Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Manufacturing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services (Senator Colbeck) to questions without notice asked today by Senators Sheldon, Walsh, Watt and Grogan.

As we have seen in question time after question time, our national Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services, Senator Colbeck, refuses to take any responsibility for the dire plight of senior Australians who are trapped in aged care in appalling circumstances, in incident after incident. It is leaving my home state of Western Australia incredibly scared of what it might mean when and if COVID actually arrives in the state. We have seen from this minister such abject unaccountability that it beggars belief.

We saw the minister in question time today simply point the finger back at the dysfunctional companies that are failing to uphold standards. He is responsible for the regulator. The government is responsible for aged care. He simply pointed the finger back at the Jeta Gardens aged-care home and said it was their responsibility to improve their standards. Well, sure it is, but look at how dysfunctional it is; look at the abject lack of care.

We have senior Australians in pain with injuries, jumping out of windows and breaking their legs because there is only one nurse to administer pain medication. Is it any wonder that this poor woman was left for 3½ hours? Is it any wonder that she threw herself off a third-floor balcony and broke her bones in multiple places. The incident report demonstrates that neglect was a contributing factor.

This is the minister who has refused to allow aged-care workers and pensioners to keep up with the cost of living, refusing to acknowledge the impact of the high rate of CPI here in Australia—the high rate of that consumer price index inflation and the impact it has on pensioners and, indeed, aged-care workers, who, in some cases, might earn as little as $1,400 a week. It is utterly appalling.

We have here a government that refuses to take responsibility for the plight of people in aged care. At Jeta Gardens, which was talked about in question time today, one resident has been locked in their room. He is 85 years old, with dementia. He's disoriented and, legitimately, thinks he has been abandoned. The aged-care home has not been communicating with his family. Jeta Gardens resident Ruth hadn't seen her family since December. Her family didn't know she had COVID until she was on her deathbed. They were robbed of the opportunity to spend time with her in her final days. I cannot begin to imagine what is going on on the frontline and how upset not only families and residents are but also how upset staff are. They are doing this work in our aged-care homes right around Australia and doing it with absolutely inadequate wages—inadequate wages that, according to the aged-care royal commission, contribute to the lack of staff and the lack of retention of staff.

Perin Davey (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Pratt for raising this very important issue of aged care and our government's commitment to aged care. Senator Pratt said our government refuses to address the issues in aged care, which is patently wrong. It was our government that set up the aged-care royal commission; our government that accepted the final report of the royal commission, which had 148 recommendations; our government that has accepted or accepted in principle 142 of the 148 recommendations; and it was under our government, that, as at January 2022, 135 of those recommendations are being addressed, either wholly or in part. We have already implemented measures within the aged-care reform package in the 2021-22 budget context and, subsequently, through the MYEFO process.

We have a five-year implementation plan underpinned by five pillars. We are improving the home-care packages, which support our senior Australians who choose to remain in their homes. We know that so many of our senior Australians want that choice; they want to be able to stay at home, retain their dignity and be close to their friends and family. We are improving and simplifying residential aged-care services and access, so that for those who have to go into a residential aged-care facility it is easier to access. We're improving the quality and safety monitoring of aged-care facilities, and are supporting growing a better-skilled workforce. We have measures in place, and we have new legislation for stronger governance principles through that process.

We know that, throughout COVID, our aged-care workers have gone above and beyond their usual requirements. We know that the aged-care workforce has been front and centre, under the spotlight, during this pandemic, and we know that the aged-care environment is very vulnerable to the various waves of COVID. But that's why, instead of refusing to address it—as Senator Pratt has alleged—we have from the outset put measures in place to help our aged-care community respond to the challenges that COVID puts in front of us.

Since August last year, we have had rapid antigen tests at the point of care being used within aged-care facilities—first as a trial and then rolled out more broadly. That underpinned the process of moving to rapid antigen tests at home. From our National Medical Stockpile, we made sure that there were masks, gowns, gloves, goggles, face shields, hand sanitiser and other PPE provided to aged-care sector facilities. Our Defence Force is providing strategic and logistical support to the aged-care sector. From the very outset, from the first case of COVID within an aged-care facility, we set up a surge workforce. To date, more than 80,000 shifts have been filled by this surge workforce when our aged-care staff have been isolated due to getting COVID or being a close contact. Across the country, 100 per cent of our aged-care facilities have received a booster clinic. More than 76 per cent of eligible aged-care residents have now received their booster shot.

We have remained flexible and adaptive throughout COVID, while still remaining focused on our commitment and our response to the aged-care royal commission. This government is delivering once-in-a-generation change through our response to the royal commission and through $18.3 billion of support for aged-care sector reform.

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

I rise to take note of questions asked by Senators Sheldon, Walsh, Watt and Grogan of the Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services. It's interesting listening to the previous senators speak about the royal commission. There always seems to be a lapse in memory. The only reason the royal commission into aged care came about was the pressure that was applied to this government, time and time again, by those of us on this side of the chamber. It was a royal commission that you did not wish to take part in, or even to establish, until there was political pressure to do the right thing.

That's the same in this context as well. We shouldn't be surprised that this minister cannot answer a basic question about the impact of cost-of-living increases on senior Australians. This is, after all, a minister who'd rather be at the cricket than working on solving the crisis in his portfolio—the crisis affecting our elders, our parents and our grandparents.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics published data back on 2 February that said aged pensioners were experiencing higher cost-of-living increases. More than a week ago, the ABS published findings that annual increases in living costs in the December quarter ranged between 2.6 per cent for employee households and 3.4 per cent for aged-pensioner households—and food makes up a high proportion of overall expenditure, especially for our elders.

What we have consistently said in this chamber, time and time again, is: take accountability. Take responsibility. This minister has failed time and time again to do those things. People have died under his watch—hundreds of people. His inability to stand before this Senate and face that accountability is reprehensible. He should resign.

There are people in our communities in the Northern Territory who still do not have the RATs that they should have. Our aged-care centres do not have the resourcing that they should have in terms of staffing. Our elders across those regions need this parliament to do the right thing in protecting and caring for the vulnerable. You said that from day 1 you would care for the vulnerable in our country and you have failed. You have totally failed.

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

The time for this debate has expired.

Question agreed to.