Jordon Steele-John (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I'm not going to get all the way through this before we adjourn for this evening, so I'll begin with a bit of context for our position on this bill. The Aged Care Bill 2024 will be the subject of my contribution this evening. This bill is a response to the Royal Commission into Aged Care, Quality and Safety's recommendation for a new aged-care act. The recommendation from the royal commission was an act to:

… enshrine the rights of older people who are seeking or receiving aged—

with a—

rights-based approach must guarantee universal access to the supports and services that an older person is assessed as needing.

The Greens have consistently called for universal access to be the foundation of all health and aged-care policy. If you think about this recommendation, it is the kind of basic that we should be aspiring to. It shouldn't be radical that we would seek to enshrine the rights of older people who are seeking or receiving aged care to ensure that they receive a human rights based and person centred approach. The government needs to be responsible for funding an accessible system for all Australians who need it.

The royal commission heard from people with lived experience: older people, aged-care workers and family members. Their experiences were vital in shaping the recommendation of universal support. Following the Senate inquiry into this bill, I have some serious doubts as to whether universal access to aged care will be achieved through this legislation.

The first concern which I and the Greens hold is that this bill opens the door to an expanded user-pays model. This risks only increasing the profits of private providers. Such private providers are already making massive profits off the backs of older Australians.

Secondly, between the exposure draft and the introduction into parliament the criminal penalties for providers who do the wrong thing were removed and replaced with watered down civil penalties. The Greens see this move as a clear concession to providers, putting their agenda above the needs and rights of older people.

Additionally, many submitters to the inquiry raised the concern that this act does not go far enough. It will not result in the effective enforcement of the rights of older people. This is a quote from the National Older Women's Network, appearing at the hearing on this bill: 'It appears that the framers have—

Debate interrupted.