Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On Thursday I had the opportunity to hold a listening post at Kennington Village shopping centre and I caught up with Jordana. Jordana is one of the many aged-care workers in my electorate. She was so excited to see me that out of the blue she gave me a hug—as Jordana does. She was so excited because she'd just received her first pay post the 15 per cent increase in wages that this government delivered. She said: 'I've got an extra $300. I'm about to go in and do my shopping and I'm not going to be thinking, "That's on special; I'll buy that this week," or, "I can't afford that."' She said, 'I now have dignity and respect in my work.'

Jordana has a beautiful story. She took time off from work to care for her mother when she was dying. Post her mother passing and the period of grieving, she decided that what she wanted to do with the rest of her life was to become an aged-care worker. These are the kinds of people we want working in aged care—people with dignity and compassion. And now, I'm proud to say, they're getting paid exactly what they're worth.

Jordana is so excited by this increase, and she wanted to thank me and the entire Labor team for backing her in and backing her co-workers in. She said: 'You've delivered. Labor's delivered. Our government has delivered for us. I am so excited and I so look forward to all the other work we can do for our sector.'