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

I thank the member for Bennelong for his question and acknowledge his continued and ongoing advocacy both for the aged-care workers that he represents and for the residents that they care for. In two weeks, it will be the third anniversary of the final report of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety—a 2021 documentation of disaster. It's a blunt, black-and-white description of failure. It's a report that described the aged-care system under the coalition's lead as a shocking tale of neglect and one which was unkind and uncaring. Among the many dark themes that were to emerge was that workers were systematically underpaid and undervalued, that low wages and poor employment conditions meant that the sector struggled to attract and retain well-skilled people and that, in turn, led to unacceptable staffing levels that created substandard care.

On day one of cleaning up their mess and of restoring dignity, following nine years of neglect, the Albanese government got to work to make sure that aged-care staff were valued again, and we have delivered. We have delivered an $11.3 billion increase to minimum award rates for more than 250,000 workers across our country. It's the biggest pay rise for this sector ever. We have delivered a funding package that is 10 times more than the previous government's investment in their workforce pillar. Now we are providing even more cost-of-living relief and even more value. From 1 July, Labor's tax cuts will also deliver these registered nurses in aged care a $1,679 tax cut—almost double what they would have received under the coalition. Ninety-seven per cent of aged-care workers—from personal care workers to lifestyle to kitchen hands to nurses—will be better off under Labor's tax cuts. This cost-of-living relief will help close the gender pay gap, as the aged-care workforce is more than 85 per cent female. Our reforms have also seen a reduction in the number of pressure injuries, a reduction in the number of physical restraints and significant unplanned weight loss, as well as improvements in star ratings data with fewer one- and two-star rated facilities and more four- and five-star rated facilities.

Change happens when the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of making a change. Yet those opposite refuse to acknowledge the pain that they were causing workers, while our government recognised the need to change and recognised that we can do more to help. That's the key difference between them and us. They provided platitudes; we provided pay rises. Australian taxpayers do not want more of the coalition's chaos and cost-of-living confusion; they want stronger, fairer wages for their hard work. (Time expired)

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

I thank the deputy leader for her question and for some welcome and newfound interest in the future of aged care and in constructive reform in a sector that, as I just elaborated on for two minutes and 59 seconds, was neglected for nine long years under her watch—including, I would note, the deputy leader's time as Minister for Health herself. She failed to do anything substantive about aged-care reform.

I would also note that the thrust of the question she asked was on a reform that they, the coalition, brought in themselves in 2014 and left completely untended and neglected until the time when they were turfed out of government for their neglect of aged care.

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

I appreciate that those opposite would love to run an unfounded scare campaign on something like the family home. I appreciate it must be very tempting when they have nothing else to talk about. But what Labor believes is that we actually need to do something about aged care. That is an equitable, sustainable and trusted sector that puts people, including older people, back at the centre of aged care. That's what we need to do.

So we are not going to rush the release of the report that the deputy leader refers to, nor are we going to pre-empt any decisions of the report until we have taken the time to do this properly. This is something that they neglected for nine long years on their watch. In fact, the deputy leader, when she was Minister for Health, cut funding from residential aged care and starved them of the funds that they needed to care for older Australians. After a decade of neglecting the sector for older Australians, after nearly a decade of neglecting this important reform, if they are now showing an interest in care, I welcome it. If they want to work together on this, I welcome it. But, if they want to go scaremongering, they're going to need to go elsewhere, because we are focused on options to make aged-care funding simple, fair and sustainable. This was the taskforce's job, and we are doing this in an open way and in consultation with the sector, with older people, with the public and with experts—something they never had the guts to do themselves, I might add. This is about government investing in quality care that older people want, need and deserve, and we will continue to do just that.