Harry Quick (Franklin, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

No, we don’t need passports. Nursing homes in my electorate and in the electorate of the honourable member for Denison are run by not-for-profit church organisations. They do a wonderful job. I know for a fact that they are having real trouble employing registered and enrolled nurses. The carers who work in conjunction with the nurses to look after the needs of the frail aged, the infirm and those suffering, unfortunately, from dementia are receiving less in wages than those who work in the state hospital sector.

This is a real crisis. I know several nurses and carers who work in the aged care sector and I know for a fact that many of them have to work double shifts. They have such a love for the clients they service that they are almost part of the family. When deaths do occur, as they do, in nursing homes on a fairly regular basis there is a real sense of loss and grief. This makes the job even harder, because even when you are under enormous stress—you have this love for the job that you do; you are not being recompensed financially for it—there is a willingness, if you are asked to do a double shift or someone is sick or has family concerns necessitating their not being able to do their shift, to fill in and do the job. I have had the pleasure of visiting nursing homes, and I know the honourable member for Denison has likewise, and it really worries me that there is not a concerted effort by both state and Commonwealth governments, especially in the health sector, to ensure that the nurses, both enrolled and registered, and the carers have the same wage structure as those who are working in the Royal Hobart Hospital or the Launceston General Hospital in Tasmania.

As we know, there is a huge nursing shortage. In a couple of months I will be 65 and one contemplates what might take place in the next 20-odd years. My father is 87 and my mother is 86, so hopefully I have got another 20-odd years, God willing, to walk on this earth, but when you visit the nursing homes and you see people in that transition from their home to home and community care, then going into a hostel, then into a nursing home and then into high care you do think about what is happening. Who knows, dementia strikes at random and if you are part of that system you know that the people who are going to look after you are doing a fantastic job. I have nothing but admiration for the nurses and the carers in the aged care sector, but it worries me that they are being paid a heck of a lot less than their counterparts working in the hospitals. It is not just in Tasmania but right across the nation.

I compliment the government in allocating a whole lot of money in the area of mental health this week as a result of the COAG meeting, but all the statistics show that in the next 20 years the age cohort is going to increase enormously and we need to put something in place now. We are training countless doctors, but the numbers of nurses are declining. Why wouldn’t they be declining when nurses can earn far more in other areas in our community? So I say to state and Commonwealth governments and to the health ministers: pay a visit; take off your ministerial coat and be the local member and go and visit the nursing homes at 11 o’clock at night when there is a transition shift and at seven o’clock in the morning when there is a transition shift; spend some time and talk to the nurses and the carers and the dons and just see what is happening. As I said, these are the unsung heroes. I thank the House for the opportunity to raise these two issues which, as I said at the outset, are very dear to my heart.

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