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

I inform the Senate that, at 8.30 am today, 18 proposals were received in accordance with standing order 75. The question on which proposal would be submitted to the Senate was determined by lot. As a result, I inform the Senate that the following letter has been received from Senator McCarthy:

Pursuant to standing order 75, I propose that the following matter of public importance be submitted to the Senate for discussion:

The crisis in aged care caused by Minister Colbeck's failure to listen to warning after warning and to have a COVID-19 plan for aged care, instead responding to the pandemic with self-congratulation and hubris, turning his back on scrutiny and dismissing deaths by neglect as a 'function' of aged care.

Is the proposal supported?

More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

I understand that informal arrangements have been made to allocate specific times to each of the speakers in today's debate. With the concurrence of the Senate, I ask the clerks to set the clock accordingly.

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

I rise to speak on this matter of public importance: the crisis in aged care caused by Minister Colbeck's failure to listen to warning after warning and to have a COVID-19 plan for aged care, instead responding to the pandemic with self-congratulation and hubris, turning his back on scrutiny and dismissing deaths by neglect as a function of aged care.

Firstly, let me acknowledge the incredible tragedy that's facing families across the country—the significant number of deaths in aged-care facilities, with more than 450 older Australians having died, in either residential aged care or other aged-care settings, as a result of COVID-19. I remind those opposite that we are talking about real people, not numbers in a report. These were Australians with families, friends, memories and stories of lives lived, who contributed to our society—people like Maria Rukavina, the little girl who hid in a haystack from enemy troops and survived World War II and who passed away on the other side of the world. She was a resident of St Basil's Homes for the Aged and she died of COVID-19. People like Maria and her family deserve our respect and care.

First Nations people look at our old people as our elders. They are our elders: they are the carriers of our stories, our families' stories, our culture and our kin, passed down from generation to generation. I want to tell the Senate about one elder, Ms Numamurdirdi, a traditional owner from Numbulwar, who, since March 2018, lived in residential aged care in Darwin 800 kilometres from her home. She was one of 52 witnesses who gave evidence to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety when it was in Darwin in July last year. Ms Numamurdirdi was supported to give evidence by her doctor, Dr Meredith Hansen-Knarhoi, a general practitioner with Danila Dilba Health Service, an Aboriginal community controlled organisation providing primary health care and community services in Darwin and the surrounding areas. She told the commission it was difficult for Ms Numamurdirdi to maintain contact with her family in Numbulwar, on the far eastern side of the Northern Territory. It took some months to arrange a mobile phone for her, and, despite exploring options, it was not possible at all over that period of time for Ms Numamurdirdi to return to Numbulwar. In a video statement to the royal commission in July, Ms Numamurdirdi described how she felt living away from her family and country. These are her words:

My heart is crying because I far away from my family… Because if I pass away here, I've got my spirit, my culture, my ceremony way back… at home and my family, they don't want that way, because we've got everything there in the home. And if we pass away, culture there, our spirit. That is my family, because I'm the eldest out of my family and that's my mother land Numbulwar.

Sadly, Ms Numamurdirdi passed away not too long ago. She was not able to return to her country of Numbulwar. When elders and older people are away from country it doesn't just affect the individual; it has consequences for families and communities, who miss out on being the recipients of cultural knowledge. Why do I share this story with the Senate? Because it's about aged care. It's about the care of our elders right across Australia—not just in southern Australia but right across this country. The responsibility for all our aged care across Australia comes right back here to this parliament. Indeed, it is Australia as a whole that suffers when that knowledge of our elders is gone.

Ms Olga Havnen, the Chief Executive Officer of Danila Dilba Health Service, told the commission in Darwin:

The point I really want to emphasize is that Aboriginal people have by far the most complex health conditions, complex level of needs and who actually receive the least level of service, and these things are not new. We have talked about it for decades…

One of the things we were incredibly concerned about and still are, certainly in northern Australia and the Northern Territory, is the impact of COVID-19 and the possible impact of COVID-19 on our First Nations people. Just like our elders, the First Nations people have been considered one of the most vulnerable groups in our community. I raise this issue with the Senate because, again, aged care is the responsibility of the Commonwealth government. We have a minister here who has not talked about a report from that royal commission which these members of the Northern Territory constituency gave evidence to. This minister, Senator Colbeck, could not even remember if he took that report titled Neglect into the cabinet to talk about it with the Morrison government and the cabinet ministers. That report came down in October 2019. These constituents in the Northern Territory gave passionate evidence about the failings of the aged-care system. This parliament was given notice back in October 2019.

