Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of the answer given by Senator Colbeck to the question that I asked in relation to the Earle Haven nursing home. We've had another pretty ordinary performance today in question time from the Minister for Aged Care, Senator Colbeck. Yesterday, his performance on these important questions could be best described as 'bumbling', and we've moved on today to 'hopelessly deluded'. Yesterday Senator Colbeck was unable to answer the most basic questions about this terrible incident at the Earle Haven nursing home, where about 70 elderly residents had to be evacuated to other aged-care facilities. He came back to the parliament earlier today to answer the questions he was unable to answer yesterday, revealed that, in fact, the situation at Earle Haven was even worse than we all realised and then had the hide to argue in question time that all of these sanctions issued against Earle Haven amounted to corrective action—that that was the system working and protecting older people, that things were all okay despite sanction after sanction being issued against the operators of this nursing home, a company called People Care.

What we've learned today from the questions that Senator Colbeck has now answered is that, in fact, in the years leading up to the evacuation of residents, there were at least seven sanctions issued against People Care by Senator Colbeck's own agencies for their inability to run the nursing home properly or in line with legislative standards. In addition to those sanctions, there have been 22 complaints made about People Care since 1 January 2018, a bit over a year ago.

These sanctions that were issued against People Care by Senator Colbeck's own agencies were not for small matters like the lawns not being mowed properly or a lick of paint being needed on some of the buildings or the gates; they were for very serious matters. The seven sanctions that have been previously issued against People Care by Senator Colbeck's own agencies are for things like failing to provide elderly residents with a safe environment; does it get more basic than that? This operator was unable to provide a safe environment for elderly residents. Senator Colbeck's agencies knew about that and issued sanctions against People Care, but they've continued operating.

People Care were also judged to have not provided adequate nutrition and hydration to elderly residents in the time leading up to the incident a bit over a week ago, and they've also been sanctioned for not providing the required financial reports. The limited facts that we already have indicate that there's been some sort of financial dispute; either someone was unwilling to pay the staff and the operators or someone didn't have the money to do so. I would have thought that not lodging financial statements might also be a sign that things aren't really working out. As I said, in addition to that, there have been 22 complaints made about People Care in a bit over a year leading up to the evacuation of residents just over a week ago.

Rather than coming in here and saying that this was disturbing, that it does appear that there's been a failure of the system and that the regulators have failed to do their job and have let down these elderly residents, their family members and the staff at this nursing home, Senator Colbeck instead says that that amounts to corrective action, as if everything is fine. I would have thought corrective action meant actually doing something to fix this or to stop this operator from continuing to not provide adequate nutrition and hydration to residents. It might amount to stopping them failing to provide a safe environment. That's what corrective action looks like, rather than handing out a sanction one year, letting things roll on, handing out a sanction another year and this series of events accumulating and getting to a point where a nursing home has to be evacuated and emergency relief has to be found to look after these elderly, vulnerable people.

I can't say that I'm at all satisfied with what Senator Colbeck has had to say so far. It suggests that he doesn't take this seriously, in the way that many people on the Gold Coast do and many people around the country who are concerned about aged care do. He needs to do a much better job answering questions that Gold Coasters have about this incident in the future. (Time expired)

Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do welcome the questions that Senator Watt has put on the record these last two days. This is an extremely serious matter, and I applaud him for bringing it forward. It should definitely be subject to appropriate scrutiny here in this chamber. It's nice to see that question time is used to investigate what are very important, weighty matters—matters that have clearly affected individuals very severely.

Although, I am a little critical as I think at times Senator Watt moved into more of a political mode. I think he did himself a disservice when he said that the minister's been bumbling and things like that as what we really need to focus on is not the minister involved but the 71 residents who've been impacted by this unfortunate set of events. We also need to learn the lessons and make sure these sorts of things do not happen again. While Senator Watt has said that a number of actions have taken place, I do think it's important to have on the record exactly what those were. Certainly it is not true to say that somehow People Care Pty Ltd, the operator of this centre, was not subject to scrutiny or action from the Commonwealth department. Indeed, from the advice I've got from the Department of Health in Queensland, I believe the sanctions include ones as recent as 13 July this year, 11 May 2017 and 3 June 2016 going back to 30 April 2007.

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That's the point: sanction after sanction after sanction, and they're still going on.

Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'll take that interjection, Senator Watt. The logical consequence of some of what you seem to be suggesting is that, any time there is a sanction, a centre should be shut down. We've got four sanctions over a period extending 12 years. I don't have in front of me exactly what those sanctions were or are, but I don't think the logical consequence of any—

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's seven.

Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I've got four written down here, but it might be seven. I don't agree with the logical consequence that you seem to be suggesting—that is, any time there is some kind of sanction, we should shut down the facility—because, obviously, that would have a very big impact. What we need to have is appropriate regulatory action depending on the severity of the breach. That is good regulatory practice.

