Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise this morning to speak to Senator Watt's motion and to ask the government to explain why Minister Colbeck remains the Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services. The Minister for Aged Care has failed to keep older people safe, and the federal government is responsible for aged care. They have done a shocking job at keeping older people safe in this country. The minister for aged care has failed—and the word 'failed' has to be reiterated—on all accounts. He's failed on the vaccine rollout, failed to provide boosters to older Australians and their carers and failed to provide PPE. Aged-care workers still have to pay for their own rapid antigen tests. This is simply unacceptable. Older people in residential aged care are missing out on a basic care and hygiene due to the workforce shortages and, of course, the COVID crisis. Our older people are locked down and isolated from family and friends because of this government's failure to protect them. Where's the minister's accountability? It's missing in action, as usual.

Yesterday, in my home state of WA, we recorded our first two cases of omicron in an aged-care facility. These cases were detected in a residential aged-care facility in Bentley. I'm extremely worried about the threat of COVID in aged-care facilities, particularly in WA, as we open our border. We should be learning the lessons from the COVID crisis here on the east coast and doing everything we can to support aged-care services, particularly in Western Australia.

These are not new issues in the aged-care sector. These have been going on for decades, and the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety found that there were unacceptably high levels of abuse and neglect in aged care and, in fact, with the intersection of disability, anyone that is over 65 years of age is in aged care. The system was in crisis before COVID arrived. That needs to be acknowledged, and thanks to a decade of funding cuts by successive governments this is the place that we find ourselves in.

The care economy is one of our largest workforces. The aged-care workers in this country are underpaid and overworked. They are some of the lowest paid people in the country, and they have been working tirelessly throughout this pandemic to support older people in our communities. They absolutely deserve better.

The royal commission recommended that the government in this sector put in applications to the Fair Work Commission to increase their wages. The latest federal budget included no ongoing wage increase for these workers. The one-off payment that the Morrison government announced recently is just not enough. It's not enough when this is our largest workforce in this country. Without serious long-term commitments to improve pay, conditions and training, this government will be unable to implement the recommendations from the royal commission.

Unlike the major parties, the Greens are strongly backing the calls from the unions for permanent wage increases for aged-care workers, and the Greens are the only party arguing that aged care should not be run for profit. Big corporations should not be making millions of dollars for the provision of essential social services—I want to note, that was the work that Senator Rachel Siewert had done so tirelessly in this sector. And for-profit companies now have gotten away with substandard care for too long, which is now why we are at crisis point in this global pandemic.

For the folks out there who are watching, we are having an election very soon. By voting Greens in this election we have a chance to kick out this government, the one that has caused this situation and exacerbated this situation. Your vote is powerful, so, together, we can kick them out and we can ensure that everyone in this country has access to high-quality aged-care services.