Senate debates

Tuesday, 1 September 2020

Questions without Notice: Take Note of Answers

Aged Care

3:27 pm

Photo of Jenny McAllisterJenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians (Senator Colbeck) to questions without notice asked by Opposition senators today relating to aged care.

Early in the pandemic, Senator Colbeck announced a scheme that was supposed to deliver 36,000 food boxes to older Australians who were unable to shop safely because of COVID. Just 38 of those 36,000 boxes were ultimately delivered, and, when asked about it in this chamber, Senator Colbeck perversely insisted that he regarded this as a success. That should have been a bit of an early warning sign about this minister's approach to his job, because that scheme was a failure, and that failure was predictable. The CEO of the Council on the Ageing explained that he was not surprised that this occurred, because the program didn't match what older Australians needed or wanted.

Early on, we saw the qualities that have allowed Minister Colbeck to oversee a shocking tragedy in Australia's aged-care homes: his refusal to listen to stakeholders and older Australians; his unwillingness to take responsibility for his failures; his determination to deny facts, to call a fork a spoon, in the face of overwhelming contrary evidence; and, of course, his rank incompetence. You can draw a line from the tragedy that is currently consuming our aged-care system to the neglect that the government have shown this sector over their three terms in office.

They have failed to respond to the recommendations from the many inquiries before them, and the commissioners presiding over the royal commission said:

Had the Australian Government acted upon previous reviews of aged care, the persistent problems in aged care would have been known much earlier and the suffering of many people could have been avoided.

It puts it in perspective, doesn't it, when this government insists that the matters that have unfolded in Victoria were unforeseeable. That's not what experts are telling them and it's not what the royal commission is telling them. Senator Keneally asked, earlier in the week and today, how many older Australians have died from neglect. What was the answer today? 'How would we define this?' There are plenty of sources of evidence which could be used to define this. The minister could go, for example, to the reports that have piled up on his desk—quarter after quarter after quarter—which have found that between October and December last year standards were not met in 45 per cent of site audits and 100 per cent of the review audits. There are the reports which landed on his desk which said that between January and March this year standards were not met in 41 per cent of site audits and 87.5 per cent of review audits.

What was the minister's response to these facts? On the basis of his evidence to this chamber today, on the basis of his answers—absolutely nothing. The minister could not point to a single thing he had done or a single action he had taken. But he did revert to type: he did the thing he has done on every occasion when he's been called to account for his failures, and that is to blame somebody else. Today he blamed the regulator. In his answers to question after question after question, there was always somebody to blame. If it wasn't the aged-care quality and safety regulator it was the Victorian state government. Or it was the New South Wales state government, because he didn't like their scathing critique of his mishandling. Or it was the aged-care facilities themselves, or it was the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee—there's always somebody, somebody other than this minister, this minister who cannot point in any concrete way to a thing he has done. This is a minister who can't remember the occasions on which he has engaged the national cabinet or the Commonwealth cabinet on these questions.

The consequence of this unwillingness to accept his responsibility for managing this system and this crisis has been a complete unwillingness to learn from mistakes and to listen to experts. Experts knew that aged-care facilities would struggle to find staff during a coronavirus outbreak, but nothing was done. We knew this from Newmarch House in my home state of New South Wales, but the government and this minister knew nothing, did nothing and did not have a plan to prevent this from happening in Victoria.

The great shame of all this is that one of the most incompetent ministers in this government has been left in place by this uncaring Prime Minister to preside over a sector full of vulnerable people who deserved our collective protection. It is a disgrace. (Time expired)

3:33 pm

Photo of Hollie HughesHollie Hughes (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

It's nice to hear Senator McAllister acknowledge that there is a Victorian government. During these continual attacks on Minister Colbeck—these disgraceful efforts targeting some of the most vulnerable people in our community, who are being absolutely well protected—these vulnerable people are being put at risk thanks to the efforts of a security guard who decided to get a bit of action during his work, thanks to the outstanding management of quarantine by 'Chairman Dan'. We don't hear any recognition—

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

Senator Hughes! It is not okay not to use people's proper titles. That extends to state parliaments. I ask you to withdraw.