Given this event has occurred, the right thing to do is for the government to respond expeditiously to help those impacted, and that has occurred. Both the Commonwealth government and the Queensland Department of Health acted quickly to ensure that a level of care was provided to those impacted. That included the appointment of two nurse advisors. We've mobilised department staff nationally to assist. We've established an emergency hotline and we're now undertaking an assessment.

Once that initial care is provided, the next most important thing to do is to make sure that anything that has not been done correctly by the department or the regulatory authority is properly investigate. That's why I do welcome these questions. The government has already announced a full inquiry, to be led by Kate Carnell, into the circumstances leading up to the collapse of this facility to make sure we understand why it happened and, if anything has gone wrong here, to make sure appropriate action is taken and to, of course, put in place measures to ensure it does not happen again. That is what the government is focused on doing now.

The government overall here in this space is taking the issue of aged care incredibly seriously. It's been a strong focus of the Liberal National government for the past few years, and it has been a particular focus for Prime Minister Morrison in his term. One of the first decisions he made as Prime Minister was to establish a royal commission into aged-care facilities and aged-care services. Even before the findings of that commission are released, we will be increasing funding for the aged-care sector by $7 billion over five years. That will make sure we deliver more home care places and develop the skills that are needed in the workforce to provide a safe environment and a quality service to our older Australians. This is much more additional funding than was delivered by previous governments. It is right and proper that we make these decisions given our ageing population and the clear requirement that we treat the older people in our society with the respect and care they deserve. We are never going to get everything to be perfect, but the most important thing here is that we provide assistance to the people impacted and ensure that, as a government, we do things better every day and provide a better service to our older Australians over time.

Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too rise to take note in regard to the questions that Senator Watt asked Senator Colbeck, the minister for aged care. I agree with Senator Canavan that we need to take care of our elderly Australians. We need to respect them. But we need to make sure that they're living in a safe environment. This government is in its third term. You are in your third term. You cannot pretend that these things just happened yesterday. You guys need to step up to the mark and actually make sure that aged-care facilities are run in the way that they should be. Seven sanctions, as Senator Watt mentioned, for basic issues. Not supplying a caring environment or a safe environment. A sanction around nutrition and hydration.

Now, I don't know how many aged-care facilities people on that side have been in, but I've been in quite a few over my lifetime. In fact, I worked in an aged-care facility for two years when I was a student nurse, to subsidise my student-nurse income. I've seen it firsthand. That was some time ago, I will admit; that was a number of decades ago—

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, no!

Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Watt. I'll remember that you were kind to me. It was a number of decades ago, but I think things have gotten worse. We've got waiting lists as long as your arm for people going onto home care packages. We've got a government that doesn't take this issue seriously. Senator Canavan said you do. You're in your third term. All you do on that side is blame Labor for things. Honestly, there comes a time when you've got to draw a line in the sand and take some responsibility for being the government. I'm calling on Senator Colbeck to do that.

When Senator Colbeck was answering the questions, I've got to say he left me feeling quite concerned, because I didn't feel his answers were suitable for other senators in this chamber or acceptable to the general community, and certainly not to our ageing Australians. In the minister's home state—we both come from that beautiful state down south, Tasmania—there's a total of 2,142 Tasmanians just waiting for a home care package. They haven't even been offered lower packages than they're entitled to. This includes 63 Tasmanians awaiting a level 1 package, 665 awaiting a level 2 package, 918 awaiting a level 3 package and 496 awaiting a level 4 package. This is not good enough. Sadly, I think the Earle Haven issue is a sign of what we'll probably see more of. I think that is horrifying. It should be horrifying to all of us. It was distressing for the clients and it's distressing for the staff. And there are issues around whether the staff are going to get their due entitlements. I know that staff up there are very concerned about what has happened to the clients as well.

There's this whole thing about what we came into politics for. What do we come into politics for? People say, 'I came into politics to leave a better society for the next generation, a better community for the next generation.' I'm certainly one of those people that have said that on numerous occasions. Also, I came in because I care about the vulnerability of all Australians, especially our elderly, who often don't have family that can advocate for them. I'm wondering how much advocating had actually happened for people in Earle Haven and other areas around the state.

We need to make sure that as a government and parliament we care about these older Australians. Lacklustre answers by the minister are not good enough. There's a crisis in aged care. On this side we have been pushing and pushing for changes in the aged-care area for a number of years. In fact, Julie Collins, the member for Franklin, for whom I'm the duty senator as the shadow minister for ageing and seniors, has talked for years about what needs to happen. We're banging our heads against a brick wall, but you know what? It's up to you guys. You guys are in your third term. You need to sharpen your pencils and get on with the job. (Time expired)

Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will add my voice to that of Senator Canavan's, in stating how serious this issue is taken by the government. The welfare of older Australians is of utmost importance to this government, and the characterisations by those opposite of the minister's response are—and I'll put this mildly rather than strongly—grossly unfair. I have spoken to Minister Colbeck about this issue, and I know he cares very deeply about it. Those opposite need to be very careful that they don't seek to politicise this issue in this way. They know that the sanctions imposed on the facilities concerned were not the cause of the evacuation. It followed a contractual dispute, and Senator Watt, in particular, knows this, because, in paying tribute to everyone involved, he stated, as recorded in Hansard:

I'm sure that when those people turned up to work that day they weren't expecting that they were going to be part of some mass evacuation exercise.

