Emma McBride (Dobell, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health) Share this | Hansard source

As I rise to speak today my thoughts are with the residents and staff of Wyong Aged Care in Mardi. Flooding has meant that local roads are underwater, isolating residents and staff. State Emergency Service volunteers are using punts to get staff in and out. My grandmother Mollie passed away at Wyong Aged Care. I know it well. Staff assure me that there is no damage to the facility and that everyone is safe and well. I am relieved. But I wonder what would happen if the facility had to be evacuated. The reality is that the Central Coast community could not cope. We need the beds. There's a shortage of aged-care places, particularly for those living with dementia. This government does not have a plan to properly look after older people on the Central Coast or anywhere in Australia. This government's track record on aged care is of cuts and crisis. It's failed to deal with Australia's aged-care crisis for seven years. Older Australians can't afford to wait any longer for the care they urgently need and deserve now.

Let's not forget it was the current Prime Minister who, as Treasurer, ripped $1.2 billion out of aged-care funding. Last year, before the government announced its response to the interim report of the royal commission, two aged-care facilities in my electorate—The Orchards' memory unit, at Lisarow, and Henry Kendall Aged Care, in Wyoming—announced they were closing their doors. Moving aged-care residents is like kicking them out of their own homes. It's a strain on them and their families—more so when the person is living with dementia. Given the ageing population on the coast and the lack of home care packages, the closure of a dementia unit and of an aged-care facility is adding further strain to a system in crisis.

In November, I hosted a forum on aged care in my community, along with the Deputy Leader of the Labor Party and the mayor of Central Coast Council. We heard from so many people, of their experiences, their challenges and the hardship they face in aged care. Leanne came to the aged-care forum because her mother lived in the dementia unit that was closing at The Orchards. Five weeks before its closure, Leanne received a call—a call—that the unit was closing. She was given just five weeks to find her mum, Shirley, another home and to transfer her to a new facility. When Leanne tried to contact The Orchards to meet, they refused. Eventually, they told her that the decision to close the dementia unit was a business decision. Later, Leanne was told, 'The unit was not set up to be permanent, but the operators would see how it went.' What's worse is that Shirley paid a bond of $325,000 and was then forced to move because the place she'd invested in was not permanent. Three hundred and twenty five thousand dollars is a lot to invest. It's invested because people like Shirley need security. They're looking for a home, only to be told they have to leave.

This government responded to the interim report of the royal commission by providing 10,000 home care packages, when we know that over 100,000 people are waiting and that 30,000 people have died in two years whilst waiting. On the coast, the number of people waiting is growing year on year. One thousand three hundred and thirty three older people are waiting right now in my community. They have no care. They are the most vulnerable people and are most likely to end up in emergency departments and, prematurely, into residential care. This is up from 1,286 in December 2018. Either this government doesn't get it or just doesn't care.

Almost one in five people in my community on the Central Coast of New South Wales are aged over 65. This is higher than both the state and national average. In communities like mine in regional Australia, aged care matters. Aged care matters more in communities like mine. Older Australians deserve to live with dignity, especially vulnerable older Australians living with dementia. I lost my father to younger onset dementia—it's his anniversary this week—and my grandmother to dementia. She was in the aged-care unit that I mentioned that's now flooded. This government has to act. It's callous. It is cruel. This indifference is cruelty. It is elder abuse to older Australians and their families. It can't continue. People can't die waiting for this government to act. It is unfair, it is unjust and it must change. People like my father and my grandmother deserve better. People across Australia deserve better. This has to change. This government has to act now. They cannot continue to neglect and allow this abuse of older Australians. It has to change.

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