Photo of Hollie HughesHollie Hughes (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

I withdraw. My mistake—I actually thought that was his title after the six-months grab for emergency powers—

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

Senator Hughes, please resume your seat—

Photo of Anne UrquhartAnne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | | Hansard source

You can't just withdraw, can you? You've got to—

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

Order! When I ask you to withdraw, Senator Hughes, please don't make reference to your previous comment. I would like you to withdraw and then move on with your speech, please.

Photo of Hollie HughesHollie Hughes (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

Thank you, I withdraw. Premier Andrews continues his grasping for emergency powers, as he claims that the state of emergency doesn't exist, due to his absolutely woeful incompetence. His management of the quarantine program led to the Victorian second wave—not that those opposite have acknowledged that these terrible and tragic deaths occurring in aged-care homes are because of the second wave. They are occurring in Victoria because of the actions of Premier Andrews and his incompetent cabinet, who are now, thanks to their incredibly poor legislative agenda at the beginning of this year, staring down the barrel of manslaughter charges for their incompetence. It's an extraordinary fact that those opposite have continually failed to acknowledge. You wouldn't know there was a state of Victoria. Luckily, a lot of these people in Victoria are locked away, unable to work, trying to stay safe and keep themselves away from the COVID spread as Premier Andrews gives himself more and more power, increases his reach into people's lives and ruins the Victorian economy—but let's not mention any of that.

It is a tragedy, but of course when COVID gets into the community it's going to get into our aged-care facilities. Of course we had planned for that, and Minister Colbeck had been working across the board to ensure those preparations and plans were in place. We have made sure there is a surge workforce available. Incredibly, many of the other state premiers suggested, volunteered and offered the assistance of workers from their states to go to Victoria—not that Premier Andrews could be trusted to acknowledge that, particularly after his disgraceful efforts in defaming the ADF and the offers that were made there. He seems to think that just because you say it on Zoom it doesn't count as misleading the parliament. But, anyway, that is Victoria.

Whilst these deaths are incredibly tragic, what is also incredibly tragic is the people who are dying alone. And they're not only dying alone in Victoria. People are dying alone across the country because of the actions of other Labor premiers who have implemented hard borders, keeping families and loved ones separated during a time when it is absolutely unnecessary. We have seen an unborn twin die because medical assistance was unable to be accessed. We are seeing a situation at the moment between Queensland and New South Wales that is absolutely tragic. We have boarders at schools who are supposed to be going home for school holidays, leaving areas in Queensland with no COVID and heading to their family properties 15, 20 or 50 kilometres south of the border as harvest kicks off. We've got the first good harvest in a number of years. As I'm sure Senator Davey will recognise here, farmers are finally looking like having a good year. But the kids aren't coming home to help drive the headers or muster the cattle, because if they do they won't be allowed back to school under the absolutely ridiculous and overzealous border closure which everybody can see is politically motivated for Premier Palaszczuk.

I wonder what's going to happen on 1 November. Are we going to get a change of heart from Premier Palaszczuk after the election? Let's hope it's former Premier Palaszczuk by November, for the sake of all Queenslanders.

We are seeing so many people being affected and yet those opposite don't acknowledge what Premier Andrews has done. They don't acknowledge the hard borders and the hardship being created for families on the border thanks to Premier Palaszczuk. We certainly don't hear any acknowledgement of Premier McGowan putting electronic trackers on the ankles of those in quarantine. It is an extraordinary breach of people's human rights, but those opposite, who decry all of these things— (Time expired)

3:38 pm

Photo of Helen PolleyHelen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | | Hansard source

That was a nice deflection from the government senator on that side! We don't hear her saying anything about the closing of the Tasmanian borders by Premier Gutwein, because he just happens to be a Liberal premier.

But I'm not going to have my attention diverted from where it should be, and that is on the minister for neglect. We have seen day after day, death after death, the minister come in here and accuse the opposition and anyone else who wants to hold him accountable for his responsibilities as the Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians of playing base politics. Well, for those who are listening, base politics is: when you are a minister of the Crown the buck stops with you. You are responsible. You are accountable and responsible for your portfolio area, and unfortunately—and it is unfortunate—too many older vulnerable Australians have died under Minister Colbeck's watch.

