all too real. What is also all too real is this government's neglect of residential aged care. Minister Richard Colbeck made a mockery of being a minister for aged care today in question time when he was confronted with the evidence. For example, under Minister Richard Colbeck's 'care'—I use that word advisedly—of the aged-care sector, we have had shocking stories of ants crawling from wounds, residents left in dirty nappies and providers begging for more staff. We have heard that there are 100 reports of assault and sexual assault every week, more than 1,000 assaults go unreported every week and more than 2,000 complaints were recorded in just three months. What has this minister done? Has he apologised? Has he taken responsibility? Has he resigned? No. He has done what this government always does: found someone else to blame, left Australians behind, taken no responsibility.

This government are so good on the announcement. They're always there for the announcement and the photo op but never there for the follow-through. Back in March, the Prime Minister stood up and waved around in the courtyard what he said was a plan, a plan for residential aged care. He said that the federal government would be responsible for residential aged care during the COVID pandemic. Those were his words, not mine. What did the royal commission into aged care say last week? It said there was not a COVID-19 plan devoted solely to aged care. This isn't just some claim by political opponents. This isn't just some complaint by family members obviously distressed by the sickness and death of their loved ones. This is the finding of the royal commission appointed by the Prime Minister. What did the Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians do in the chamber today? He rubbished the royal commission. He disregarded and rejected their findings. That is what the Morrison government always does, though. It finds someone else to blame and leaves people behind. It's always there for the announcement, never there for the follow-through.

We have 673 older Australians dead. Today in question time the minister said that the Australian Labor Party in asking these questions was just pandering to sectoral interests. I'll tell you what, older Australians are the sectoral interest I am happy to be associated with. The minister for the aged should look after them too. (Time expired)