Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Deputy President, and congratulations on your elevation to the position of Deputy President. I rise to speak on the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response) Bill 2022. I have to say, I have been waiting 10 long years for this moment. To be on the government benches with a bill that we as Labor senators and as a Labor government introduced is a really proud moment. I have watched nine failed aged-care ministers stand in this place and argue on many occasions that the sector was not in need of reform and, yet again, already we have the opposition trying to rewrite the history.

It was Minister Butler who started these reforms with Living Longer Living Better. That was the foundation for reforming the aged-care sector in this country but it was interrupted by the election of the Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments, who stalled on every occasion until they finally had to call a royal commission into their own failings. Already in this debate the shadow minister is trying to rewrite history. We will put the facts on the table because we know on this side of the chamber who started this reform and who tried to block it for 10 long years. In fact, many of those ministers oversaw this crisis in aged care. They had report after report gathering dust in those nine ministers' offices while this sector was deteriorating.

In opposition, I put question after question to the countless ministers, including the former minister, Richard Colbeck, from my home state, who was an absolute failure in the responsibility he had. He let down older Australians. He always had the view that there was nothing to see, nothing to hear here. That was his attitude to reform. I don't want anyone to forget that it was the former Prime Minister Scott Morrison who broke the hearts of older Australians when he oversaw this ongoing crisis in this important sector. He made a solemn commitment to fix the sector but he didn't—another election failure. I, as did others, called for the royal commission into this sector, but it was the former government that waited and waited and denied and denied the necessity to have a royal commission when they finally had to cave-in because of their own failings.

During the royal commission, Australians were devastated by the evidence provided and the government's response. So, yesterday in the other place and now today, the Albanese government is putting aged-care reform on the agenda of the Australian government. This is a momentous moment in our nation's history. The Albanese Labor government does this with an absolute commitment to older Australians living within residential aged care and those receiving care in their own homes. Every older Australian deserves love and care in their older years. They deserve quality care in residential aged care or in their own home. It doesn't really matter whether you are in a residential aged-care home or whether you are receiving care in your own home, you deserve time with your carers. You deserve to have someone to be able to sit and engage with you, to hold your hand. You deserve to feel wanted, needed and, most importantly, you need to be respected.

Labor took to the election a commitment to 24/7 access to registered nurses in the aged-care sector homes in this country, and we will implement this. We stand by this. It already happens in my home state of Tasmania, so, ultimately, we can deliver on this commitment.

Ultimately this bill is about respect for older Australians and what they have contributed to our country. This is a bill which will return security, dignity, quality and humanity back to the aged-care sector. I acknowledge all the work that has gone into this bill. It has been, as I said, years in the making. I note the efforts of Minister Wells—and I congratulate her on her appointment—and Minister Butler to bring this bill to the parliament during this first week of the 47th Parliament. And the former shadow minister Shayne Neumann and I would like to acknowledge the Prime Minister for showing such leadership in this area.

I would like to make some comments in relation to the former shadow minister Shayne Neumann. I loved the time I spent working with him. He had a commitment to listen and learn from the sector and from older Australians what sort of reform we needed going forward. As Minister Wells said yesterday in the other place, reforming aged care starts by listening. Australians have been hearing for far too long about the horror stories overseen by the former government. But Labor has always been listening and advocating. Too many parliaments have overseen this and done nothing. As I said, there was almost 10 years of neglect under the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison governments. Labor understands this. We understand the concerns of older Australians and their families, because older Australians have been crying out for action and for reform. Well, no longer will you have to be ignored by a federal government, because we hear you. Most importantly, we see you, and we, as the Australian government, will take the action that is necessary to reform this sector.

Today shows what a high-order priority aged-care reform has within the Albanese government. I note that there has also been extensive consultation with unions, aged-care workers, providers and residents to ensure their experiences are considered in the implementation of this bill. The sector is informed. They have also been listening and they must continue to listen to ensure that we get it right. This is beholden not only on the government but also on the sector, the unions, the workers. Having walked in the shoes of aged-care workers on many occasions during my time in this place, I must say there is no more committed workforce in this country than those who work in the aged-care sector. I take my hat off to them each and every day, because they front up to care for some of the most vulnerable and frail Australians and they do it with respect. But they, in turn, need to have that respect. They need to be paid an appropriate salary. They need to know that their work is respected by the government and by the community.

