Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Polley for her continued interest in this important area of service delivery and reform for the Albanese government. I acknowledge the work that Minister Wells from the other place has been doing in implementing the recommendations from the royal commission and cleaning up and improving the standard of care that's provided to our most elderly citizens.

Aged-care workers care for some of our most vulnerable older Australians. They do crucial, demanding and highly skilled work every day. The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety found that unacceptable staffing levels in aged-care homes had created horrific environments of substandard care caused by a lack of ambition to plan for growing demand in the sector. That's why we acted very quickly to lift the standard of care and implement the recommendations of the royal commission to make sure that aged-care residents get the clinical care they need.

On average, there is now a registered nurse on site in aged care 98 per cent of the time in Australia, or 23½ hours a day. Eighty-eight per cent of all homes that reported data have a nurse 24/7, and the majority of remaining homes are extremely close to meeting that target. We're also seeing improvements in the amount of care being provided by registered nurses, enrolled nurses and personal care workers. Our data shows that older Australians are receiving an additional 1.8 million minutes of care every single day under the Albanese government.