Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians, Senator Colbeck. Labor acknowledges the awful situation that has confronted residents, families and staff at Newmarch House in Sydney's west. We want to express our deepest sympathies to all those who have lost loved ones. Does the minister agree that the residents in that centre, their loved ones and the staff at Newmarch House deserve a thorough and independent review of what has gone wrong?

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can I add my thoughts and condolences, and, I'm sure, everybody in the chamber's thoughts and condolences, to the families of residents in all aged-care facilities, and in fact all of those who have lost loved ones to coronavirus. It's had a particularly devastating impact at Newmarch. I've already asked my department to provide me, at an appropriate time, a report of what has occurred there, just as I did with Dorothy Henderson Lodge. My understanding is that report was considered by national cabinet a week or so ago.

It is important that people understand properly what has occurred within these facilities. It is and has been extremely difficult for the families and for the residents. We've seen only too graphically and publicly the concern that they have expressed when they haven't had appropriate levels of communication and information as to what's happening with their loved ones within the facilities.

I am very pleased to say, though, that the interventions of the government and the resources provided by the government have considerably assisted in that respect. There have now been three interventions by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner: an intervention in respect of assistance with senior management capacity within the facility; a communications instruction to Anglicare via Newmarch to provide much better information to families, which I know, from talking to them, is giving them much more comfort with respect to the circumstance of their loved ones; and, of course, the intervention last week with an instruction to comply that was issued by the quality and safety commissioner.

I think we all want to understand the lessons from what's occurred at Newmarch. We continue to work very closely with all of the health authorities that are involved, at the state and Commonwealth levels, in the interests of their residents and their families, because it is important that they get the best possible care.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Ayres, a supplementary question?

Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can the minister confirm whether the government will engage the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety to undertake a special investigation into what went wrong at Newmarch House?

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The royal commission has been established with its terms of reference and has—appropriately, I think—indicated that it will be looking into the circumstances at Newmarch. But I've asked them—not through a particular form of communication but by public statements—to look at the circumstances with respect to COVID-19 and its management in all aged-care facilities across Australia, because I think it's appropriate. It's not appropriate for me, as minister, to provide a specific direction to the royal commission. They are established through the processes that the government's put in place. They are free to undertake inquiries as they see appropriate. I understand that the opposition has written to the royal commission seeking such a special inquiry, and the royal commission, on my understanding, have responded that they will be looking at it but not in a special sense.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Ayres, a final supplementary question?

Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can the minister provide details to the Senate about the government's engagement with the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety beyond the public statements that he says that he's made in relation to the investigation into Newmarch House and COVID-19 and any other aged-care COVID-19 outbreaks?

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thanks for the question. It's not appropriate for me to be directly engaging with the royal commission. That's not an appropriate thing for me to do. We can, through the department, provide information to the royal commission on request, but I have to respect the royal commission and its terms of reference as they've been established by the government. That is my responsibility. So for me to reflect in any way on the royal commission would not be appropriate. It is not an appropriate thing for me to do, and I have taken advice on previous occasions about whether or not I should be engaged directly with the royal commission, because there have been some things that I've thought it was appropriate to do. So I have, I think, expressed the government's view quite frankly with respect to what we would like to see in relation to the royal commission. The royal commission has put out a public statement that it will be investigating the circumstances of COVID-19 in aged care—I think quite appropriately.

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.