Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing and Mental Health) Share this | Hansard source

Whilst Labor obviously has been very supportive of this royal commission, we wait to hear some of the terrible stories to come out of the royal commission. I think we all know the sorts of stories we are going to see and hear. I think that Australians are bracing for those stories. As the shadow minister, I've been in a position where I've had to listen to and counsel some family members about some of the terrible stories of people's experiences in residential and in-home care in Australia. What we as a parliament need to make sure and what the government needs to make sure is that we don't wait until the final report in April 2020 before acting. We need to make sure that the issues that we know are wrong today are fixed today. I have been very strong on that. I have obviously contacted the government, the minister and the Prime Minister, together with the Leader of the Opposition, about the terms of reference for this royal commission. I am pleased that they are very broad. I am still concerned that retirement village living is not included, given that a large number of people in retirement village living are also receiving home care services. I hope that the commissioners, under any other item, also look at this issue, because it is a significant issue around the country and a lot of older Australians, in my view, are signing contracts that they don't understand and they are not aware of what they are being asked to do in terms of the fees and payments.

As I said, I want to make sure that the government does act. The government has more than a dozen reports on its desk today. Some of those reports are about workforce. One, of course, is the Carnell-Paterson report into Oakden. To date, we've implemented one of the 10 recommendations. One has been partially implemented, with legislation in this place at the moment. There is a range of other recommendations that need to be implemented. We have the David Tune report into aged-care services in Australia and the government has responded to 18 of 38 recommendations. Another 20 recommendations are yet to be dealt with. So we do need to make sure that the government acts on these reports that are currently on its desk today.

The government have to accept some responsibility for where we are today. They have been in government for five years. For five years, they have been in charge of this system and, by calling a royal commission into this system, they're saying, 'We've mucked it up and things are bad.' After five years, that is what they are saying. Essentially, after three ministers and ripping billions of dollars out, they are saying, 'We now have a problem, so let's call a royal commission.' We're pleased the royal commission has finally been called. Of course, when Labor said the aged-care system was in crisis months ago, we were chastised and, indeed, the minister at the table said some things to the Leader of the Opposition about it being akin to elder abuse. I know that he has since said that, perhaps, he went a bit far in his comments, but we have been saying that there are some very serious issues in the aged-care system today. That does not take away from the hardworking staff and people in the aged-care sector. They work extraordinarily hard day in and day out to provide the best possible care to older Australians. Many older Australians do receive very-high-quality care, but what this royal commission will show is that there are people who are not receiving high-quality care. What we know is that, when you rip billions of dollars out—and the current Prime Minister was the then Treasurer who ripped almost $2 billion out of the aged-care system; $1.2 billion in his first budget came out of the aged-care budget, went back into consolidated revenue and was not spent on aged care—it has an impact on people. We know that it particularly has an impact on residents who have the highest needs in residential aged care, and that is those who require the most support and the most help.

We know that, today, there are 121,000 older Australians waiting for home care. Of those, more than 50,000 have no home care package at all. We know that many of the people waiting on that list need high-level care. They're waiting for level 3 and 4 packages. We know that, if they don't get that care, they often end up in emergency systems or in residential care. They should be able to get the care that they have been assessed for and that they need. Their families also need them to get that care so that they can return to work and not just be caring for their loved ones. We need to make sure that those people on that list get access to the care that they have been approved for and are entitled to.

We are a wealthy nation. We can and should do better when it comes to older Australians. There are so many issues that should be fixed today—that need to be fixed today. And, whilst supporting the royal commission, I implore the government: please, fix it today!

See this speech in context