Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Aged Care, Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Santoro, the Minister for Health and Ageing. Can the minister confirm that 217 aged care facilities have still not complied with the Commonwealth’s fire safety standards that were required by December 2005? Can the minister advise how many of the 217 facilities have had their certification reviewed, given that is what the department’s website says will happen in the event of noncompliance? Given that we are now almost one year on from this compliance deadline, when will all the facilities actually meet the fire safety standards the government said would be met a year ago? What guarantee can the minister give to residents in these 217 non-compliant facilities that the facilities will be upgraded to meet current Commonwealth fire safety standards by the end of 2006?

Santo Santoro (Queensland, Liberal Party, Minister for Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Howard government is very proud of its record when it comes to fire safety standards within aged-care facilities. Senator McLucas and the Labor Party have done much to scaremonger in relation to this matter, and I think it is important to remind the Senate of the Labor Party’s track record when it comes to fire safety. It may be very interesting to senators on both sides to know that Labor could not ensure an adequate supply of capital to aged care, at a severe cost to the quality of Australia’s aged-care homes. In fact, Labor’s—and I want to stress ‘Labor’s own’—1994 Gregory report found, and this is very instructional, that 30 per cent of nursing homes did not meet the relevant fire authority standards, 11 per cent of nursing homes did not meet the relevant health authority standards and 70 per cent of all nursing homes did not meet the relevant outcome standards. That is what we had to confront in 1996, when the coalition government came to government and had to go about rebuilding the reputation of an aged-care industry in Australia which had been utterly and totally neglected over a decade by the Labor Party.

What I can now do is inform Senator McLucas and senators opposite yet again of the track record of the Howard government: 2,677 services have provided evidence of meeting—

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, on a point of order: I draw your attention to the relevance of the answer. The minister has been asked a serious question about what has happened to the facilities that did not meet his government’s standard. It is a very serious question and I ask that you direct him to answer the question.

Paul Calvert (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As you would know, Senator, I cannot direct him how to answer the question but I can remind him of the question. I ask him to return to the question.

Santo Santoro (Queensland, Liberal Party, Minister for Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Of course, if Senator Evans is patient, he will get all the facts and all the statistics that Senator McLucas has asked for. As I was saying, in 2006, 170 services have provided evidence of meeting the 1997 certification fire safety standards, which represents 91 per cent of services. As at 20 October 2006, 244 services had not met the higher fire standards of the 1997 certification instruments. Of these, all but three have confirmed the time frames for building works planned or in progress to meet the 1997 standard. That is a very specific answer to Senator McLucas’s question. All 244 of those aged-care facilities have submitted plans and have given a very clear indication of remedial work that is underway to the satisfaction of the agency and the department. We are very happy to have had those commitments, and the department will continue to monitor the performance against those commitments.

There are 110 homes that have been identified for potential review under section 39-4 of the Aged Care Act 1997, 59 of which have been assessed and provided with a detailed report of the required improvement for fire safety. All homes that have not met the 1997 instrument were referred to the Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency and, as I have informed the Senate previously, continue to be monitored to ensure the safety and wellbeing of residents is being maintained. This is an ongoing issue and it is under very active consideration by the department and the agency. We take our responsibilities far more seriously than the Labor Party did when it was in government.

Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Aged Care, Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Have all of the 217 non-compliant facilities fully acquitted the $3,500 per resident grant given to facilities in 2004 to pay for the upgrades needed to meet the fire safety standards? Isn’t it a fact that that some of the 217 facilities have indicated to the department that they have no intention of doing the upgrade work to meet the fire safety standards? What is the intended response to those facilities? Just when will the December 2005 deadline actually be enforced? When will all residents be in facilities that meet the Commonwealth’s fire safety standards?

Santo Santoro (Queensland, Liberal Party, Minister for Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to assure the Senate and anybody listening to the question and the answer that residents within Australia’s aged-care facilities are living in safety and tranquillity compared with the situation when the Labor Party was in power. What I can say is that the $3,500 per resident which was in fact received by aged-care providers was, in the overwhelming majority of cases, spent very wisely to improve safety standards and conditions within aged-care facilities. I want to take this opportunity to thank and congratulate those providers who topped up the money provided to aged-care providers within the aged-care industry. It is not just the government that is making a contribution to the safety of aged-care residents; it is also the many excellent providers who believe in best practice, and we intend to continue to encourage and assist them.