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

I thank Senator Tyrrell for the question and for her ongoing advocacy around aged care and residents of aged care, in particular residents of aged care in Tasmania. The Minister for Aged Care, through her reform agenda, is working incredibly hard to improve the standard of care across the aged-care system. Remember, we did inherit a system that had been heavily criticised under a royal commission, with a report that was titled Neglect. That report outlined the fact that the system was under enormous pressure, that there wasn't adequate investment into that system and that the system needed to change in a number of ways.

We needed to ensure that appropriate investments were made into the workforce; we have done that. We also needed to make sure that there was more accountability and transparency around the care that is provided and the quality and the care minutes in particular that residents received, and those aged-care facilities should have to measure the quality of the care that they provide in a very public way—which is what the star rating system is about. When you introduce those kinds of rating systems, it's more about driving improvements than about punishment because services will work hard to improve the star rating they get in order to project the quality of care and, therefore, attract residents to that service. It also gives families and residents—or would-be residents—information about those services that are either exceeding or going to a high level of quality of care. For anyone that needs to go into aged care, I think their families are always looking for the best possible place for the best possible care for their loved ones, and I think the star rating drives that kind of reform.