But it also goes all the way to the top—that is, to the Prime Minister. We have known for more years than we can count—since this Liberal government has been in power—that the aged-care sector has been in crisis. We have been calling out for more unannounced visits to residential homes, and what have we seen? No action at all by this government. The minister today could not answer in response to questions in relation to whether or not he could confirm that, from July to September last year, standards were not met in 37 per cent of site audits and 100 per cent of review audits. What is he doing? What is this minister doing to restore the confidence of the Australian people so that they can have confidence, if their loved one has to go into residential aged care, that they're going to be safe? He's not done anything.

You know how there are some television programs that say, 'Call a friend'? Today in question time, I was waiting for the minister to call Minister Hunt. Yesterday it was quite extraordinary that in a supposed joint-media conference, we had the Minister for Health talking over the Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians. It was supposed to be for an announcement over aged care—one to put on another bandaid. We know this government is very, very good at making announcements and having a photo op, but they fail in the delivery.

We know that there has been warning for month after month that the impact COVID-19 was going to have on older residents was going to be enormous. Older Australians are all vulnerable, but if you were in residential aged care you were more vulnerable than those people in the wider community. We know there have been failings of this government for almost eight years to address the training of people who work in this sector, we know that there was not PPE available to those who were caring for the most vulnerable in our community and we know their compliance failure has been too high. But we've seen nothing. There have been excuses from this minister coming into this chamber, blaming everyone else for his failings as minister. If you accept the portfolio responsibilities then you have to take responsibilities for the failings. It's not as if the government and the minister had not been briefed over and over and over again.

I've lost count of how many reports there's been into the failings in the aged-care sector, but we've had seven ministers in seven years and each and every one of them has failed to fundamentally fix the very broken system. The fundamental funding of the aged-care system is broken in this country. We've waited seven years and have had no action, and now we have a minister who wants to blame everyone else and accuse Labor—and anyone who disagrees with him and who wants to hold him accountable—that we're playing base politics. Base politics, as I said from the outset, is a minister being responsible for his portfolio area. The Prime Minister is responsible, and gave a commitment at the last federal election that he would make aged care a priority. He has failed dismally. He fails every single day when he doesn't have the Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians in the cabinet. That's where the Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians belongs. (Time expired)

3:43 pm

Photo of Matt O'SullivanMatt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

We heard today that 462 people have, sadly, lost their lives in aged-care facilities across this country due to COVID-19. That is an absolutely tragic number. It represents not just 462 lives but 462 families who right now are grieving and who right now are no doubt really, really distraught at the loss of their loved one, whether it be a family member or a friend. What we've seen here today—and not just today, but for this whole sitting fortnight—is, time and time again, the Labor Party really, I would say, besmirching the memory of these individuals and the families that are dealing with it by coming in here with cheap politics, coming in here with smear and coming in here to make a political point. Ultimately, as much as those on the other side hide behind their bravado and the loud noises that they like to make, they're really doing it at the expense of those 462 individuals, their families and their loved ones.

They come in here with their confected outrage, but really what they should be doing is coming in here and asking questions about what the situation actually is and how things might be improved. No-one on this side is saying that all is perfect. No-one on this side has said that it's all gone to plan. Of course there have been times throughout this pandemic where we've had to recognise and adapt to the necessary circumstances and changes to make sure that we're responsive and are implementing plans that are dealing with the pandemic. But this is a pandemic. These are unusual circumstances. These are unusual times. But the Labor Party doesn't want to acknowledge any of that.

And, as we heard from Senator Hughes before, the Labor Party aren't coming in here and mentioning at all the source of the pandemic and the crisis that is prevailing right now in Victoria. The fact is, because there was no effective control of the virus and of the people who were in quarantine in Victoria, we have had the outbreak that we've seen. It's the preparedness of the state government in Victoria that has caused this problem that we're now debating here today.