But that's go back even a few more years before that, to the database of workers. That report about aged care and the workforce sat on the desks of our Prime Minister and his fellow ministers. They were warned about the failings in the aged-care system, and today is about facing the reckoning and the responsibility, or lack thereof, of this minister. The royal commission heard about the stark challenges faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in terms of poverty, food insecurity, difficulties in accessing services, lack of culturally safe and secure services and the distances from services. The Neglect report found that the aged-care system fails to meet the need of older, vulnerable citizens. Read that report!

It impacts, even now, as every single day goes by. It found that the aged-care sector does not deliver uniformly safe and quality care. It's unkind and uncaring towards older people and, in too many instances, it neglects them. For those in the sector, this is not new; this is something they've been talking about for decades, and yet the Morrison government has chosen to ignore the royal commission that the Prime Minister set up. It has ignored the warnings from experts and unions and it has ignored the warnings from the tragedies already experienced at Dorothy Henderson Lodge and Newmarch House. This is a system that puts profit above people.

The truth is that after seven years of neglect, Australia's aged-care system was broken long before COVID-19. The Morrison government is in charge of aged care: the Morrison government regulates aged care and it funds aged care. And the Morrison government has the legislation which determines the quality of the aged care that older Australians get in this country. When Mr Morrison was the Treasurer he cut $1.7 billion from aged-care providers. The Aged Care portfolio has churned through seven ministers over seven years—Minister Andrews, Minister Fifield, Minister Morrison, Minister Ley, Minister Wyatt, Minister Hunt and Minister Colbeck. If things are not working—if systems are not working—the Morrison government is ultimately responsible for this. The buck stops with the Prime Minister.

The Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians, Senator Colbeck, has admitted that the federal government has no idea about how many aged-care employees are working across multiple sites, despite the serious risks of this issue. This is critical to preventing the spread of infection. The aged-care workforce is casualised, insufficiently remunerated and has no entitlement to paid sick leave. It means that workers work in multiple aged-care centres. The minister has also admitted that the Morrison government's regulator ceased unannounced visits to aged-care homes at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. This minister needs to go. He needs to take responsibility and go.

Claire Chandler (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This virus, COVID-19, has drastically changed the world we live in and the way we live our lives. But, as a government, we are working to keep Australians safe and to prevent the further spread of COVID-19. We understand that we need to do everything we can to prevent COVID-19 from spreading to vulnerable Australians, and this government is working with aged-care providers and state and territory public health authorities to support arrangements to manage infection control and COVID-19 outbreaks.

This has been an extremely difficult time for Australians, and we offer our deep condolences to those families who have lost loved ones. As a government, we've been building on our response to COVID-19 in residential aged care since January 2020. Since the beginning of the pandemic the federal government has announced funding of more than $1 billion in new measures to respond to the impacts of COVID-19 on aged care. Overall the Morrison government is delivering record investment across the aged-care system over the forward estimates, from $13.3 billion in financial year 2013 under Labor and growing to $21.4 billion last financial year under a coalition government. That is, on average, $1.2 billion of extra support for older Australians each year over the forward estimates.

It's important to note when considering our COVID-19 response, particularly as it pertains to aged care, that we're incorporating learnings from not only our country's own experience of this issue but also the experiences of other countries in order to provide a wider understanding of the virus, its impact on aged care, and effective control measures. We are taking all the advice and using all the information available to us to inform the aged-care response to COVID-19, which has been closely incorporated into the health response to the pandemic and is a critical part of the health pandemic plan. Across the country, 97 per cent of aged-care facilities have not had an outbreak of COVID-19, and we are working incredibly hard to try to keep it that way.

Making improvements to aged care for all senior Australians has always been a priority of the Morrison coalition government, and it continues to be a priority. That is why the Prime Minister called a royal commission into aged-care quality and safety. Our recent track record in improving aged care, including since the royal commission was called, is extensive. Since the 2018-19 budget we've invested $3 billion into home care packages to support more Australians to remain living in their own homes for longer. That's an increase of more than 50,000 home care packages. We've released almost 15,000 new residential care packages, including 13½ thousand residential places and 775 short-term restorative care places. We're investing $5.3 billion from 1 July this year to June 2022 for existing Commonwealth home support program service providers to ensure continuity of in-home support services for more than 800,000 clients across Australia. We've invested $21.9 million for My Aged Care operating costs. We've provided a $320 million boost to residential aged-care subsidies. We've given providers who are operating residential and home care access to independent business advisory services—and so much more. Unfortunately, in this debate I'm not hearing from those on the other side much mention of this great work that this government has done.

