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

The Aged Care Legislation Amendment (Emergency Leave) Bill 2020 amends the Aged Care Act 1997 and the Aged Care (Transitional Provisions) Act 1997 to introduce a new type of leave that permanent residential aged-care residents may utilise during situations such as natural disasters, pandemics, or other large-scale emergencies that can impact the safe provision of residential aged care and/or the safety of the resident. Once an emergency situation has been determined, as we heard from the minister, the leave would be applied to a specific area such as national, state, territory, aged-care planning district, or an individual service. This leave is for a specified time period and provides for a level of flexibility needed to allow the Commonwealth to address situations such as floods and bushfire emergencies, or future instances of isolated or regional outbreaks of COVID-19.

Under each of the above mentioned acts permanent aged-care residents are currently entitled to take 52 days of non-hospital related leave known as 'social leave' within a financial year. When an aged-care resident exceeds their annual social leave entitlement the aged-care home no longer receives the Commonwealth residential care subsidy for that person, meaning that the provider then needs to pass those costs on to the resident or their family. The emergency leave under these changes would not be limited to a number of days or a specific time frame. Indeed, the minister can deem the length of time the emergency remains in place as well as an end date.

There is no financial impact for the government by the proposed amendments. We're assured that any costs associated with updates to the aged-care payment system will be funded from existing programs. We're also assured, and it has been included in the legislation, that each declaration made by a minister, or his or her delegate, will be tabled as a disallowable instrument so there can be further oversight when this emergency leave provision is, indeed, enacted.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the minister for aged care for the sharing of information and the briefings that he has provided me regarding outbreaks of COVID-19 in residential aged-care facilities and impacted aged-care workers around the country. I've also had an ability to be briefed on this bill. Indeed, we're pleased that the government has listened to Labor about some of these issues, such as social leave. I want to thank the colleagues on this side of the House who lobbied the minister in relation to this and brought to our attention the concerns around families and loved ones who have residents who are on social leave. It is an issue that we have raised directly with the minister, because we knew that there would be an ongoing financial burden for many Australian families who are caring for their loved ones at home while they've taken them out of residential homes during this period.

We're told there are currently around 500 Australian families caring for their loved ones under these social leave arrangements. With the COVID-19 pandemic many family members have made the decision to continue caring for their loved ones in their own home and not to return to the residential aged-care facility to receive this care. This has resulted—and will result—in many older Australians passing the capped 52 day social leave arrangements that we currently have. The consumer, the resident or their family, is required to pay the government subsidy of $230 per resident per day to save their place in the residential aged-care facility that they are taking leave from so that they can go back into that facility when the pandemic is over. For many families and consumers this is a cost that they're unable to sustain. Amending these acts will ensure that the family or consumer will not take on this unnecessary financial burden if they have passed the 52 day social leave arrangements.

I'm pleased that there will be a retrospective date of 1 April 2020 for the social leave, so that all families can be covered as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It's understood that the Commonwealth is continuing to pay the subsidy to those residents accessing social leave from 1 July 2020 as well, and we also welcome this. At this stage, we're told there will be no end date put forward for the current COVID-19 pandemic in relation to this emergency social leave. However, we'll continue to monitor this as we enter the new financial year and we see the regulation tabled by the minister.

We acknowledge the difficult and challenging times for residents, their families, and of course those who support and care for older Australians—all of the aged-care workers during this time. The COVID-19 virus has had a significant impact on residential and home care of older Australians. It has, sadly, infected residents and aged-care workers and claimed lives. Our deepest sympathies go to all the families who have lost loved ones.

Labor has tried to be very constructive and put forward our ideas during the COVID-19 pandemic in relation to aged care and when it comes to supporting older Australians and the aged-care workforce. We've made the suggestions around the social leave which this bill takes up. We asked the government to consider expanding the Community Visitors Scheme, and I'm pleased that they did that. This is contacting older Australians in facilities or at home. We asked them to consider further support for aged-care workers who were too frightened to turn up to work, in some cases because they didn't have access to PPE or proper training to do the work that was being asked of them.

The government has now introduced a retention bonus, that the minister referred to today, which we're pleased about. But, of course, we're not pleased that some aged-care workers have been excluded from this bonus and we think it needs to be equitable. We've also raised our concerns around what has happened in the Dorothy Henderson Lodge and more recently in Newmarch House. I was concerned to hear that there were more infections in Newmarch House announced today. To date, indeed, there are around 71 infections associated with this facility—37 residents, 34 staff and, sadly, we've seen some deaths.

We have called for the royal commission into aged care that is currently working in Australia to look at and do a special investigation into Newmarch House. The commissioners have written back to me to say that they will look at it—perhaps not in a special investigative way but it would be included in their final report. I would ask that the government consider a special investigation into what has occurred at Newmarch House. We need to learn from this so that we don't have another outbreak of this kind.

In conclusion, I want to say this bill will make a difference to families who have a loved one in residential aged care. We're pleased that the families will not have to bear any further financial burden as they care and support their loved ones who are unable to return to their residential aged-care home at this point in time of the pandemic. As I've said earlier, in our view there are still some things the government needs to do. We'll continue to be constructive and we'll continue to offer advice to the government on what we think it needs to do better. I am also pleased that the government has listened to some of our concerns and acted.

I also want to take this opportunity to put on record again, as I did yesterday, our thanks to all of our aged-care workers, who continue to work tirelessly throughout this COVID pandemic and worked tirelessly prior to the pandemic. We all know that, prior to this pandemic, there was a crisis in aged care so bad that the government called a royal commission. It has been in charge of aged care for seven years. It essentially called a royal commission into itself. It has not been doing a good enough job, and it has been letting the workers in aged care down. It needs to do better.

To the aged-care workers I say: we know it's been a tough and challenging time for you and for your families, but we appreciate the work that you do, we value the work that you do and we say a thankyou for all the work that you do to care for and support older Australians. I commend the bill to the House.

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