Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health) | Hansard source

The Albanese Labor government is well rehearsed in a one-size-fits-all headline but poor in addressing the diversity of need across Australian communities. The childcare and aged-care policies are prime examples of this. While they peddle the benefits, they fail to account for the unique circumstances faced particularly in regional communities.

Labor's policies no doubt benefit people in Labor seats in the suburbs and cities. However, the Labor government clearly has no idea about or interest in the lives of the nine million people who make up our regional Australia. The headline for cheaper child care is an effective sound bite, but, for too many living in small, isolated communities around Australia where there is no child care available at all, there is obviously zero benefit from the headline of cheaper child care.

I read a letter in this chamber recently from a desperate mother in my electorate who is unable to return to work as a teacher because there are no places available for her children until 2025. As she pointed out, this situation is perverse when so many regional communities are crying out for teachers, nurses and others, most of whom are younger mothers. These women tell me they want to work, they want to contribute to their local community and they're ready to do their bit to help meet the desperate need for teachers and nurses in rural areas, yet they are unable to do so because there is no child care. What good is subsidised child care when there is no child care available? What is this government going to do to increase the supply of child care in regional Australia, where it is desperately needed?

I find it offensive to listen to the Albanese Labor government boast about childcare subsidies when most parents in my electorate live in childcare deserts with no access to childcare services at all or completely full services, and Labor have no plan to resolve this. Similarly, the government's insistence on 24/7 coverage of nurses in aged-care facilities blindly overlooks the existing desperate shortage of nurses in regional communities. Again, a one-size-fits-all approach in policy will not suffice. We need targeted and tailored solutions that address the specific challenges faced in regional areas.

I urge the ministers responsible to address childcare deserts in rural Australia so that more nurses become available to meet the 24/7 mandate. I urge them to consider that the one-size-fits-all approach to policy continues to undermine and hurt regional Australian communities. One-third of Australians live there. I recently hosted the Regional Aged Care Summit in Mildura, where I heard from frontline workers, providers and peak bodies such as Anglicare Australia, the Australian College of Nursing, Bupa and many more. They were unanimous in their feedback: we desperately need more health- and aged-care workforce in regional Australia. Mandating a 24/7 requirement without solutions to supply the extra workforce is seeing more regional aged-care facilities simply give up and close.

What about Labor's pay rise for aged-care workers? When you can't attract aged-care workers for love or money, promises of pay rises are empty pipe dreams. I spoke to a national aged-care provider recently who told me they were already offering a $50,000 sign-on bonus and pay 1½ times higher than average to work in regional aged-care homes, and they still couldn't attract nurses. Unless those opposite have been living under a rock for the past three years, they would be fully aware that there are thousands of elderly people sitting in beds in public hospitals because they cannot be admitted to aged-care facilities, due to bed shortages caused by a lack of available staff.

Did it occur to the Labor government to tailor the 24/7 mandate to account for the specific circumstances in regional Australia, rather than enforcing their unworkable one-size-fits-all approach? Apparently not, hence the increasing number of facilities that are closing across Australia. My question is: what is this government going to do about childcare deserts and chronic workforce shortages in aged-care facilities in regional and rural Australia?

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