Dennis Jensen (Tangney, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I speak on behalf of the many residents of my electorate of Tangney who have approached me to voice their concern about the lack of new investment in aged care. From recent meetings with aged-care providers and their staff, it is becoming increasingly clear that the current aged-care process is simply not up to the task of meeting the challenges of an ageing population. I am concerned that the lack of investment in aged care is manifesting itself in the lack of allocation of aged-care positions. Staff retention is also a problem, with the wellbeing of aged-care staff and their facilities also needing to be addressed. With an ageing population we have a growing demand for positions, and the growing labour shortage is not helping to find and train new carers and nurses.

In 2007 only 69 per cent of aged-care beds were allocated in Western Australia from that year’s aged-care allocation fund. The actual figure for allocations in 2007 was 644 beds out of 1,006. This was notable, as it was the first time we had had a shortfall in allocations nationally. In 2008, we had a new zero real interest loan round of 334 beds allocated, which was claimed in the Senate to have made up the shortfall of beds from the 2007 aged-care allocation round. Clearly, this was not the case.

Then in 2008-09 the aged-care allocation round was reduced from 1,640 to 1,208 beds—and we are yet to receive a reasonable explanation as to why it was reduced. In the 2008-09 allocation round, with 1,208 beds made available, there were only 519 beds allocated. In 2009-10 we had 4,299 beds on offer in WA, and there is no business case for any provider to apply for these beds to meet future needs in WA. The forecast allocation numbers for the next two rounds are 1,176 available beds in 2009-10 and 2,523 beds in 2010-11.

My electorate is crying out for aged-care places, yet we have well over 1,000 beds still to be built from allocation rounds going back to 2004 and we have a record number of beds being handed back or unallocated. With a shortage of residential places on offer, this situation seems unfathomable. Further to this, between December 2007 and March 2009, 786 bed licences were handed back nationally and 283 of these were from my state of WA. I have to ask: why is WA leading the way in the aged-care development demise?

There are a number of key issues. Firstly, there is the availability and access to affordable large land lots in appropriate areas. This is linked to the land shortage in WA, which drives excessive price growth. Secondly, the cost of construction far exceeds the national standards. This is multifold in regional and remote areas. The industry is currently funded at $109,000 per bed, and the average cost of construction exceeds $200,000. Aged care quite simply cannot be run profitably. Thirdly, many aged-care providers face funding issues, as they do not have the financial resources to service the large loan needed to build the infrastructure. There are also issues with the workforce and, due to the regulation on funding and fees, the industry has no mechanism to raise wages to a competitive rate in a competing market in WA, even in these relatively good economic times. As things stand at the moment, wages are poor and the work is challenging. Simply put, they cannot even compete with Coles.

Aged care has an ageing workforce, and younger people are not attracted to the roles and responsibilities. The industry has been warning the federal government and relevant ministers for years that there will be a shortfall in applications, and now, unfortunately, it is a reality. This is not an issue that needs political polarisation. A mature debate on the future of aged care is needed to ensure that my constituents in Tangney and the wider Australian population are provided with options, security and certainty in the aged-care system.