Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

So you're saying that asking questions about the impact on the aged-care sector is not relevant to this bill? I would suggest that that's probably a lack of transparency, but there you go. I think Australians probably do deserve to understand what the implications of the decisions and actions of the government are in relation to the aged-care sector, particularly when you consider the serious, serious pressure the aged-care sector is under in relation to workforce. I don't think there would be anybody in this place—I don't think there'd be anybody in this country—that wouldn't realise that workforce shortages are probably the biggest issue facing Australia's aged-care providers in their ability to deliver the kind of care that we all want to see for older Australians. Your dismissal of this, as a significant additional barrier that has been put in place and just adds an additional burden to aged-care providers at a time when they're doing it really, really tough, just goes to show the kind of contempt that those opposite have for the aged-care sector and, indirectly to that, the contempt they have for older Australians when they refuse to answer questions. They force aged-care homes, like Mount Morgan, to close because they think that it's easy to just have a one-size-fits-all, city-centric approach to this and then refuse to answer these really, really important questions, which I believe would actually provide the aged-care sector with some level of certainty and clarity about what the intentions of the government are. To refuse to answer those questions, I think, is really, particularly, disappointing.

As I said earlier, we believe that the independent statutory office of the inspector-general is a really, really important initiative. It was recommendation 12 of the royal commission, which we accepted, which suggested to established this independent office. We will be supporting the passage of this bill because we do believe that it's in the best interests of the aged-care sector. But I will put on the record how terribly disappointing it is that this government is refusing to provide clarity of detail around the issues facing the aged-care sector and completely dismissing the aged-care sector and the older Australians it looks after.