Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

Making sure we have a skilled workforce to deliver the high-quality care is a critical component of the aged-care reforms. The system that we inherited was described under the title Neglect by the royal commission in its first interim report. We are steadily improving the quality of care, and the skills and training, and encouraging more people into the aged-care workforce based on the work that we are doing through the skills programs, through Minister O'Connor, through the leadership of the Prime Minister and the states and territories. We now have 7,869 Australians enrolled in Certificate III in Individual Support to work in aged care or disability care, and another almost 8½ thousand Australians have enrolled in a Diploma of Nursing. There is more work to do, but having a skilled workforce is essential to making sure that we can improve the quality of care for those elderly Australians who rely on residential aged-care services.