Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move amendments (1) to (5) on sheet 1934 together:

(1) Clause 8, page 10 (lines 12 to 14), omit the paragraph beginning "The Inspector-General must also conduct", substitute:

The Inspector-General must conduct 2 reviews of the Commonwealth's implementation of the recommendations of the Aged Care Royal Commission. Before conducting those reviews, the Inspector-General must publish 2 reports on the progress made by the Commonwealth towards implementing those recommendations.

(2) Clause 18, page 16 (after line 32), after subclause (2), insert:

(2A) The Inspector-General must, as soon as practicable after giving the notice, cause the notice to be published on the Inspector-General's website unless the Inspector-General is satisfied that doing so would adversely affect:

(a) the proper conduct of the review or any other review under section 17; or

(b) the preparation of a draft review report or final review report.

(3) Clause 18, page 17 (line 4), after "any", insert "other".

(4) Clause 29, page 26 (lines 6 to 15), omit subclauses (1) and (2), substitute:

(1) The Inspector-General must prepare 2 reports on the progress made by the Commonwealth towards implementing the recommendations of the Aged Care Royal Commission, which must set out the measures and actions in response to each recommendation taken by the Commonwealth before:

(a) for the first report—1 January 2024; and

(b) for the second report—1 January 2025.

(2) The Inspector-General may also prepare a report on any other matter relating to the Inspector-General's functions.

(2A) A report under this section:

(a) must be published on the Inspector-General's website; and

(b) must be given to the Minister:

(i) for the first report under subsection (1)—on or before 1 June 2024; and

(ii) for the second report under subsection (1)—on or before 1 June 2025; and

(iii) for a report under subsection (2)—as soon as practicable; and

(c) may be given to any other person who, in the Inspector-General's opinion, has a special interest in a matter to which the report relates.

(5) Clause 72, page 58 (line 5), omit "subsection 29(2)", substitute "subsection 29(2A)".

These amendments are regarding additional reporting and more regular reporting by the inspector-general on the implementation of the royal commission recommendations. We're doing this because we feel that there is an opportunity, in setting up this inspector general post, to make sure that regular reporting occurs. There is a need for more regular reporting than is currently in the legislation. As the Older Persons Advocacy Network outlined in their submission:

OPAN recommends the Inspector-General should be empowered to make additional reports to Parliament where recommendations are not acted upon or progress against Royal Commission recommendations is impeded or stalled through the actions or inactions of Commonwealth agencies.

Given the size of the disparity between the current and future aged-care systems identified by the royal commission, OPAN recommends these reports should be like Closing the gap reports—that is, they should identify priority reforms, set targets, report progress and track implementation, including progress towards older people having a genuine say in their care and the design and delivery of aged-care policies, programs and services.

We know the royal commission into aged care was a watershed moment and a landmark report. There are recommendations that it's so important are acted upon and it's so important that we track progress towards their implementation. We put forward a number of recommendations to address this in our additional comments to the community affairs committee's inquiry into this legislation. And while the government hasn't adopted the full range of our recommendations, we understand that they have been willing to adopt an amendment to the legislation on this point.

The amendment that I'm moving today on sheet 1934 is going to require reviews in 2024 and 2025 of the royal commission recommendations by the inspector-general. In understanding that the government is supporting this amendment, I do particularly want to thank the aged-care minister and her office for the collaborative approach that they've taken in discussions on this piece of legislation. This is an important piece of legislation. We think these amendments improve it just one bit more, and we're glad to see it improved and passed.