Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

My mum spent the last five months of her life in aged care in north-west Tasmania. She loved it. Once she moved in, she repeatedly said that she wished she had made the decision to move into care earlier. She loved the company; the activities; the clean, modern room; and the staff. As the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety looks deeply at issues in aged care and as more and more families and aged-care staff find their voices, describing the horror of witnessing their most vulnerable loved ones mistreated, neglected and abused, I realised my mum won the lottery, a lottery of increasingly lengthening odds.

During this royal commission, we've found a system unable to respond, terrified residents, traumatised families, overburdened staff and an appalling lack of resources needed to take care of our vulnerable older Australians—an aged-care system so riddled with flaws and a lack of appropriate support that it simply could not move fast enough to protect life. The aged-care system is the responsibility of this federal government, a responsibility of the Morrison government. A minister who sits in this chamber runs, hides—ducking and weaving—causing trauma and costing lives. We've heard so many voices and so many horrific stories of neglect. In the news today, a woman described the appalling neglect of her father, saying, 'They were treating my dad like an animal to be slaughtered—burnt, stepped on and left in bed to rot.' The degrading treatment, the lack of respect, the disregard for the most basic of human rights horrifies us all; it's a disgrace. Yet we have a government and a Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services who show no shame and no humility.

This government has abrogated its responsibility to older Australians and their families time and time again. Today the country is bracing itself for the final report of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety due tomorrow. We've already seen its interim report titled: Neglect. That says it all. The report found aged-care residents literally starving, with maggots in their wounds, and workers and good providers in aged care 'succeeding despite the aged-care system'.

Aged care should not be some kind of lottery. It is outrageous that it's become so, and yet that is exactly what this government has turned it into. Making such a fundamental decision as moving into aged care should not be wrapped in terror that you will be subjected to neglect and abuse. Many older Australians are genuinely afraid and so are those who love them. Aged-care workers are exhausted and stretched to their absolute limit.

Older Australians built this country. They and the families who love them deserve so much better than the chaotic, unsafe system that has evolved under the Morrison government and this minister in this chamber. Here we have this minister constantly expressing concern with a furrowed brow and taking no responsibility for the wreckage that his government has wrought. Let us never ever forget that this crisis is the government's doing, a direct result of seven years of neglect—seven years of neglect. It is a government that has made savage cuts in aged care—and I heard Senator Polley talking about this earlier—like the $1.7 billion in funding that was cut in 2016-17 and 2017-18, on top of scrapping the pay rise that staff had secured back in 2014. The truth is this government only called the royal commission because it was shamed into it by the Four Corners media scandal. That's the only reason we've got a royal commission. If that Four Corners story had not been run we would not have had the royal commission that shone a light on all this neglect that we are seeing.

The Morrison government have had seven years to address this properly and to look after our older Australians. They've failed. There were 21 major reports into aged care during those seven years. They've received those reports during their seven years and they've failed to act on them. We continue to see the sheer gall of this government that won't face up to its responsibility. It shows no respect for our elderly Australians.

Question agreed to.