And that's true. If staff on the absolute front line of this very sad situation weren't expecting it, how would anyone else have been?

Senator Watt interjecting—

The sanctions, as you very well know, Senator Watt, were not related. This government and this minister have taken swift action. This minister has instituted an independent inquiry, which will look at everyone, including the department, to learn what we can about how we can operate better into the future—and, obviously, the aged care royal commission will also be a very important part of informing where policy in this area goes.

This is a government with a very, very strong track record in supporting older Australians, particularly older Australians in aged care. The Morrison government is increasing funding in aged care by $7 billion over the period 2017-18 to 2022-23. That will deliver more home care places, keeping people in their own homes for as long as possible. It's about continuing to develop a skilled workforce so that those who are looking after our older Australians have the skills that they need to do so in a safe, effective and efficient manner. We also are looking at improving the systems to provide safe and quality home care and residential care. This is an ongoing process. There was the More Choices for a Longer Life Package in the 2018-19 budget and More Choices for a Longer Life in the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook.

In 2013, when Labor was last in office, funding for aged care was just over $13 billion. In the next financial year it will be around $21.7 billion, and that will grow to over $25 billion by 2023. According to reporting in the Sydney Morning HeraldI don't know how much credence we should place on that—in Labor's election costings there was no additional funding for residential aged care or home care places. So we have a situation where we have a government that is responding to the needs in the sector. We understand that older Australians are vitally concerned about their future, how long they can live within their own homes and what they're going to do after that is no longer possible.

The 2019-20 budget allows 10,000 additional home care packages to be released across all levels. That's at a cost of $282 million to the budget. This was announced in February of this year, and it recognises the increasing demand for home care packages. People do want to stay in their own home as long as they possibly can. In March 2019, the government announced the largest ever expansion of residential aged care in Australia's history, with 13½ thousand new places, at a cost of around $907 million a year, plus $60 million in capital grants to grow residential aged care services. There are issues in this industry, but this is a government that's delivering.

Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Just listening to the comments here in the chamber, it's important that this Senate understands that more than 129,000 older Australians are languishing waiting for care. The answers to the questions today focus not on the immediate movement that should have occurred, but also on the immediate movement that should occur still across the country in terms of the care of our seniors. In the Northern Territory, there are 34 people in the Royal Darwin Hospital alone who should be in aged care. The lack of home care packages and funded aged care beds is impacting on our public hospital system, with bed shortages and overcrowding.

I certainly want to see the current minister go to the Northern Territory to see for himself how older Territorians die waiting for packages and appropriate care. I'd certainly like to see him out in our remote communities, the remote regions of the Northern Territory, where there is an acute shortage of aged care services, so that he can get a clear understanding of where this government is failing. He needs to talk to the Indigenous elders. They want to live out their lives caring and being cared for on country; passing on songs, their ------2610--------------, their map, their song line and their stories to the younger generation. But they can't, because there are no aged care facilities in some of these communities.

I'd certainly like to see this government properly fund our aged care services so the unacceptable wait list for home care packages is reduced so people don't die waiting. In the Northern Territory, the Council on the Ageing has long called for a good look into the aged care licensing system and how it is operating there. COTA NT, who do a fantastic job advocating for older Territorians, want to see the appointment of an aged care quality and safety commissioner who could do spot checks on service providers to ensure that people are getting the services and the packages they qualify for. Such a position could go a long way to making sure the situation at Earle Haven in Queensland isn't replicated anywhere else in Australia and, in particular, in the Northern Territory. 16,000 Australians died in any year waiting for a home care package that meets their needs.

National Seniors Australia have been very clear about the impact of the chronic shortage of home care packages across the country. They've described this government's neglect of seniors as a form of elder abuse and a national emergency. National Seniors Australia's chief advocate, Ian Henschke, called for urgent action again this week. As this government has shown today by their responses to the very valid questions raised by my colleagues, there is a disrespectful lack of urgency to create change and ensure that vulnerable Australians are well looked after. Yes, there is a royal commission underway. But that cannot be used as an excuse not to act immediately on the day-to-day issues that are impacting this country.

We shouldn't have to remind this government that at the end of 2017 the waiting list for home care packages was 104,000. When the royal commission opened in January this year, it was 128,000 and was described as cruel, unfair, disrespectful and discriminatory by the counsel assisting the commission. Six months on, the wait list has blown out by more than another 1,000 older Australians. They know that 1,000 Australians turn 80 each week. These are our loved ones, people at a fragile stage of life who want to remain in their homes under the supported care of their families. Yet this government refuses to prioritise the care of our elders. They take their eyes off the ball, and even those who do receive packages can end up on the street.

Question agreed to.