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

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services (Senator Colbeck) to questions asked by Senator Keneally and Senator Gallagher earlier today.

We know that the aged-care sector is in crisis. It's a word that we can't get the minister to say. In fact, in question time today he said it was in 'severe stress'. It's worse than 'severe stress'; it is in crisis, and I despair of the minister and his ability to deal with the ongoing issues. He has completely mismanaged it and shown his incompetence by his actions in regard to the crisis that the aged-care sector is facing. In fact, he has completely stuffed it, to be honest.

There are four key areas that concern this side of the chamber. Obviously, there are boosters, the lack of PPE and people being sent the wrong PPE when they've asked for it. And there are the RATs—we know they couldn't give a rats, so that is not news to anybody—and the surge workforce. We have aged-care workers who are so overworked and underpaid that, as we heard earlier today in question time, they're working 80 hours a week—a lot of them are working 80 hours a week. That's not sustainable.

Although I haven't worked in aged care, I know from my friends who do actually work in it that this industry is a very physical industry. It's also emotionally challenging for the workforce. They're not just dealing with people who might pop along to a surgery and who have a little sniffle. They have to lift people, they have to turn people and they have to deal with people who have mental health issues—dementia and all sorts of issues. Some of those people have been, basically, locked up for weeks and weeks on end and not been able to see their families. People have had to die without their families present. And what do we have? We've had lip service from a government that really, as I said—humour aside—could not give a rats. They could not give a rats.

These workers deserve our respect. And what else they deserve is decent pay for what they do. A lot of them are only earning $22 an hour. You can earn more being a gardener or a cleaner in someone's home. It's atrocious that we are treating people who are looking after some of the most vulnerable people in our society in this way. They're underpaid. They're being treated like rubbish by this government, with no care whatsoever. Then we wonder—well, we don't on this side; we know why—why it's hard to retain workers in the industry, as I said, even before you consider the pressures brought about by the industry.

Our aged-care workers—I want to say this upfront—have been doing amazing work under such difficult conditions, and they are the heroes of this pandemic. The villain is Minister Colbeck, who decided that it was better to go to three days at the cricket than to deal with the aged-care crisis or attend a Senate committee inquiry into COVID. This is despite the fact that the committee had said to him, 'We will meet at a day and time of your convenience.' You know what? They only wanted two hours and 45 minutes of his time. But no. Minister Colbeck could not give that two hours and 45 minutes. Why? Because Minister Colbeck was at the cricket, enjoying hospitality. Seriously, they could have found him a room over there. I know what the cricket ground is like. I live in Hobart. I've been over there. They could have found him a nice, quiet little room where he could have set things up and done it. But he didn't want to, and that's because he's embarrassed, as he should be. He should be hanging his head in shame about the treatment of the aged-care sector all through COVID. I'll tell you: I'm surprised he even turns up, because truly it would take more front than Myer to turn up and say, 'The sector is under severe stress.' It's worse than severe stress; it's in crisis. (Time expired)