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

It gives me great pleasure to speak in the adjournment debate tonight about the challenges that we face in aged care in Australia. It was my good fortune today to address the Aged and Community Services Australia national conference in Melbourne—and I thank the Senate for giving me leave to do so. In my speech at the conference today, I said the aged-care sector faces a number of challenges that we have to embrace so that we can deliver a quality aged-care system into the long-term future, not just past the next election. It is my view and Labor’s view that the 11½ years of this government have been an enormously wasted opportunity. We have known since 1945—perhaps not quite 1945, but very soon after—that we have an ageing population. We have known that planning for aged care was required. We have known not for the last week, not since February, but for at least 10 years that we need a robust and sustainable aged-care system so that we can deliver the services we expect for our current older generations and for my generation as well.

In my view, we face three challenges in aged care. The first is the immediate and pressing issue of the workforce in the aged-care sector. Over the last 10 years, the number of nurses working in residential aged care has decreased by about 6,000. In the same period, the number of people living in residential aged care has increased by about 20,000. We have fewer nurses, both enrolled and registered nurses, working in aged care and they are caring for more and more older people who are frail and vulnerable with higher levels of dementia. So the first challenge that we must deal with in the short term is that of the workforce.

The second issue that we have to deal with in aged care is the sustainability of residential care and community care. We have to make sure that the aged-care system we have will be sustainable into the future. If we do not, any confidence that we have as a community in the delivery of aged-care systems will be seriously challenged. We must not do what the current government has done, which is to basically pay lip-service over time to a concern that there is a capital raising issue in aged care. They called an inquiry. I think it cost $6½ million for Professor Warren Hogan to conduct his inquiry in 2002. It took longer for the government to respond to his inquiry than the government actually gave him to undertake the inquiry. We had a patch-up job in the budget that followed the receipt of Professor Hogan’s report which tided us over for a little longer. Then we had the so-called ‘securing the future’ package in February of this year. It has been put to me by very well-respected leaders in the aged-care sector that it is ‘Securing the future—not!’ It has not provided a sustainable way of moving forward.

The third issue is that I do not think this government have addressed in the last 11½ years the opportunity to shape the nature of aged care into the future. We still have much the same ratio of allocation of aged-care beds and Community Aged Care Packages as we had 23 years ago. A lot has happened in 23 years. The longevity of the Australian population has increased quite considerably. We are living longer and we are living healthier lives. That should be applauded. We should be congratulated for that. But, because we are living longer, the level of dementia as a result is much higher. We are living longer and healthier during our young older years and we are getting dementia at a higher rate in our old older years. That has not been factored into a decision about the mix of aged-care services we need in Australia.

Add to that the fact that we have had considerable growth in the retirement village sector. That is something to be applauded and something I think that the market itself is leading and directing. And it is something I think that governments should be watching very closely to make sure that we can support appropriate growth in the retirement village sector. The market is directing that sector, and that is all well and good, but let us be sure that all sectors of our community can be part of the style of living that a retirement village offers. It gives a sense of security. It gives a very comfortable living arrangement. It suits older people quite well. Let us not forget that if you have had a life that has not afforded you the opportunity to have the $350,000 to $380,000 necessary to buy into retirement village living, you may miss out on that quality older life simply because you cannot afford to buy into the system. I am very aware—and I am sure a lot of us are aware—that a range of services provide rental options for retirement village living. I would like to see a mix of purchase and rental options in the same village.

All these things have been happening while, at the same time, the government have stuck with a ratio of provision of aged-care services that is essentially based on a formula that was established, not very academically, some 23 years ago. It is time that we looked very closely at the type and form of aged-care services that are provided. Currently in Australia we provide 40 low-care, 40 high-care and 25 Community Aged Care Packages for every 1,000 people over the age of 70. But we cannot answer the question: why that number? It is because that is the way it has developed over time. There is no robust reason for that split in aged-care services in Australia. That is why I am particularly proud that Labor have already announced that we will review the ratio of aged-care allocation services. We will make sure that we have an aged-care system that is sustainable, that is the right mix of community aged care, low care and high care, and that reflects the aspirations of older people themselves. We need an aged-care service that is well-staffed—and it is not at the moment. We need an aged-care service that is well designed—and in my view we do not have it at the moment. We need an aged care-service that is financially sustainable not only post this next election but a long way into the future. I am proud that the policies that Labor have announced at this point in time will deliver those outcomes.