Alison Penfold (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Aged care is a big concern in the electorate of Lyne given its demographics. One of the greatest challenges is staffing and the difficulty providers face in trying to find aged-care workers. I've been contacted by several aged-care facility managers in my electorate, stating that their situation, with respect to staffing, workers and viability, is dire. They've said to me that there is a chronic shortage of both registered nurses and aged-care workers in aged care, which has been exacerbated by the mandated care-minute requirements. I'm told that aged-care facilities have beds that are closed because they can't staff them and therefore can't open them and that there was a mass exodus of qualified, highly knowledgeable and experienced aged-care staff due to the COVID vaccine requirements. But there's also the NDIS, which is a massive competitor. Staff can work fewer hours, do dayshifts or work one on one in the NDIS with similar or at times higher pay than staff in aged-care facilities. An aged-care facility in my electorate told me that, to address the shortage, the vast majority of workers will have to come from overseas.

The government has mandated care minute targets, which is fine, but the government has done nothing on the other side to support aged-care providers in expediting the approval of visas for overseas care workers. To the contrary, the waiting time for the processing of a 407 training visa has blown out from two to three months to 10 months plus. I checked the Home Affairs website today. The figure has blown out even further, with 50 per cent of applications processed in nine months but 90 per cent, the overwhelming majority, processed in 11 months. This is neither a reasonable nor acceptable timeframe.

When I wrote to the government, to the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, the response I got was that a 10-month timeframe—which has now blown out to 11 months—was normal. This is an insensitive and uncaring response from a minister who seems to not understand the vital role that immigration plays in getting skilled workers for regional aged-care facilities. It is simply not good enough for the minister to have a hands-off approach to the problem. This government cannot work in silos. Has the aged-care minister, who would be well across the issue, sought the assistance of his colleague to help address this issue? Surely the aged-care minister, too, would be ashamed of the delay.

The implications of these staffing shortages are incredibly high waiting times for older Australians, whether that be waiting for an assessment, waiting for approval of a package or waiting to progress to a higher package level. An assessor in my electorate confided to me that, for home-care packages, local aged-care clients can be waiting months to have their assessments completed and, once approved, they are waiting at least six months before being assigned the funding. In addition to this, there is the issue of finding providers and health professionals whose books are not full.

One of my constituents, Dr Peter Ineson, wrote to me about his experience, which I would like to share with you: 'My wife, Ann Victoria, and I moved from Port Macquarie here to Wauchope for a less stressful way of life. We find that to be the case in all aspects of life, except for aged care support. In order to ensure Ann Victoria can live a comfortable and supportive life in Wauchope we have to modify the property for her needs. It would appear that we "need" the visitation and approval of an occupational therapist for any action to process modifications. Finding one of these persons is like looking for a needle in a haystack. We have already been waiting almost two months. Medically my wife is deteriorating rapidly and may well be dead before aged care provides the care and support as defined in the proposed legislation.'

From their initial contact with My Aged Care, clients in Lyne are commonly waiting 18 months before being able to access the home-care package, now called the Support at Home program. There is also very significant concern in the electorate over the co-payment requirement for personal services. Given all that this government says about co-payments—and I can hear the rebukes from the Minister for Health and Ageing from across the chamber—it is this Labor government that introduced the co-payment into aged care. In fact, in health the two co-payments required of Australians, the PBS and Support at Home, are both Labor initiatives. Labor members, next time you take out your green card, remember that, in fact, you are two for zero when it comes to co-payments.

In terms of the co-payment, this is a wait-and-see space. Where these reforms land in one of the poorest electorates in the country is yet to be seen, but I hope the government will ensure it is agile enough to move quickly and act if it proves too much for our older Australians.

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