Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Aged Care Bill 2024. This bill responds directly to recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety and addresses, or partly addresses, 58 royal commission recommendations in total. The Aged Care Bill also responds to the Aged Care Taskforce, established in 2023, which considered how to sustainably fund aged care into the future.

In other words this bill addresses the neglect of those opposite during the 10-year period that they were in government. In fact, during that 10-year period that they were on the government benches, they changed ministers more often than they changed their underwear. To have the contribution today by the senator from the opposition talking about how bad this legislation is—for 10 years they did nothing. Their government neglected aged care in this country and was so bad that they called a royal commission into their own failings. That says to people in the community that they can't trust those that are now in opposition and Peter Dutton if he ever becomes Prime Minister of this country. We know what he did when he was the health minister. He gutted it by $3 billion. That's what he did. They can't risk having Mr Dutton on the government benches as Prime Minister.

When we took office we said that we were going to respond to the royal commission and its recommendations, look at those and act as quickly as we could. We have made sure to reform this piece of legislation so that it will deliver quality care for senior Australians living in residential care and for those who are still able to live at home. So the government did respond. It's not like all of a sudden people have only just found out that aged care is in such crisis. We knew it for the 10 years that they were in government. We've been in this place on this side of the chamber for less than three years, and we are already responding to that royal commission.

Senator Marielle Smith, as chair of the Community Affairs Legislation Committee, went out and listened to the concerns. Not only did that committee listen to the concerns but this government has actually acted on the concerns and the issues that were raised through that appropriate process. The royal commission determined that the aged-care sector at the time was existing as a systematically failing system, where treating older people without dignity was normalised. That's what happened under their government for 10 years. It was a sector in crisis. It was in that much of a crisis that they finally realised it themselves and called a royal commission, and rightly so. Most Australians were shocked by the findings of the royal commission and the systematic abuse occurring within our aged-care system across the country. Those opposite were beholden to the sector and were unwilling to make the necessary reforms to the sector that were so badly needed.

With this new bill the Albanese government is delivering a new comprehensive pathway; mandatory aged-care food standards, which is pretty basic but very important because we all know what people in residential care were being fed under the previous government; statutory duty of care for registered providers of aged care; and worker screening. Workers can no longer be sacked from one aged-care residential home and then go down to the next suburb and get another job. We have done that in this legislation. There are stronger investigative powers for the regulator, new civil penalties and new whistleblower protections.

I'm proud to stand here before you and speak on this bill because for years I've advocated for many of these reforms, which is why they are now becoming part of reality. I want to remind those people opposite of how many failed ministers they had in their decade in government. As the assistant shadow minister for ageing under opposition leader Bill Shorten, I travelled the country and heard directly from residents, from their families and from providers who were advocating for change to the sector. They were advocating for more money to be put into the sector. But what happened? Nothing happened until the Albanese government was elected at the last election, and we've taken the action that was needed.

When we first came to government we got on with the job of reform of the aged-care sector, and I want to acknowledge the hard work of Minister Mark Butler. When we were in government previously, we actually started the process with Living Longer, Living Better. We knew that senior Australians deserved better support, better care. And then finally, after 10 years of neglect, we were elected and now Minister Butler, along with Minister Wells, has taken those actions. I'd also like to acknowledge Minister Julie Collins for her leadership when she was the aged care minister. I worked with her when she also had the shadow portfolio. I also acknowledge Shayne Neumann for his leadership over many years. We travelled the country and we were listening, and now we've had the opportunity to act. I'm very proud of all of those people who have made a contribution to this legislation.

This was so serious for us that our first act, on coming into government, was to pass the reforms in the first piece of legislation that our government tabled. We have placed older Australians as a priority since we were elected to government. We delivered a new funding mechanism for residential aged care and a sector-wide code of conduct. We expanded the Serious Incident Response Scheme and created stronger provider guidance. We implemented aged-care reforms, delivering greater transparency, capping homecare fees and, most importantly, putting nurses back into nursing homes. Those opposite didn't care enough to put them back when the sector was crying out for them, when families and older people were crying out for them.