Recently the Morrison government announced a scale-up of aged-care support programs in Victoria and across Australia, with an additional $171.5 million. This provides a new funding boost for a new COVID-19 response plan as agreed by national cabinet last week. It demonstrates that we are continually assessing and adapting to this situation, on the basis of the best medical advice, to protect older Australians. Funding will be used to continue current programs for infection control training and surge workforce staff, alongside greater compliance by the aged-care commissioner and coordinated response centres. As I said in my initial remarks, we understand that we need to do everything we can to prevent COVID-19 from spreading to vulnerable Australians, and we are committed to working with aged-care providers and the state and territory authorities to try to get this outbreak under control. (Time expired)

Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to make a contribution to this matter of public importance debate. I articulated earlier in this place today how concerned we are about the failures in aged care in this country, particularly as it relates to the COVID crisis and the number of deaths that have occurred in aged care in this country and the fact that this government appears to see it as, 'Well, it's less than in Europe'—to justify it because it's less than what's happened in Europe and other countries and as if it is an inevitability. Well, it's not an inevitability. The fact is that we didn't have a plan. We had a lack of preparation. We haven't had enough money invested in aged care. We lack the workforce. We lack a surge workforce. We don't provide the hours of care that people need when they are in aged care. Those are just a few of the things that need to be addressed and that have led to the failures to adequately protect older Australians in residential aged care.

What I want to focus on here are the issues around our regulator. We don't think that the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission is adequately supported or resourced, or has the appropriate regulatory powers to fully enforce standards in aged care. COVID-19 has further exposed the already significant problems in aged care and the significant problems with our existing regulatory framework—and, in fact, our approach to regulation. The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission has been perfectly happy with assessing providers' readiness for COVID-19 through self-assessment tools and phone contacts. That is clearly inappropriate in the face of the potential impact of COVID on older Australians in aged care. They must have known about the significant problems we have in our aged-care sector in this country: the lack of staff, the fact that we are still arguing about whether we should have a nurse in the facility 24/7 and the fact that there is still conflict over provision of clinical care. They must have known that these problems were there.

I think it's incredibly telling how the commission has approached regulation in general. It is simply not appropriate to use self-assessment tools and phone contact to regulate in the face of this pandemic. The tick-box approach around assessing aged-care quality has been known to experts in the sector for years now. I've had constant complaints about it. People in the sector will openly tell you that quality assessors are not adequately equipped to do their jobs. They often don't have the capacity to observe outcomes and factors contributing to substandard quality care. In fact, in a submission to the aged-care royal commission in June, the CPSU said that nearly 60 per cent of assessors felt ill-equipped to identify gaps in care because they didn't have enough time on site to identify problems. The CPSU also noted that without additional staff to share the workload of monitoring aged-care assessments will continue to be rushed, while care is poor. One staff member told the union:

We often feel we are regulating with our hands tied behind our backs. We are not allowed to photographically record information, copy and take information, audio record key interviews. The Commission is a bit toothless in holding providers to account …

Another assessor said:

… there is no real penalty to failing the meet Standards. Just the inconvenience of additional visits from the Commission …

It is crystal clear that the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission has failed to properly investigate facilities during the outbreak of COVID-19. I strongly believe that the decision to cease unannounced visits was the wrong decision. The regulator should have been there to make sure these facilities were up to scratch. The commission is underresourced and understaffed, not only to deal with this pandemic but also the fundamental problems in aged care. As at 31 August, Australian Defence Force personnel had visited a total of 252 aged-care facilities. In contrast, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission had conducted spot-checks and carried out 118 checks. This means the ADF are conducting more than double the amount of checks on our aged-care facilities. While that is a good thing, you would think the people with the expertise should be the ones in there. It is obvious that the commission doesn't have enough staff to inspect every single facility and undertake the spread of the work that needs to be done.

The minister told us at a COVID committee hearing in August that if the commission requires additional resources then the government will provide them. If that's the case, why isn't the minister providing the commission with significant extra resources and funding to bolster its workforce and let it do the regulation properly? Many stakeholders in the aged-care sector—including COTA, OPAN and the AMA—have been calling for a strengthening of the commission's functions and powers since it was established. The Greens have also been calling for this. In fact, we tried to amend legislation passed by the Senate last year to strengthen the commission's powers.

It is imperative that the government immediately look at how the commission can be strengthened and better resourced to support facilities throughout the pandemic and beyond COVID-19. This is yet another failure of this government in adequately ensuring that our regulator had the teeth, the powers, the funding and the resources to make sure that it could properly regulate this sector so the sector was in the best state possible as it faced this pandemic. It is unacceptable that this continue any longer.

Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There have been a lot of words thrown around this chamber in the last couple of speeches and through the debate we've had not just today but also over the last couple of days, and there will be a lot of words thrown around in the weeks ahead. Labor's been accused of confecting outrage over the deaths of vulnerable Australians. Labor's been accused of using cheap politics. There's nothing cheap about the lives of vulnerable Australians.

When the minister today was given an opportunity to explain himself, he referred to the motion in the Senate as 'tragic'. It is tragic that vulnerable Australians relied on this minister and relied on this government to take care of them during this outbreak, because we know that there were warnings, we know that the government received a report entitled Neglectand we know that there were warnings of outbreaks and what outbreaks would do in an aged-care facility and to older Australians. But still this government and this minister didn't have a plan, and now they're trying to shift blame, shift responsibility and direct focus away from where it should be. Where it should be is on this minister and his job, and he should be resigning.

Under this government's watch, 450 aged-care residents have died, and there are currently 890 active cases in residential aged care. These aren't just numbers. This isn't a debate just about numbers. These are real people, family members and elderly residents. Our most vulnerable Australians are dying without their families by their sides because this government failed to develop a plan for the aged-care sector. The lack of a plan culminated in a situation where a third of all COVID deaths in Australia have occurred in aged-care homes, but we know that the government was warned.

There is only one word to sum up this government's response, and it is 'neglect'. They had a report entitled Neglect. They knew. They had warnings. And now they want to shirk responsibility. It is very difficult for this government to shirk responsibility when they had warning after warning that this would happen. The warning bells were ringing in March, but the government wasn't listening. It is now September, and their inaction has been staggering.

The other curious thing that has happened as the aged-care minister walked away from responsibility and shrugged off responsibility in this chamber is those opposite having to come to his defence. In doing so, they've made one of the most illogical, circular arguments I think I've ever heard in this chamber. First of all they say, 'We've listened to the best medical health advice about aged-care failures, and it's heaps worse in other countries, so we're doing okay.' Then they say, 'Actually, this is a result of community transmission in Victoria.' They want to lay the blame on somebody else—on another government and on other people who are not responsible for aged care. Then they say, 'Victoria needs a road out of lockdown.' They say, 'Premiers need to stop making political decisions about borders.' They say, 'Premiers aren't listening to health advice and expert advice.'

Can I tell you that one of the reasons that people in other states are terrified about COVID-19 coming into their community is that this government is responsible for aged-care and they know that this government and this minister will not take care of them. So instead of trying to shrug the blame off onto someone else, why don't you do your job? (Time expired)

David Van (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you to Senator McCarthy for moving this motion. There is no doubt that in the current environment any death relating to COVID-19 is tragic and that older Australians are the most vulnerable to its impacts. In this debate, we mustn't forget the tragic losses that families, friends and loved ones are experiencing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, for the sixth time in this sitting period, the Australian Labor Party have come into this chamber and set up a debate that seeks to shift blame away from their own failings in aged-care policy. For the sixth time this sitting period, the Australian Labor Party have come into this chamber and tried to protect their Victorian mates from accountability for their systemic failings. Is this just another union protection racket for the Victorian Labor Party? There have been failings in quarantine that have seen community transmission spread right across the state and force the most severe lockdown conditions in Australia and failings in governance that have seen the wrong departments running the hotel quarantine, the refusal of Australian Defence Force resources and the catastrophic underresourcing of contact tracing.

For the sixth time this sitting period, the Australian Labor Party have come into this chamber and ignored the facts from the government by continuing to argue there was no plan in place. I'm very pleased to say that on 24 August the Liberal Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, provided a detailed response to the Leader of the Opposition about the plan. Those opposite in this chamber have clearly not followed what has already been said in the other place. As such, for the benefit of those opposite, I would like to seek leave to table the Prime Minister's answers.

Leave not granted.

I expected that, because they don't want to listen to the answers. It is clear that those opposite do not want to listen to facts. They do not care about the facts or good policy. For those opposite, this is about politics, grandstanding and trying to get a news grab. Well, shame on you.

I'll tell you what, on this side of the chamber we do care about facts. We do care about the truth, and no matter how often the Labor Party want to deny the existence of a plan, the evidence is clear.

An opposition senator interjecting—

Give me leave to table it, Senator. I've got it right here for you. You can read it any time. I'll drop it around to your office. There was always a plan, and you know it. The fact that you won't give me leave just proves it.

Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have a point of order. If the senator could direct his comments through the chair, that would be appreciated. And I note that the document he is seeking to table is a matter of public record. It's not necessary—

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

That's not a point of order, Senator Green. Senator Van, could you direct your comments through the chair, please.

David Van (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I said earlier in my comments and as I have said on three occasions, all my comments so far have been through the chair. It is curious—through you, Chair—that each time those opposite decide to bring this debate on, there is not one Victorian senator leading the charge on their side. Where are they? What are they hiding from? They're just not about to take any accountability for what's happened in Victoria. Not once have I heard one Labor senator even mention the word 'Victoria'. This is despite the alleged failing of aged care in their home state. I note that Senator Walsh has been the only Labor senator to be brave enough to come into this chamber and debate this issue; although I do note she did not mention Victoria once. I do wonder where the rest of her Victorian ALP Senate colleagues are? We saw Senator Carr earlier, so we know where he is. Senators Kitching and Ciccone—not there. I haven't heard anything from Senator Rice—she is attending virtually—on this issue. We have had Labor senators from the ACT, New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania, Western Australia and now the Northern Territory but no Victorians. Is it because, as Victorians, they're too ashamed of Dan Andrews to come into this place and defend his appalling record? There is nothing more hypocritical than every senator on that side failing to call out the Victorian government for their disastrous handling of this pandemic. Considering this remarkable situation, I welcome the opportunity to talk fact and refute their unjustified attacks on the minister for aged care and their spurious allegations.

Senator Rennick, let's talk facts. When Labor left office, total aged-care spending was $13.3 billion. This year, under the Liberal-National coalition government, it is $22.6 billion, increasing to $25.4 billion by 2022-23. In case your maths needs refreshing, that is an increase of over $1.2 billion each year. When those opposite were thrown out of government, there were 60,308 home-care packages across the country. Under this government, we will see that grow to 164,135 places by 2022-23. That is an increase of 170 per cent. At the same time, corresponding funding will also increase by 258 per cent.

One thing about those opposite that annoys voters in Victoria is their ability to say one thing and do another. Let's consider the last election, where the Labor Party had so much new spending, it would have resulted in an extra $387 billion in new taxes. But let me just check. How much of that was promised for aged care? Zero, absolutely zero, none—the hypocrisy! Those opposite had a plan to increase taxes on everything yet they didn't have a plan for aged care. This is despite the Leader of the Opposition reminding us last week at the National Press Club that he had been shadow ageing and senior spokesperson back in 2001. Yet those opposite come in here all high and mighty and decide to lecture us on issues they have clearly ignored.

I tell you what: this government takes aged care seriously. This is a government that values older Australians, a government that realises that the system isn't perfect and that the test of a government is what they do. The Morrison government is a government that is getting on with fixing the problems in the system. We have a Prime Minister who knew that there were significant issues in aged care when he took the job and that is why this government called a royal commission in October 2018. We knew that the royal commission was going to find issues; that's its job. Those opposite need to be reminded of the words of the Prime Minister when he announced the royal commission. The Prime Minister said:

I think we should brace ourselves for some pretty bruising information about the way our loved ones, some of them have experienced some real mistreatment.

He also said:

I think that's going to be tough for us to deal with, but you can't walk past it.

I can say proudly, right here, we are not walking past it. We are tackling it head-on.

There is no doubt that the royal commission's interim report was damning. There is no denying that. But that's why we called a royal commission—to shine a light on areas and to get to the bottom of the problems. It is a reminder that perhaps the government should call a royal commission to investigate the quarantine failures or the contact-tracing failures in Victoria. That would shine some light on why we now have such high community transmission in Victoria which has spread into aged care. The aged care royal commission was highly critical of the inaction of successive governments towards the aged-care industry. We acknowledge that, and we are actioning responses as quickly as we can. We're acting on the recommendations that have already been made and we will act on further recommendations. Work continues to progress through the Aged Care Workforce Industry Council. We continue to progress reforms and invest in the critical skills that our aged-care sector needs.

But where is the commitment from those opposite? In every area in this portfolio, they dither and point-score and yet, time and time again, they have failed. They have provided no policy and no commitment to additional funding, but they come in here, day after day, throwing mud at Minister Colbeck, who was appointed some seven months after the royal commission and some five months before its report was handed down. He is diligently working through the challenges of this sector. Those opposite reek of total hypocrisy.

