Senate debates

Thursday, 4 February 2021

Bills

Aged Care Legislation Amendment (Serious Incident Response Scheme and Other Measures) Bill 2020; Second Reading

12:59 pm

Photo of Jess WalshJess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The government's inaction on elder abuse—after years of evidence, after years of review—is absolutely inexcusable. Another review, commissioned by the government into the Oakden nursing home tragedy, also recommended the implementation of a Serious Incident Response Scheme. That review was released back in 2017, over three years ago. And KPMG did a review as well. It was a study into the prevalence of abuse and assault in aged care. What they found was also tragic. They found more than 50,000 cases of abuse and assault every year going unreported.

The KPMG findings were from a government-commissioned study. The Morrison government received this report in November 2019, and then they sat on that report and did not make it public until June 2020. Why? What is the minister doing? What is Minister Colbeck doing? What is the government doing on this absolutely tragic issue? Why is it that the 40 per cent of aged-care residents experiencing elder abuse have not been a top government priority for the last three years at least? Why has it taken so long to implement this absolutely critical scheme?

We're talking about our parents. We're talking about our grandparents. These are the Australians who have worked so hard to make our country what it is. These are the Australians who have worked so hard to give all of us the opportunities that we have today. The very least that they deserve is dignity. They deserve to be protected in our aged-care facilities: They deserve to be supported by their own government. They need better than a government that sits on reviews, reports and recommendations for three years. They need that respect, that support and that dignity now, right now—immediately. But this scheme is just another chapter in a story of eight years of this government's neglect. It doesn't matter how many shocking reports or stories there are, the Morrison government has not delivered the urgent reforms that are needed to address the aged-care crisis. Every report—ignored. Every warning—ignored. Every heartbreaking story—ignored. This is neglect. 'Neglect' sums up the government's eight-year record on aged care.

You just have to listen to the stories of the hardworking aged-care staff to really understand just how hard things have got in aged care under this government. Last year I met with Ross, Delia, Wendy and Tracy. They are proud aged-care workers and proud United Workers Union members. They need our support. They need the support of everyone in this chamber and everyone in this place, because they want to fix the aged-care crisis, and they have a plan to do it.

Ross told me about a 90-year-old woman that he cares for. He described her, movingly, as an elegant and proud woman—a woman who came through World War II in Germany and made her way here; a woman who he has huge respect for; and a woman who, because of the aged-care crisis, he has witnessed being forced to sit in her own mess just because there are not enough staff to give her the dignity and the respect that she deserves.

Ross works 50 hours a week, because his aged-care job is not enough to support himself and his three children. It's not enough pay per week, so he has a second job to make ends meet. He is absolutely passionate about aged care. He wants it to be his career. It's already his vocation, but he has to work a second job to make ends meet, because the jobs in aged care are so poorly paid and insecure. The jobs don't offer workers enough hours to make that commitment to the sector.

So what does that say about the priority that we as a country and that this Morrison government puts on our older Australians? What does it say about that level of priority? What does it say about the respect that we give to the dedicated and caring workforce that is trying so hard, despite the government's failings, to actually deliver quality care to the residents that they are so committed to? We need to do better. This government needs to do better by the aged-care residents, by their families and by the workforce.

Delia and Tracey spoke about being tired all the time, too tired when they're finished their work to enjoy their own lives and too tired, in their own words, to give the quality of care that they know the residents absolutely deserve. They say that they are always running because of the lack of support and the lack of investment from this government into the aged-care system. They say that there are just not enough staff and not enough time in a day to get the work done. But they spoke to me of their commitment to the residents that they serve, to these people who have contributed, these people who have fought so hard for the country that we have today, people who deserve so much more from this government and who deserve better from this minister.

When I met with Wendy, she had actually come to the gallery to listen to Minister Colbeck, to hear the government answer questions about what their plan is for aged care, what their plan is to actually protect the residents in our federally run aged-care system. When I met with Wendy, after being in the gallery here in question time, she was in tears. She was in tears because the minister sitting opposite, Minister Colbeck, could not answer the questions about how he was going to protect residents in aged care. He couldn't answer the questions about how he was going to back up the workforce and give them the tools they need to do their jobs. She came to this place to see if the minister had a plan, and she left in tears because she was convinced that he didn't. As she said to me, what she felt was happening was that the minister was turning his back on her, on the workforce and on the residents in aged care in Australia, and that is a complete disgrace.

So, Ross, Delia, Tracey and Wendy have a plan, even if the government doesn't. They have a plan to deliver the aged-care sector that our elders absolutely deserve. They have a plan to win the decent, secure jobs that have to be the foundation of any reform to aged care in this country, because without a stable, committed and dedicated workforce we are not going to be able to fix the problems and we are not going to be able to give our elders the care that they so absolutely deserve. The workforce need good, secure jobs to care for residents in aged care. They need a decent wage, and they don't have one today. They need enough hours to get by on one job—not two jobs or three jobs but one job—in their vocation to deliver the quality care that they want to deliver to the residents in aged care. We need minimum staffing levels in this country. It is a disgrace that we do not have minimum staffing levels today in aged-care facilities in our country under this government. It is a complete disgrace. We need those minimum staffing levels so that our committed, dedicated aged-care workforce can do their jobs so that our elders have the care that they need and the dignity that they deserve.

We are one of the wealthiest countries in the world. We can and we must fund aged care properly. We can and we must ensure that the funding goes exactly where it is meant to go. That is to the care of residents. It is to good, secure jobs for the workforce, who are doing their best to look after those residents and provide that care. And we need to make sure that the funding goes to them—to the residents, to the workforce providing the care—and not to the reserves of for-profit providers in the sector. The funding should go to the residents and to the workforce that looks after those residents. Tracey said it best to me when I met with her. She said, 'People in aged care are humans, and under this government they're being treated as if they're on a production line.'

It's time we listened to the dedicated aged-care workers who are speaking up so courageously about the problems. It is time we listened to them. They're not just speaking up for their own jobs, for their own security; they're speaking up for the residents as well. They're speaking up to protect the residents, which this government has failed to do for the past three years, while we have heard tragic, disgraceful story after tragic, disgraceful story about abuse in our aged-care facilities in this country. I stand with those workers who are raising these concerns, who are calling the government out, who are speaking up for the residents, who are standing with the residents and protecting them, which this government refuses to do.

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