Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

In the context of this discussion, if there are any aged-care workers or people who are looking after people who are elderly, I just want to say Labor understands the pain that you are suffering at the hands of this federal government that has walked away from this sector and abrogated its responsibility. You can tell that from what we just heard from Senator Rennick and from the minister's answers today, which again are pitiful.

I wholeheartedly endorse the work of our aged-care workers. I wholeheartedly endorse the HSU, the union that supports them and looks after them in the work that they're endeavouring to do in a sector that is completely and totally underfunded by this government. Senator Polley put on the record the shameful failure of this government to respond to reports, and today we saw from the minister a disgraceful failure to acknowledge his own lies about what's been going on in this sector.

New South Wales has a Liberal government that includes Mr Hazzard, and there's plenty of stuff he says that I don't agree with, but he actually called this government and said that he has major concerns about the privatisation of the ACAT assessments that are vital to getting elderly people the help that they need in Australia. These are great Australians who have worked all their lives, who have paid their taxes, who have brought up their kids and who when they need a bit of help need an assessment. What does this government want to do? It wants to privatise who can go out and do those assessments. And they continue to deny it. I see Senator Rennick over there, shaking his head and saying, 'No, that's not the case,' but this is the document that says who will deliver this assessment service. I'm reading from the government's own website:

The new workforce will comprise a network of assessment organisations. These organisations will be selected through a national tender process.

Anyone who knows what a tender process is knows anybody can come and bid for the work. That includes what they've euphemistically called 'other interested stakeholders'.

One of the major concerns that's been raised by people who work in the sector is the problem with privatisation. Apart from the fact people just want to make money at the expense of the vulnerable, it introduces the possibility of serious conflicts of interest for healthcare companies who want to conduct these assessments as well as run the nursing homes that we're hearing aren't even providing decent food to elderly Australians. Such a disaster is going on in the aged-care sector after three terms of a Liberal-National Party government. Mr Hazzard knows what's going on and he knows he needs to call out Senator Colbeck. Senator Colbeck struggled when I asked him to tell the truth about what he reportedly said about the royal commission into aged-care quality. He was so wrong in what he said that he had to be corrected by the Hon. Gaetano Pagone QC, who is leading the royal commission into aged care. He said:

Public concern has been expressed about statements made by the Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians, that we had decided to support privatisation of the aged care assessment teams in our interim report.

This is what he said:

I take this opportunity to make clear that the interim report did not endorse the government's stated position but noted that we would monitor with interest the implementation which the government had announced.'

Instead of taking the opportunity here in the Parliament of Australia to tell the truth, the minister fumbled through his notes, looking for anything he could talk about, trying to tune in to the Tune report. He's tuned out from reality. That guy's got no idea about what's going on. The reality is he could not find the tab that said 'tell the truth'. He was looking for any bit of information other than telling the truth—that he has misrepresented the royal commissioner into aged-care quality. He is at odds with his colleagues in other states, who know that privatisation will not deliver good value for Australians and deliver ethical access to services for aged people. And given the opportunity in my third question for the minister to correct the record, he failed to do that, continuing to falsely accuse the aged-care commission of supporting the government's position to privatise. The government want to privatise. They are planning to rip off Australians even more than they are already doing. People in aged care who are vulnerable deserve so much better than this government. Do not give them the opportunity to govern again. This is a disgrace.