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

I rise to contribute to this debate—again, another speech on aged care because it has been such a major issue confronting not just Victoria but our whole country in recent months. I have to say that I was disappointed to hear from Senator Van a continuation of the failure to take responsibility that we have seen from Minister Colbeck and from the Prime Minister himself. Not a single person in this government seems willing to take responsibility for the aged-care failures that we have seen in his country, particularly but not only in Victoria, over the last few months.

It could not be any clearer that aged care is a federal responsibility. The federal government fund aged care. The federal government regulate aged care, or they're supposed to regulate aged care. Yet, despite that, they continue to avoid taking responsibility for what we have seen occur in our aged-care facilities. They will find anyone else to blame. Their preferred target is Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. They will also blame—

Senator Van interjecting—

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

Senator Van, you were listened to in silence. I would appreciate you not interjecting whilst speeches are being made.

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

As I say, whether it be Minister Colbeck, the Prime Minister or senators in this chamber, they will always find someone else to blame for what we have seen occur in our aged-care facilities, as long as that person is not themselves.

Clearly, this is the responsibility of the federal government and in particular the aged-care minister, Minister Colbeck. It isn't that long ago that I remember there being another aged-care minister in this country under a Liberal government, Bronwyn Bishop. She was the minister who oversaw what became known as the kerosene baths scandal—disgraceful circumstances in Australian aged-care homes. One death resulted. She at least had the good grace to resign from her post. Yet, in contrast, we have a minister here, completely asleep at the wheel, completely failing to take responsibility for the pandemic entering and spreading like wildfire through aged-care facilities in Victoria and now claiming the lives of over 450 older Australians, who remains in the job. Everyone knows—and you only have to look at the Senate backbench to see that they know—that this minister is not going to be in the role for very much longer. It is a matter of time. We are all just waiting for the reshuffle that will occur when Senator Cormann retires. We all know that the deckchairs will be reshuffled and rearranged and there will be someone else put into the role of aged-care minister.

But you'd have to say that, in this government, it doesn't really seem to matter who is the minister, because whoever has been the minister has presided over a complete disaster in our aged-care system. This government has been in power for seven years. They have had seven years to fix the aged-care system that they are responsible for. They have had report after report after review after submission after framework after guideline telling them over and over again that the aged-care system is broken, that it needs more funding and that it needs fundamental overhaul. Yet, no matter who we've had sitting in the chair as aged-care minister, they have ignored those warnings and they have failed to do what has been recommended. They've been called out by their own royal commission for failing to implement recommendations and failing to have a plan, and now, of course, we're seeing the consequences.

It's not just about the numbers of people who are affected. Just think about those stories that we've heard of maggots and of ants crawling all over older Australians. My father turned 80 this year. Realistically, it won't be too many more years before he'll be in an aged-care facility. I'm just horrified at the idea that he might end up being in a facility where they are the kinds of conditions in which people are treated. But that is how people are being treated in the aged-care facilities that this federal government is responsible for.

The time for action is well past due. This government simply has got to do something about this. We've had this interim report, labelled Neglect, handed down recently, and we're still seeing problems in the aged-care system. They set up a royal commission, saying that that was going to be the solution, and, now that it's providing solutions, they're ignoring those as well. We cannot leave older Australians to continue to suffer. (Time expired)

Gerard Rennick (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I say to Senator Watt: I do actually think about those stories. I think about the story of a mother who lost a child, a baby, because she couldn't cross the border because of an outrageous, bigoted statement that said: 'Queensland hospitals for our people'. I don't seem to recall Scott Morrison, the Prime Minister, or the minister for aged care ever saying—

Senator Pratt interjecting—

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

Senator Pratt, interjections are disorderly.

Gerard Rennick (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That the Labor Party have again sought to engage in the politics of smear and blame is testament to the fact that they are bereft of ideas and policy. They are an entity focused solely on negativity and profiting politically from human misery. Today's MPI and the litany of repetitive and malicious questions and statements directed at our aged-care minister borders on obsession.

The root cause of the second wave in Victoria and in the bulk of Australia can be found in the failings of the Victorian state government and their failed hotel quarantine program, their failed community transmission program and their failure to consult with the federal government when they pulled 100 aged-care staff out of the St Basil's aged-care centre with as little as 24 hours notice. Don't you think you would've at least rung up and had some backup in place before you pulled the staff out and left those residents to fend for themselves? We shut down in March so that the state governments would have enough time to get their health systems up to scratch. The federal government has funded hundreds of billions of dollars for the state governments to get their health system procedures up to scratch, to get their quarantine up to scratch and to get their community transmission up to scratch, yet the one government that failed us, the Victorian Labor government, was the one with the strictest rules and the worst execution.

