Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to make a short contribution on behalf of people in New South Wales, in particular those in the retirement capital of the state, in the seat that I live in, the seat of Robertson, and, adjacent to that, the seat of Dobell. So many people who have lived a great life in the city have worked and made a profound contribution to the country by their endeavours and efforts. They've run businesses and they've worked in factories. They've done everything you can imagine, and they seek retirement on the Central Coast. They believe, when they move to the Central Coast, some of the rhetoric of this government—that the government claims it will be there for them. But, sadly, all too often on the Central Coast, we are finding more and more people who fit the descriptions that have been so aptly put before the chamber by Senator McAllister, Senator Siewert, Senator Sheldon and Senator Griff.

This is a horror story that we've been listening to in the chamber this afternoon—a horror story in which the government pats itself on the back when it leaks out a few more home-care packages. That's what we see constantly; that is the pattern of behaviour of this government. There is a big claim and a rhetorical flourish of the kind Senator Griff alluded to in his closing comments: 'We care about Australians in their aged-care stage. We care about the contributions. We'll be there for you.' That's what the Prime Minister says, and that's what the minister for aged care says as well. But, when they're needed and when they're wanted, they are absolutely missing in action to the extent that—and I want to restate these figures—28,000 people died on the waiting list. Imagine the scale of that: 28,000 funerals, with all the grief, all the sorrow, all the despair and all the broken-heartedness of people who believed Mr Morrison and his government and thought that they would get what they needed because that's what they were promised by a government that simply lies through its teeth to the Australian people day in and day out. Twenty-eight thousand people died waiting for a home-care package. That is a great shame and a great stain on the social compact that people believe they have with the government that they've paid taxes to for all of their working life. What do you think that's like for those families who had that degree of trust? This situation has been exacerbated—it's gotten completely out of control under the Liberal-National governance of the last eight years.

In regional Australia, this situation is even worse than it is in the cities. I've spoken about the fantastic place where I live in the seat of Robertson. I have meetings regularly with the service providers in aged care. They are heartbroken. It's not just the banks of these smaller providers that are teetering on the brink in regional Australia. For the people who've invested their lives in working in aged care, who felt a calling to that profession, who in many cases give as an expression of their faith, it's not just a business to them. They have a deep sense of care for aged Australians. They are finding that they cannot provide the care that aged Australians need. They are finding that people who really wanted to stay in their community and in their own home are being forced into formal aged-care settings that they never wanted to be a part of. And it's because they are waiting and waiting and waiting, day in and day out, for the money they should receive to have home care.

Senator Griff correctly quoted the figures: 19,000 people who were approved for home care couldn't get anything from this government and were forced into aged care. I don't know about everybody in this chamber or about the people who might be listening to this, but conversations about how you're going to look after your mum, dad, aunt, uncle or somebody that you care for in the community or that you're a guardian for—those conversations are carefully undertaken. Promises are made: 'Mum I'll make sure that you're looked after. I'll do my best.' In the back of their minds is a trust in the government, in this Liberal-National government, that when the time comes if they need a hand they're going to be able to get it. But this government has failed to deliver. Right now, as I'm standing here in the chamber, there are still 100,000 Australians who need and want a home-care package. This government will spin the story that they've put this legislation in the chamber and they're doing great work in aged care. It's not great work and it's not meeting the needs of Australians; it's disingenuous. What we're seeing here is just another punctuation mark in an ongoing litany of failures with regard to aged care.

How bad is this government? How bad is their treatment of older Australians? It's so bad that the aged-care commissioner put out an interim report entitled Neglect. Neglect—that is the signature of this government written all over the aged-care sector. Neglect at every turn. So this piece of legislation today—another little bit of window dressing to tinker at the edges—once again reveals the cynical attitude that this government has to Australians and the abuse of trust of older Australians, particularly older Australians who believe this government is there for them. Well, 28,000 of them got buried while they were waiting. I bet they regret voting for this government many, many, many times. If you care about the people you love who are ageing, you cannot afford to vote for this government ever again because their track record is a wreck. You only have to look back over these eight years to see the steady decline of actual investment in systems and care for aged people.

I will report that the minister who is so responsible for aged care, sitting over there, Minister Colbeck, dared to look up at me and mouth that he doesn't believe a word I'm saying. That is the kind of hypocrisy that we see from this government—a failure to accept the fact that thousands and thousands of older Australians are dying on your watch because you can't raise a finger—