The creation of the Inspector-General of Aged Care reinforced the Albanese government's commitment to being open with the Australian public about how aged care is administered and how it will be administered into the future. We have made aged care more transparent with star ratings for residential care, informing senior Australians and reassuring them about the importance of family and having communications between the resident and the provider that are open and transparent.

And in line with our commitment to working people and wage growth, the Albanese government proudly delivered an investment of $11.3 billion in an historic pay rise for aged-care workers. Those opposite did nothing about wages. We still have a shortage of workers, but at least now they're getting paid for the valuable work that they perform for our loved ones, and one day maybe they'll do that for some of those who are in the chamber right now. It was a 14 per cent pay rise. When you listen to what those people on that side say, remember that their government's policy was to keep wages low. Try telling that to an aged-care worker who's trying to buy a home or put food on the table—or, during COVID, having to work in two different aged-care homes, spreading COVID because they had no other choice. That all happened under the watch of those opposite.

Just as we have provided funding for early childhood educators, we are investing in the care economy. The care economy is about caring for senior Australians and it's about educating our young. Our reforms have a positive impact on the lives of older people, on their families, on their friends and on the workers who are caring for them. As I speak in this chamber, there is a registered nurse on site in aged-care residential places 99 per cent of the time across this country. Older Australians are receiving an additional 3.9 million minutes of care every single day, of which 1.7 million are delivered by a qualified registered nurse. We should never accept anything less than that. This is what delivering for senior Australians looks like, and we're not stopping there. The new legislation framework for aged care will place high-quality, safe and compassionate care and services at the centre of the scheme.

The Aged Care Bill includes a statement of rights for older people and a positive duty for providers to uphold those rights, as well as a single-entry point to the aged-care system with clear eligible requirements and a fair, culturally safe assessment process. It is the framework for delivering a range of aged-care services including residential care and the new Support at Home program which will offer improved access to supports and services to help people remain independent in their own home.

At the end of the day, we all know this will save governments money, but it's about more than that. It's about supporting people to stay in their own home, where they can be independent and where the majority of older people want to age. We will be providing higher levels of care in the home so that, as I said, people can stay at home longer. The bill will provide mechanisms for the Commonwealth to fund aged-care services, including aged-care related grant programs and fair contributions from those who can afford to contribute to the cost of aged care, and to make sure the aged-care system is sustainable in the future.

I've been in this place long enough to know that those opposite were urged to do something about making those people who can afford it pay a contribution to aged care. That's because the need for aged care in this country is going to grow exponentially. This is a good thing; we all want to grow old. But those opposite were not prepared to take that step because they didn't want to deal with any political backlash. When you're in government, you have to be accountable to your people. You have to make sure that you have services and you protect older Australians who have worked to create the country that we have the privilege of living in and that I have the privilege of serving.

This bill is a new approach to aged care. This is about restoring dignity, and it's about restoring respect. It's about respecting those people who work in aged care. It's about respecting the rights of the individual who has to go and live in a residential home. We must always remember a residential home is that person's home. It's just that they're not well enough or they don't have the support to be able to live independently at home anymore. So this is one of the best things that this Labor government has done, and we've done it because we respect older people. We believe that people working in this care economy deserve to be supported. They deserve fair pay.

We've taken another really important step, and that is to legislate so that only people aged 65 years and older can live in residential homes. That's so people with disability, often younger people, aren't put into an aged-care home that is totally wrong for them. Somebody who's in their 30s should not be placed in an old people's home because they have a disability and have nowhere else to go. That's part of this legislation as well.

This is good legislation. I have been in this place for a long time. There is no such thing as a perfect piece of legislation. That is why we have been negotiating with those opposite for over 12 months. For 12 months, we've been trying to get them to the table, to actually vote and to support this legislation, but we never walked away from it. We were never going to go away from our belief that this was really important.

The other priority in this bill is something I've been passionate about from my first day in this place—that is, empowering workers to be able to care for, and to be well trained and well skilled to deal with, those who are on their dementia journey. Dementia is, unfortunately, the biggest killer of women in this country. It's not heart attacks. Women die predominantly from dementia, so more and more Australians will go into residential care, and we need skilled, caring, supportive staff to help them.

I'm very proud, and I urge people to support— (Time expired)