Those opposite will do anything to run cover for the Victorian Premier. They will constantly run cover for the Victorian Premier. Not once in question time here in the last two weeks have we had a question about how we're going to get out of this, because these guys opposite don't want to get out of this. They want to keep the country locked down because Labor love command and control.

In a global pandemic, with a new and unknown virus disproportionately affecting the elderly, it was a horrific reality that it was inevitable that some elderly Australians would, regrettably, pass away from this virus. All loss of life is tragic. But those opposite come into this place, screeching and preaching that the minister is responsible for every death and that, had they been in government, no-one would have died from this virus. It is ludicrous. As the Chief Medical Officer in Victoria has already stated, a number of these people counted as COVID deaths were already in palliative care. That seems to have been overlooked. We are supposed to be fighting our common enemy—the virus and the resulting economic carnage—but, of course, the Labor Party want to find a scapegoat for political pointscoring, and, unfortunately, the Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians has become the distraction that Labor need to divert attention from the Victorian Premier's gross failings.

The unfair and dishonest language used in this motion demeans us all. We've heard mistruths spoken again this afternoon by those opposite, suggesting that the LNP has cut $1.2 billion out of aged care. Let me tell you: the ABC, who are no great friends of the coalition, have said that this claim is misleading. Yet, those opposite continually repeat the same old mistruths, time after time after time, instead of asking some constructive questions about how we're going to get out of this and how we're going to look after our children. They're the ones who have been forgotten in all this. They're the people who will have to inherit the debt and inherit this new way of living. Hopefully, we can restore their freedoms. I know some of the state premiers are intent on keeping the place locked down and destroying any liberty left in this country.

I don't know what I can say, but this idea that the minister has avoided scrutiny is a farcical claim. He has come into this chamber every day for the last two weeks, and he has stood up and answered those questions. He faces the media and he answers their questions. He has been doing an outstanding job. What's going on here is nothing short of bullying for crass political pointscoring purposes. I take issue with the notion thrown up by this motion that the minister—or, indeed, any member of the government—has responded to the pandemic with self-congratulation or hubris. I think, if anything, the pandemic has humbled us all. An invisible enemy which we have been thus far unable to completely defeat reminds us all of our shared humanity. The Labor Party, in their relentless focus on this, seem to imply, firstly, that they have a mortgage on compassion and, secondly, that somehow they could have prevented to a much greater extent the spread of the virus.

We know how the state Labor government managed the outbreak in Victoria, yet we hear nothing from those opposite. The most sinister implication of this MPI from those opposite seems to be that those on this side of the chamber don't care about our elderly. Nothing could be further from the truth. Those in the coalition care deeply about our elderly. We all love our parents, and this attempt to imply otherwise is just woeful. In my first speech, I said that there is no substitute for mum and dad. It's why I fight. I fight to place the importance of the family at the front and centre of everything I do because, when it comes to child care and aged care, there are some things governments can't do as well as the family. We should remember who set up the royal commission. We want to hear the stories and to do our best to make sure that aged care is the best we can possibly make it. The fact is that 97 per cent of aged care is COVID-free. This is a good result both by objective standards and when compared with the rest of the world. It is not a perfect result, but, against an insidious enemy like the virus, it is a good result.

Labor seem to think it is acceptable to lie in the context of this debate. We know their repeated claim that this government cut aged-care funding. It is a brazen lie. Funding has increased by almost $10 billion under the coalition government. Furthermore, it should be remembered that the Victorian Chief Medical Officer himself said that people dying with COVID are dying with COVID rather than from COVID but they are being included in the count. For those on the other side to be gloating over these deaths and saying that they were all unavoidable is despicable. He noted that many deaths classified as being COVID have been patients in palliative care. Palliative care is one of the toughest parts of our healthcare system. It is about kindness and minimising suffering. This is an unfortunate reality.

I want to go now to another important issue, which is that, according to those opposite, we haven't had a plan for COVID. Those opposite us love to refer to the royal commission, but they never actually refer to the medical officers who put the submissions in to the royal commission. They're happy to refer to the barristers, the non-medical experts. I will conclude by remarking on comment 7 from the witness statement of Brendan Murphy, the Chief Medical Officer:

In January 2020, the Australian Government led the preparation of the Australian Health Sector Emergency Response Plan for Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) (COVID Response Plan). This was published on 18 February 2020 and was activated on 27 February 2020. This plan addressed the response to aged care in the context of the overall Commonwealth, State and Territory response plan.