I reflect that in Western Australia, thankfully, we've actually managed quite well with the health crisis. Businesses are back open. Businesses and cafes are enjoying great trade. Holiday spots, north and south of Perth, have enjoyed a terrific winter season—thankfully. I was up there in Kalbarri and I got to see some magnificent new infrastructure that's been built by the parks and wildlife department. It's magnificent. But the reality is I'm concerned about whether or not we're actually fully prepared. Because what the WA government has done is put up this hard border and convinced the population that we're safe behind this hard border. And do you know what? The border does provide some protection. There is no doubt about that. But what happens when one of those 450 trucks that necessarily come across the border to bring food and produce and necessary supplies is driven by someone who has the virus, because they come from a virus hotspot? Or what happens if someone breaks out of a quarantine hotel, like we saw over the weekend in Perth? Someone broke out, went down to the pub and had a few drinks. They were from Queensland and they didn't come from a hotspot, but what if that person had actually come from an area where there was the virus and they themselves had the virus? Is WA prepared? Is WA actually ready? Have we got the testing capability? Have we got the capability to deal with it? I wonder whether we do.

What we need to see is a refocussing on our efforts to ensure that we are protecting our states. We didn't see that in Victoria. We didn't see a preparation. We didn't see a preparedness to take the tough decisions to ensure that we've got the capability across the systems to ensure that we lock up the virus where it breaks out. I want to encourage Premier Mark McGowan to look at the system and make sure that we're prepared. (Time expired)

3:48 pm

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

What we have are a minister and a government who have presided over neglect in our aged-care system: neglect of aged-care residents prior to COVID-19 and neglect of aged-care residents during this pandemic. And what we've heard today is a minister and a government who refuse to take responsibility for their inaction. They refuse to take responsibility for the neglect that they have presided over in the aged-care system for seven years. Whether it's about the extraordinary number of aged-care homes consistently failing quality and safety checks prior to this pandemic and this minister's inaction, or whether it's about the warnings of COVID outbreaks earlier this year at Dorothy Henderson Lodge and Newmarch House and his inaction, or whether it's about the tragic deaths in aged care from neglect, in addition to the tragic loss of life from COVID-19 and his inaction, or whether it's about last year's royal commission report titled Neglect and his inaction, what we have heard today is a minister who refuses to take responsibility, a minister who has no explanation.

He has no answers. He can't tell us what he did about the 45 per cent of aged-care homes that were failing audits last year, prior to COVID-19. He can't tell us what he did to prevent further outbreaks after the lessons of Dorothy Henderson Lodge and Newmarch House should have been learnt. He can't tell us why mistakes were still being made at St Basil's in Victoria, months later. And he can't tell us why he hasn't acted on the recommendations of the royal commission, which called for $600 million a year in extra funding. He can't tell us what the government's response is to the royal commission's interim report titled Neglect. He can't explain any of it here today. He won't take responsibility for any of it. But he is responsible, and this government is responsible, for aged care in this country. He is responsible for not taking action on the warnings that were there—the warnings overseas and the warnings here in Australia, in New South Wales, earlier this year. He is responsible.

We're talking about the deaths of over 460 people, who have tragically died as a result of COVID-19 in aged care in Australia. We are talking about mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and grandparents. These are real people; they are not numbers in a report and they deserve a better explanation of what has happened than we have heard from this minister and from this government today. I cannot begin to imagine just how difficult it has been for the families of those more than 460 people, unable to see their loved ones as they were dying of COVID-19 in aged-care homes. The stories we hear have been absolutely heartbreaking. It is a tragedy. We are facing an aged-care disaster, and we have been facing this disaster not just for weeks and not for months but for years. We have been facing it and we have had warnings. We have had report after report, and we have had minister after minister in this government refusing to take any action, refusing to put plans in place, refusing to take responsibility, refusing to be accountable and unable to explain to us how it is that they believe that they can keep older Australians safe in our aged-care facilities today.

This is a minister who last week literally turned his back on this parliament. He literally walked out on the questions that he was being asked to answer, that he was being asked to be accountable for. He turned his back on his accountability, on his responsibility to the parliament and on his responsibility to the Australian people. The Australian people have lost confidence in this minister, Senator Colbeck. They have lost confidence, and it is time for this minister to resign—to pack up his office and to resign.

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

The question is that the motion as moved by Senator McAllister be agreed to.

Question agreed to.