Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety provided a clear blueprint on how to fundamentally change and improve our aged care services, but the majority of the 148 recommendations have still not been implemented; and

(b) the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission is the point of contact for concerns and complaints about aged service provider responsibilities but it appears to be understaffed, have limited powers of investigation and be restricted in the way sanctions can be imposed on providers; and

(2) calls on the Government to:

(a) establish an independent body to oversee the implementation of the essential aged care service reforms in line with the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety; and

(b) expand the powers and resourcing of the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission to enable it to effectively manage complaints and impose meaningful sanctions.

I'm prompted to move this motion as a direct result of the failure of one of Tasmania's largest aged care providers, Southern Cross Care. I've spoken previously in the parliament about my concerns with this organisation, but since then my fears and the fears of others have escalated.

For instance, Advocacy Tasmania, which is funded to deliver the National Aged Care Advocacy Program in Tasmania, has over the past year supported more than 100 Southern Cross residents and their families in their attempts to resolve a multitude of service and care issues. This is way out of proportion to all other Tasmanian aged care facilities. Indeed, Advocacy Tasmania is so concerned with Southern Cross's failures that it has approached the Minister for Aged Care, asking her to support an investigation into Southern Cross, including a focus on its executive team and board. Advocacy Tasmania has also written to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner, suggesting that the CEO and chair of Southern Cross are failing in their obligations under the Code of Conduct for Aged Care and asking for an urgent intervention on behalf of the vulnerable Tasmanians living in Southern Cross facilities.

Advocacy Tasmania has provided numerous examples of complaints against Southern Cross, like: dangerously low staffing levels when, for example, residents at high risk of falls are forced to shower, toilet and dress themselves; poor quality food and food service, with one resident being left without a main meal on at least eight separate occasions in the space of just two months; poor quality care, such as staff failing to notice a resident's significant health deterioration until a family member demanded attention; requiring residents to complete formal consumer information request forms in order to simply access their own information; and, of course, consistently slow and dangerous bell response times. There has even been an utterly bizarre instance where Southern Cross applied to the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal for a guardianship order over a resident. Thankfully, this application was dismissed by the tribunal.

You would think that Southern Cross learnt its lesson when it was singled out by the aged care royal commission, but clearly it didn't. You would also assume that the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission would be on the beat, but, astonishingly, Southern Cross has not consistently been held to account by the commission for poor performance. Effective sanctions have not always been applied, and often there is no follow-up by the commission to ensure agreed measures have been implemented. As a direct result, Southern Cross continues to fail in its obligations and older Tasmanians continue to suffer.

Indeed, I was so concerned about the safety of residents in Southern Cross facilities that I recently met with the aged-care minister to relay my fears and ask her to intervene. In response, the minister is facilitating a meeting for me tomorrow with the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner, for which I am very grateful. At the meeting, I intend to ask how the commission will deal with the issues facing Southern Cross residents, including individual complaints but also, even more importantly, the broader failures across the entire organisation, because clients, advocates and allied health professionals all attest that the issues at Southern Cross are deeply rooted in the failings of some members of the executive team and board. If such an investigation is outside the scope of the commission or it is not in a position to act immediately, I will be asking the minister to empower it to do so.

I will also be asking the commissioner about what actions will be taken following the release this year of the Report of the Independent Capability Review of the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, which showed there are critical capability gaps in the organisation that require attention. The report also provided some recommendations on how the commission's capability can be improved to better support its regulation of the aged-care sector.

I need to make it clear that I hear many positive stories about the hardworking and overworked Southern Cross staff, and my complaints are not about them. No, this is about the conditions in which many Southern Cross residents are living as a direct result of mismanagement and deep systemic failures. As a direct result, it's simply impossible, frankly, for me to reconcile Southern Cross's values of integrity, respect and compassion with the way that many residents and their families are feeling now: powerless, harassed and bullied.

Bridget Archer (Bass, Liberal Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Is there a seconder for the motion?

Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Clark for bringing this private member's motion before the Chamber. I'm pleased to say I have no Southern Cross Care facilities in my electorate of Lyons, and I echo many of the sentiments that the member for Clark has expressed. The executive management of Southern Cross Care really does leave something to be desired, but like him I give my full support to the very hardworking staff of that organisation, who are putting up with all sorts of terrible instances of mismanagement and suppression of wages and conditions under the management of Southern Cross Care. So I thank the member for Clark for bringing this on.

I'll take any opportunity available to speak to the Albanese government's plan to improve aged care for all older Australians and those working within the sector, and it would be remiss of me to speak on this motion without making mention of the brilliant community based aged-care homes across my electorate, from Tandara in Sheffield to Kanangra and Grenoch in Deloraine, Toosey in Longford, Medea Park in St Helens, Corumbene Care in New Norfolk and Uniting AgeWell in Sorell, to name a few. These aged-care homes show what it really means to be a top-class facility. I should also mention, of course, Wellington Views out in Brighton. Not one of the aged-care facilities in Lyons was criticised or targeted for poor performance in the aged-care royal commission. Instead, they represent what aged care is all about and how it should be done. It is testament to the dedication of workers and managers and the committee members who make up the boards.

I must say, for what it's worth, that from my perspective, when I see these voluntary committees and these centres at work around them, I think the non-profit sector is where we really need to be focusing in terms of aged care, but I'll let the minister sort that out. From my perspective, as a local member who deals with aged-care centres all the time, the non-profit sector delivers a better standard of care across the board.