(Time expired)

Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You just wonder what it's going to take to get the Morrison government and the government senators in this place to take responsibility, once and for all, for aged care. What is it going to take? It is very clear that the Morrison government fund aged care, regulate aged care and have legislation around the quality of aged care, so they have a lot of control over this sector, yet we have seen them passing the buck, blaming others and, somehow, blaming us—when we are in opposition. What nonsense!

I've got to tell you, Madam Acting Deputy President, that ordinary Australians out there are very, very concerned about aged care, and they know it is Mr Morrison and Minister Colbeck who are ultimately responsible for aged care. Sadly, we've seen a minister who is not up to the job. Clearly, the buck stops with the minister. Quite frankly, if Mr Morrison really cared about what's happening in aged care across this country he would withdraw that minister and put in someone who is at least competent and capable.

My thoughts, of course, are with every single person who has lost a loved one during this pandemic, but particularly those in aged care. Who hasn't been moved by the horrific stories that we've heard where loved ones don't know where their family members are, or where family members are not at the bedside when their loved one dies? Many of us in this place have seen our parents pass on. I was with my father when he passed away. Some of the social workers, meaning well, suggested that I put my father into a nursing home. This was a couple of years ago, and even at that point I said: 'No way. No way is my father going into an aged-care facility.' I was very firm about it. They put quite a lot of pressure on me, but, having worked for the union that organises aged-care workers, the United Workers Union, I knew what nursing homes looked like and there was no way my father was going to go into that aged-care facility.

Workers in aged care are low paid. They earn $20 to $21 an hour, and they don't have enough hours. No wonder they work across two or three other facilities just to make ends meet. I heard Pat Sparrow, from Aged & Community Services Australia, say on the radio today that the new funding announced yesterday was welcome but still not enough. So once again we've seen this piecemeal approach. We saw it in the bushfires—a running-behind, piecemeal approach from the Morrison government—and we're definitely seeing it in aged care. It is a tragedy, and we should demand better. We are a wealthy country. We can afford to treat aged-care workers with respect. We can afford to pay them properly for the jobs they do. Loved ones are currently dying in their arms when family members are not there, yet we treat these workers with such disrespect. They get about 30 hours a week. They earn $20 to $21 an hour. And they are the people who are currently on the front line. Yet we see a pathetic attempt from the Morrison government to somehow support them because they've taken away their second-job options.

Clearly it is way over time for this government to take responsibility, to act, to have a plan for the future. I bet if we asked Minister Colbeck, 'What will aged care look like in 12 months?' he couldn't tell us, and if we asked the Prime Minister that he couldn't tell us. Aged-care providers have been saying for years that the system is in crisis. We have a report titled Neglect. That should have given some clues to the Morrison government that things were not good—a report titled Neglect, where there were horrific stories, which I'm not going to repeat today, but we've heard over and over again of that neglect. We heard about Newmarch House, St Basil's and Dorothy Henderson Lodge; we heard those horrific stories from family members about their relatives. Imagine banging at the window? So, get real, and take responsibility. Thank you.

Jordon Steele-John (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

[by video link] To come into this place to contribute to this debate on aged care and to excuse the loss of life—to suggest that it is ever acceptable for people to die in these circumstances simply because they were already on their way out—is absolutely vile and completely unacceptable. Those senators who have made those suggestions during the course of this debate should hang their heads in shame and, while they are at it, go and look at some of the accounts of what it is like to suffer with this virus and ask themselves whether they would be comfortable if their relative, their loved one, were ending their life struggling to breathe as their body shut down due to COVID-19.

Let us be very clear: the government had no plan. The regulator was ineffective and underfunded. The government failed to listen to report after report. The royal commission's report, titled Neglect, says it all in one word. There was failure to collect data. There was failure to support workforce. And as in aged care, so with disability: an ineffective regulator, no plan at the outset of the pandemic, failure to listen to reports, failure to collect data and failure to support workforce, and in addition to that a total and continual failure to provide the adequate financial support to those on the DSP and carer payment. And that is before we even touch on PPE and the preparedness of the workforce in terms of infection control. On aged care, the response of the government is to run a protection racket for one of the most incompetent ministers ever to congeal in a cabinet position within the coalition. Within disability, it has sent anxiety scorching and surging through the community, with the announcement of the proposed independent assessment framework for those participating in the NDIS.

I give this message very clearly to anybody watching at home: the Greens will continue to fight to hold this fool to account, and we will resist any and all measures to impose these assessment frameworks upon disabled people.

The Acting Deputy President:

The time for the discussion has expired.