Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Hansard source

You just wonder what it's going to take to get the Morrison government and the government senators in this place to take responsibility, once and for all, for aged care. What is it going to take? It is very clear that the Morrison government fund aged care, regulate aged care and have legislation around the quality of aged care, so they have a lot of control over this sector, yet we have seen them passing the buck, blaming others and, somehow, blaming us—when we are in opposition. What nonsense!

I've got to tell you, Madam Acting Deputy President, that ordinary Australians out there are very, very concerned about aged care, and they know it is Mr Morrison and Minister Colbeck who are ultimately responsible for aged care. Sadly, we've seen a minister who is not up to the job. Clearly, the buck stops with the minister. Quite frankly, if Mr Morrison really cared about what's happening in aged care across this country he would withdraw that minister and put in someone who is at least competent and capable.

My thoughts, of course, are with every single person who has lost a loved one during this pandemic, but particularly those in aged care. Who hasn't been moved by the horrific stories that we've heard where loved ones don't know where their family members are, or where family members are not at the bedside when their loved one dies? Many of us in this place have seen our parents pass on. I was with my father when he passed away. Some of the social workers, meaning well, suggested that I put my father into a nursing home. This was a couple of years ago, and even at that point I said: 'No way. No way is my father going into an aged-care facility.' I was very firm about it. They put quite a lot of pressure on me, but, having worked for the union that organises aged-care workers, the United Workers Union, I knew what nursing homes looked like and there was no way my father was going to go into that aged-care facility.

Workers in aged care are low paid. They earn $20 to $21 an hour, and they don't have enough hours. No wonder they work across two or three other facilities just to make ends meet. I heard Pat Sparrow, from Aged & Community Services Australia, say on the radio today that the new funding announced yesterday was welcome but still not enough. So once again we've seen this piecemeal approach. We saw it in the bushfires—a running-behind, piecemeal approach from the Morrison government—and we're definitely seeing it in aged care. It is a tragedy, and we should demand better. We are a wealthy country. We can afford to treat aged-care workers with respect. We can afford to pay them properly for the jobs they do. Loved ones are currently dying in their arms when family members are not there, yet we treat these workers with such disrespect. They get about 30 hours a week. They earn $20 to $21 an hour. And they are the people who are currently on the front line. Yet we see a pathetic attempt from the Morrison government to somehow support them because they've taken away their second-job options.

Clearly it is way over time for this government to take responsibility, to act, to have a plan for the future. I bet if we asked Minister Colbeck, 'What will aged care look like in 12 months?' he couldn't tell us, and if we asked the Prime Minister that he couldn't tell us. Aged-care providers have been saying for years that the system is in crisis. We have a report titled Neglect. That should have given some clues to the Morrison government that things were not good—a report titled Neglect, where there were horrific stories, which I'm not going to repeat today, but we've heard over and over again of that neglect. We heard about Newmarch House, St Basil's and Dorothy Henderson Lodge; we heard those horrific stories from family members about their relatives. Imagine banging at the window? So, get real, and take responsibility. Thank you.