This government is committed to fighting for the welfare and dignity of our older Australians. We firmly believe they deserve better than the broken aged-care system they endured during nine years of shameful neglect under the former Liberal government. It's not often that you get a royal commission report titled Neglect, but that's exactly what happened. It is time for real reform, and our government is addressing the critical issues plaguing the sector. At the 2022 federal election, Labor presented a plan to tackle the crisis. It lays out a clear direction to reform the aged-care sector, informed by the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. We embrace the spirit and intent of the commission and view it as the blueprint for our ambitious reforms.

Now, since the election, our government has addressed 69 recommendations. We are doing the work the Liberals neglected to do. In the first sitting week of the new parliament, we introduced two amendment bills to progress reform of the aged-care system for older Australians. It was the first bill passed under our government. That's the importance we attached and continue to attach to the care of older Australians.

Furthermore, in the May 2023 budget we established an Aged Care Taskforce to review funding arrangements and develop options for a fair and equitable system. This task force will continue to consider the royal commission's recommendations, ensuring no stone is left unturned in our pursuit of a better future for older Australians.

As a crucial step towards increased accountability and transparency, our government is actively working to establish an Inspector-General of Aged Care. This independent body will provide oversight, target systemic issues and make recommendations directly to government. The inspector-general bill is currently before the Senate and expected to pass in the second half of 2023. Once appointed, the inspector-general will provide regular reports on the progress on implementing the recommendations of the royal commission, ensuring that we can stay on track for meaningful change.

To enhance the quality of care and complaints management in the aged-care system, we are expanding the powers and resources of the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission. The commissioner has the authority to impose sanctions on providers exhibiting significant non-compliance, and the commission can investigate suspected or reported compliance issues to ensure high standards of care. In the 2023-24 budget, we allocated funding for urgent matters raised in the preliminary report of the capability review, including support for the final report and additional resources for the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission.

So it's at the top of our agenda, Deputy Speaker Wilkie. We care about aged care. It was a central plank of our election. We are putting the resources into it. We're putting the time into it. Your motion is a very good motion, and I'm pleased to speak on behalf of the government.

Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Clark for this important motion. The royal commission's recommendations, delivered almost 2½ years ago, remain as important today as they were then. The commission envisaged an aged-care system that supports people to age with dignity in their own homes for as long as possible, and then to transition into a residential facility that offers caring, safe and affordable services if they need to do so.

Even though some years have passed since the commission delivered its report, there is much work to be done in realising this incredibly important vision. The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, known as the complaints commission, is mandated to actively listen to complaints against the aged-care system and then take necessary steps to respond to them so that the system can ultimately improve. However, the royal commission found that this complaints body is 'insufficiently responsive to the experiences of older people' and that it 'does not provide enough safeguards to protect older people and provide reassurance to their families that they will receive safe and high quality aged care', especially in home care. Now, this includes both the Commonwealth Home Support Program and the Home Care Packages Program.

People who make a complaint shouldn't find the process so hard to access, and their complaint should not go unanswered—experiences that the royal commission found were happening regularly. On the recommendation of the royal commission, the Minister for Aged Care ordered an independent review of the complaints commission. These findings and recommendations were released only two weeks ago, and I urge the minister to carefully consider and respond to this review as a high priority, as one step towards improving older Australians' experience of the aged-care system.

One recommendation in particular stood out to me, and it was this one: that the commission must acquire a better understanding of the diverse needs and circumstances of aged-care consumers and their communities, including older people living in regional and remote communities. And I know that the constituents who call in to my office to talk about their experiences with the aged-care system would thoroughly agree with this recommendation. There is a real sense that the struggles of regional communities are not heard, let alone understood.

Too frequently my office hears stories of older people and their families who are desperately trying to find home-care providers, but, being in a regional, rural or remote area, there are just not enough of them. Providers say that they can't find the staff to do the work. If the complaints commissioner is to handle complaints effectively, they must understand this limitation that we have in rural and regional Australia.

In Wodonga, the biggest town in my electorate of Indi, there are currently no government subsidised providers available for home maintenance services like minor repairs, window cleaning and weeding. The waitlist to receive these services essential to keep people in their homes is a staggering 2,000 people long—yes, that's right. That's in Wodonga.

In Benalla, the third-biggest town, private providers are at capacity and clients are left for long periods without services and there are last-minute cancellations, changing workers and very little continuity of care. I have heard deeply concerning stories about people waiting well over a month to have their house cleaned. I've met with Age Friendly Benalla, the University of the Third Age and Benalla Rural City Council about this crisis. I've written to the Interim Inspector-General of Aged Care asking that they do something to get this back on track.

Another example is the Strathbogie shire, where there is only one service provider for outreach into homes. Many constituents have written in describing how they completed an application for home care and were approved for a plan, only to hear back that the provider had closed its books. One constituent who has been waiting for help for months wrote to me to say:

The Australian Government state they aim to help older Australians in their home by providing services to achieve this outcome. Unfortunately this is not a reality.

Sadly, this constituent could not be more correct. Home-care services are still in crisis, especially in regional Australia.

The government must show that it grasps the extent of this problem. It must actively listen to rural and regional experiences in consultation on the new Support at Home Program. It must also provide proper powers and resources to the bodies set up to handle aged-care complaints so that the experiences in rural, regional and remote Australia can be addressed and fixed. (Time expired)

Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.