Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response No. 2) Bill 2021 is, as the member for Fowler has just said, such an important bill that we are speaking about right now. There is absolutely no doubt that our aged-care system here in Australia is broken and that that is a serious concern with a serious impact on so many lives in my electorate and in electorates around the country.

It is a fact that for eight years this government has neglected older Australians, that they have cut $1.7 billion from the sector, that there have been nearly 11,000 deaths while people were waiting for home-care packages. There were 685 deaths in the last year from the coronavirus pandemic. Our aged-care homes continually face the problems of chronic understaffing, of people in their care being malnourished and, of course, neglect in those facilities.

People in my electorate have very often told me of the suffering this has caused for them and for their loved ones during the lockdowns in Melbourne, when they haven't been able to see their loved ones, because the system is so stretched, and when last year people died because the system wasn't up to it. That just should never have happened. People are unsure about what the future is for their loved ones. They are unsure and scared about having to enter our aged-care system, because they know it's broken. They are concerned that this government, like with so much it does, will not get it right.

That's why it's important for me to be speaking on this bill today. I very much fear that what is going to happen in this space is that we'll have some announcements from this government. We'll even have a royal commission—and that was a very important royal commission. But what we won't have—

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