Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Minister Colbeck told us today, in this chamber, that he will hold others to account. He will hold to account the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, he will hold to account aged-care providers and he will hold to account the opposition. But what he didn't do, what he refused to do, was to acknowledge his responsibilities and to acknowledge the failures—the government's lack of care and support over the pandemic.

The pandemic is not a surprise. We've been at this since early 2019, yet we are seeing the crisis continue—because, yes, aged care is in crisis. This government is incapable of planning. It has been incapable, since 2019, of seeing what devastation can occur with vulnerable people. It is incapable of protecting our vulnerable people. Where were the vaccines to minimise the impact? Where was the PPE to stop the spread? Where was the plan to protect our vulnerable older people?

The aged-care sector is in crisis, and the most crucial issue over time has been that of the workforce, of having a sufficient number of trained people to look after our vulnerable older people. The current crisis and chronic shortages are as a result of almost nine long years of neglect. This government, in 2013, killed off a workforce compact that had been negotiated by Labor to improve the wages of aged-care staff. The work done by Labor while in government included a revamp of aged care. There were significant changes to protect older people, provide choices for older people and improve the wages of staff doing vitally important work in the aged-care sector. When this government came in, in 2013, it scrapped some of the most critical aspects of that reform, and we are seeing the result of that right now.

There are chronic staff shortages. We have older people in residential aged-care facilities right now living in unbearable conditions. Why? Because the pandemic and staff shortages make situations where we have staff looking after up to 60 people. We heard earlier: where do they go? Someone has fallen over, somebody has soiled, somebody needs to be fed or somebody is having a medical situation. How do they appropriate their time when they're looking after 60 people at a time? It is an unconscionable situation. It is a situation that could have been planned for. It is a situation that, as Australians, we should all be embarrassed about.

The standard of care for residents has plunged to alarming new lows, partly because there are staff shortages and partly because we are not looking appropriately at the running of the aged-care sector. More than 500 people in aged care have died during COVID. This is a completely unacceptable situation, and all we have is Minister Colbeck standing in front of us today and not taking any responsibility, defending the fact that he spent three days at the cricket and defending the fact that he hasn't met with various people to deal with this crisis—he has consistently not taken responsibility. The aged-care minister says that the sector is not in crisis, but just about everyone living in it, working in it or looking at it says that it is.

People deserve better; our older people deserve better. When the AMA advised in September 2021 that there was trouble coming, that there were going to be greater challenges with the new variant—and omicron particularly came to bear on that—the government did nothing. They didn't plan and they didn't think about how they were going to protect vulnerable people in this country. They just went about their business, went to the cricket and paid no attention. This situation is a disgrace and we should all be ashamed of the situation we find ourselves in.

Question agreed to.