Peter Khalil (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Aged Care. How is the Albanese Labor government addressing the challenges it inherited to put nurses back into nursing homes and improve care for older Australians?

Anika Wells (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Wills for his question. Today is a milestone day for Australia's aged-care sector. The Albanese government has put nurses back into nursing homes. The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety told a shocking story of neglect, of inaction and of a lack of ambition under the now opposition. One of the commission's key findings was that there were unacceptable staffing levels, which were creating a horrific environment of substandard care. In response, the commission recommended care minute targets and 24/7 nursing to make sure that aged-care residents could get the clinical care that they required around the clock, day or night.

Those opposite refused to commit to 24/7 nursing for 15 long months in government. They believed that just two-thirds of that would suffice because, apparently from their view, emergencies just never happen at night, so why plan for it? But this side of the House understood the importance of round-the-clock care, and that is why we ambitiously brought forward this deadline by a year. Earlier today we released the first data for nursing coverage in July. On average, there was a nurse onsite in aged-care facilities 98 per cent of the time. Let me state that again: our very first month with 24/7 requirements led to a registered nurse onsite in aged-care homes 23½ hours a day. We hope this will improve over the coming months.

Taking on workforce shortages in aged care has been a huge effort across the entire new Labor government, including Minister Giles with the industry labour agreements and speeding up visa processing times; Minister O'Connor and fee-free TAFE; Minister O'Neil and student visas; Minister Clare and university places; Minister Burke and the work value case; the Treasurer and Minister Gallagher with an $11.3 billion aged-care pay rise; and Minister Butler and the Prime Minister, who have always put aged care at the heart of our reform agenda. We've done this despite the naysayers across the chamber. I know those opposite are very disappointed that the sky did not fall on 1 July.

Those opposite met our ambition with great scepticism—scepticism they still seem to possess today despite the fact that today they are witnessing 98 per cent nursing coverage in aged-care facilities across the country. They didn't even bother to try. They didn't even bother to measure. But we've done both, and here we stand with aged care in a better position in this country than it ever has been. (Time expired)