Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I hear a bit of chirping from those opposite, but the fact remains that they weren't willing to even make a submission on the pay increase that our aged-care sector workers deserve. That's changed, thankfully, with the change of government.

The other thing that the member for Monash was talking about was the difficulties, exemptions and a whole range of things around nurses. We need to have nurses in our aged-care facilities. That's what the Aged Care Amendment (Implementing Care Reform) Bill 2022 is about. I understand there is a shortage of nurses right around the country. Of course there are. That was part of the conversations that were happening at the Jobs and Skills Summit, which the Nationals were happy to attend but the Liberals were not: how do we increase the amount of essential workers in this country? You can do what the previous government and the previous aged-care minister did—hide under a rock, pretend nothing is wrong and neglect a sector that desperately needs help—or you can have a go at fixing this vital sector, giving older Australians the dignity, respect and living standards they deserve.

This bill, on something the previous speaker didn't speak about, goes to implementing the recommendations of the royal commission. In asking how the Labor Party, prior to this election, came up with a suite of policies it was going to implement in order to lift the standard of care in our aged-care sector: it wasn't something done in the back rooms of the party; it was in direct response to the recommendations of the royal commission report entitled Neglect. We committed to the royal commission's recommendations. Those opposite did not. They have a chance in this place to support the steps taken to implement the recommendations of the royal commission, like 24-hour nurses, or they can stand here, oppose them and do nothing, just like in their nine years in office. There shouldn't have had to have been a royal commission in our aged-care sector, but there was. The previous Prime Minister was dragged kicking and screaming to set up the royal commission, and then he ignored it. This bill is a significant step forward in delivering our commitments and our promises to improve the standard of aged care.

The first part of the bill I'm going to speak about is the requirement for a registered nurse to be on site in every residential aged-care home 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I was speaking to the head of one of Melbourne's prominent emergency departments in one of our finest hospitals. I can say this: our emergency health department workers are exhausted. They have had a really difficult winter, with the high number of coronavirus cases but also with the significant number of presentations. The demand for our emergency department has gone up and up, and they're tired. They are looking for policies that are going to assist in managing the demand and the presentations to our emergency departments.

Having 24-hour nurses in our aged-care facilities is going to be one of the most significant things we can do not just for the residents in our residential aged-care sector but for our emergency department personnel, for the Australians who are working on the front line in our hospitals and seeing patients that should have been cared for in a residential setting. For many vulnerable people who are in residential settings, it is quite traumatic to be transferred from the aged-care facility to the hospital. If the journey itself can be avoided, and if the treatment, like administering of oxygen or a range of other medical procedures, can be administered in the residential aged-care setting, that is usually the preferred case. It's far less traumatic, it's far more comfortable, it keeps demand in our emergency departments lower and it gives people care in the settings they are most comfortable in.

I want to take the House through one example of a residential aged-care facility in my electorate, the Emmy Monash Aged Care facility, that I'm extremely proud of. I was pleased to have visited it with the new Minister for Aged Care after the election. The reason why we went to Emmy Monash to speak with Tanya and the staff is that Emmy Monash is one of the centres around the country that already has a 24/7 registered nurse on site. Tanya, this incredible CEO who has spent decades dedicated to looking after our senior Australians, basically said to us that this is a no-brainer—it's a no-brainer for their organisation, a no-brainer for the health and wellbeing of the residents and a no-brainer to have 24-hour nurses supporting the hardworking aged-care staff who are working around the clock.

When we walked through Emmy Monash, it was abundantly clear that this sort of setting is best practice. It's a home, a real home, for people. It's a not-for-profit organisation, and it's a nicely decorated place that is very clean, very comfortable and very welcoming. You could tell that from the residents. They feel at home, they feel at ease and they feel like they have the support that they need to live as independently as they can in a safe and caring environment. It is a place of dignity, a place of respect and a place where the staff work extremely hard.

I pay tribute to not only the staff and the team who are working at Emmy Monash but also all staff who are working in our aged-care settings. They are truly heroes of the pandemic, many of whom turned up to work when the vaccines weren't yet being administered, putting themselves at serious risk. The staff at Emmy Monash and the staff of aged-care facilities right around my electorate and around the country are truly heroes. They deserve our support and they deserve a pay rise.

The other part worth mentioning, in the few minutes I have to conclude, is that this bill will also take action on our election commitment to improve transparency in the aged-care system. It will introduce measures to monitor the costs associated with aged care and place greater responsibility on providers to be transparent and fair. There are many great providers in our aged-care sector, but there are some providers whom it won't hurt to put a little bit of extra transparency and responsibility on.

The legislation also delivers on our election commitment to stop the rorting of home-care fees by placing a cap on how much can be charged in administration and management fees. This will mean that those Australians who are accessing home care can be confident that their money is going directly to care and not to the bottom line of providers. These are important measures that are about addressing some of the public concerns of our aged-care sector. These are important measures that the previous government had an opportunity to implement but never did. These are measures that we are implementing, doing the hard and slow work of restoring dignity, respect and resources to our aged-care sector.

Our aged-care staff, as I said, are heroes. They put themselves on the front line looking after our senior Australians when they themselves weren't protected. They turned up, they turn up and they do their best. You can earn more stacking shelves in Coles or Woolies than you can working in some of our aged-care settings. I am absolutely in awe of our supermarket workers as well—they do hard, physical work—but our aged-care sector and our aged-care workers are remarkable. My grandparents have all been in residential aged care, and the support that they received, and are receiving, is something that gives my family great comfort. I know that many members around this House feel a great sense of gratitude to our aged-care sector.

This bill clearly makes the important reform of getting 24-hour nurses in our aged-care settings. It makes the important reform of providing more transparency in our aged-care sector to give people more confidence. It takes an important step on the road of answering and implementing the recommendations of the royal commission report, titled Neglect. Our older Australians, our senior Australians, have given everything to this country. The least this country can do is give them a bit of respect and a bit of dignity and support those who are looking after them by providing better pay, better conditions and a better aged-care sector that we can all be proud of.

See this speech in context