We know the amount of extensive consultation that was undertaken during the royal commission. The department has also undertaken significant consultation on each of the measures in this bill and the recommendations from the royal commission. This includes consultation with older Australians and their families, advocates, peak bodies, state and territory governments, providers and the general public. Furthermore, the measures in this bill, aside from schedule 2, were previously considered by the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee, and a number of stakeholders made submissions to that inquiry. As the assistant shadow minister for aged care several years ago, I was in the privileged position of seeing firsthand all the wonderful people living and working in this sector. I visited countless residential aged-care homes across the country. I walked in the shoes of the aged-care workers. I know what these people do each and every day. I witnessed the best of aged care and, at times, I witnessed the worst. I believe that this bill will be the start of genuine reform in this sector. I want to acknowledge all the hardworking people who work in this sector. As I said, those workers need our respect, they need our support and they need to be remunerated appropriately so that we can keep the very best people working in this sector, because our older Australians deserve nothing less. Every Australian deserves dignity in care, and, in particular, during their final years they deserve the best care a rich nation such as ours can give them, so this is the beginning of a long journey to reform the aged care sector.

The Albanese government's Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response) Bill implements a series of urgent funding, quality and safety reforms, including in response to several recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety's final report, Care, dignity and respect. The bill implements nine time-critical aged-care measures, including a series of reforms that respond to several recommendations of the final report of the royal commission. The measures will introduce a new aged-care subsidy calculation; provide a legislative basis for the star ratings system; introduce a code of conduct and banning order scheme; extend the Serious Incident Response Scheme to aged care delivered in home settings; strengthen the governance of approved providers; enhance information sharing across related sectors; increase financial and prudential oversight; broaden the functions of the renamed Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority; address issues with the informed consent arrangements in respect of the use of restrictive practices in residential aged care; and develop a new comprehensive workers registration scheme, with criminal history checks continuing to apply in the meantime.

The last element I just mentioned is something which I campaigned for in opposition for many years. If we are to improve the quality of care within the sector, we must ensure the best people with the best intentions work in this sector. There is no point introducing this bill without such an intention, and this element will ensure an aged-care worker who is not up to the job cannot leave one aged-care home and start working in another aged-care home in a neighbouring suburb. I am firmly of the view that this element in this bill will work well to ensure the right people are attracted to the sector. The bill replaces the outdated Aged Care Funding Instrument, ACFI, with a new model for calculating aged-care subsidies called the Australian National Aged Care Classification model, which has been developed in consultation with the aged-care sector and consumer groups. Since April 2021, residential aged-care recipients have been progressively assessed and classified under the AN-ACC, and the funding under the new model will commence on 1 October 2022.

Importantly, the bill includes several measures that will provide additional protections directly to older Australians. These protections cannot be delayed any longer. For far too long, a lack of protection for residents has allowed much of the reported abuse. Consequently the Serious Incident Response Scheme will be expanded to establish obligations on approved providers of home care and flexible care in a community setting to report and to respond to incidents and to take actions to prevent incidents from recurring. For far too long, too many aged-care homes have not been adequately monitored. A new code of conduct will set high standards of behaviour for aged-care workers, approved providers and governing persons of approved providers to ensure that they are delivering aged care in a way that is safe, competent and respectful.

All of these matters addressed in this bill will go a long way, as I said from the outset, to start the real reform in this sector. But what we have to do is support those workers in aged care, we have to support the providers and, most importantly, we have to return to the days when we respected older Australians in this country and ensure that they get the care that they so desperately need and that they deserve. You can't allow the sector to not put the care and the interests of older Australians first and foremost. This is going to take a lot of money, but what it's really going to take is a will to reform this sector and a will to support the workers to give them the opportunity to keep the best possible people in aged care. We have to attract nurses back to aged care. Those nurses who work in aged care know that the work that they do is so important, so we have to find a way to provide additional nurses not only for our aged-care sector but right across this country. We have to ensure that we have access to the very best general practitioners in our communities in residential care.

I commend Minister Wells and Minister Butler and, of course, the Prime Minister for taking the first step to re-establishing the best aged-care sector in the world, because we deserve nothing less and older Australians deserve nothing less, and they have the support of this government.