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

My question is to the Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians, Senator Colbeck. Today Minister Hunt announced $92.4 million in funding to prevent aged-care workers from working at multiple facilities. Will the minister guarantee that aged-care workers will no longer work at multiple facilities? If not, why not?

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

Today Minister Hunt and I announced a number of measures to support the aged-care sector to manage the COVID-19 outbreak. One of those measures was to support a negotiated agreement between the aged-care sector and the unions in Victoria to ensure that one worker could work at one site. That agreement is not inclusive of the entire aged-care sector. Of course, there are some workers who we do require to work across more than one site. It includes our ADF nurses who go into a number of facilities to provide assistance to the aged-care sector when a facility is under stress. It includes our AUSMAT teams that go in to provide assistance to aged-care facilities when they are under stress. It also includes the sonic and aspen testing teams that are required to go in to do the testing for providers. It doesn't include, as a part of that program, agency nurses who are required for surge workforce capacity across the aged-care sector in Victoria.

It supports workers who are employed normally by aged-care providers to work in one facility. The point of the program and the support that we're providing is to ensure that workers aren't worse off by the fact that they are asked to work across one site. This is a continuation of that process. The announcement that I made with Minister Hunt this morning extends the period of that program from eight weeks to 12 weeks, acknowledging the ongoing circumstances of the pandemic in Victoria.

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

Senator McCarthy, a supplementary question?

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

Can the minister confirm that A Matter of Care: Australia's Aged Care Workforce Strategy, delivered to his government two years ago, recommended a national database of workers? Why has the Morrison government ducked the report and sat on it, instead of taking action that would've better prepared its aged-care system for the COVID pandemic?

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

Contrary to the question from Senator McCarthy, the government is actually actioning that particular proposal right now. The consultation process has completed. We are working with the sector to provide a national workforce identification and registration process, and incorporating into that process qualification requirements that providers would need for their workforce across the sector. It's not true to say that we're not actioning that recommendation—in fact, we are.

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

Senator McCarthy, a final supplementary question?

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

Why has it taken more than 1,800 cases of COVID-19 in aged care, the deaths of 457 older Australians in aged care and seven months for the Morrison government to finally provide support for aged-care workers?

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

Again, I have to say that I can't agree with the premise of the question put by Senator McCarthy, because we have been providing support to workers in aged care since March—since early in the aged-care pandemic. Maybe Labor are a bit concerned that they are so late to the party on this issue that they've only discovered aged care in recent weeks. But we have been working with the aged-care sector in this country since January to assist them and to prepare them for COVID-19. We have been providing advice and support to the sector on COVID-19 since January. The measures that Minister Hunt and I announced today were, in fact, a continuation of existing measures that we'd put in place previously, in recognition of the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic continues.