Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The members on the other side who have spoken on this matter of public importance have forgotten to mention one major point—one major point—about this whole debate, and that is that, in the first few years of the Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison government, they cut nearly $2 billion out of the aged-care sector—$2 billion. You do not take $2 billion out of a sector and expect it to run better than how it was running. Taking out that $2 billion had a massive impact on this sector.

We didn't really need a COVID-19 pandemic to highlight the flaws in the aged-care system. We already knew that the aged-care system had problems. They've had problems with training, staffing, funding, transparency, oversight, regulation and safety. That's why we on this side pushed for a royal commission. Those opposite were dragged kicking and screaming to the table. Many times in this House we called for a royal commission into the aged-care area. But, if anyone in Australia was in any doubt about these problems, then this pandemic has demonstrated in no uncertain terms that the government has severely come up short in the way that it treats older Australians.

The foundations of our country's aged-care system have buckled under the pressure of this pandemic. They've absolutely buckled. And the Morrison government have done nothing. They have done nothing to stop it. It's been two years since the royal commission began and we're almost nine months into this pandemic. Following the deaths of 680 older Australians, the government needs to explain why it isn't listening to its own royal commission suggestions. There's been one failure after another by this government. For example, over a year ago, the royal commission published its interim report, called Neglect. This report recommended that the government fix the home care package backlog, with the commission describing it as 'cruel and unfair'. But have the government fixed it? No, they haven't. They came in here during the budget and threw some numbers around, with a few extra packages. But, when you've got over 100,000 people on the list waiting for an aged-care package and you release a few thousand that will take effect over, I think, three to four years, then you are just plugging one hole and a massively bigger hole is ripping open. There are over 100,000 people waiting. I have had constituents—we all have, and I am sure those on the other side have as well—who have died while waiting to receive their package. I'll give you an example. Ninety-eight-year-old Zofia of Kilburn is still waiting for a package after being assessed over a year ago. She was assessed twice, and she's still waiting. How much longer does this woman have to wait? She is 98. It is absolutely cruel.

Next the commissioners suggested, in August, that the government establish a national body dedicated to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak, especially given that aged-care residents make up 75 per cent of all coronavirus deaths. But the Prime Minister chose not to implement that suggestion either. As a result, two months later, the royal commission's Aged care and COVID-19: a special report confirms the government had no plan for COVID-19 in aged care. Aged care is a responsibility of the federal government, not of anyone else. The royal commission's special report confirms that the Morrison government had no plan for COVID-19 in aged care. That is even though, at that stage, we'd already witnessed the devastating effect COVID-19 was having on older people and aged-care residents in New South Wales and in other parts of the world. We aren't just speaking about the direct health implications of the pandemic; we're also talking about the growing levels of depression, anxiety, confusion, loneliness and suicide risk among aged-care residents since the lockdowns, and there is no mention of the lasting effects on family members who had to let their loved ones die alone and couldn't hug them one last time.

We have been consistently calling on the Morrison government to act to address minimum staffing levels, fix home care waiting lists and ensure transparency in funding, and I must say the government has not done the right thing by older Australians and their loved ones. (Time expired)

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