Over the past several years, the terrible state of Australia’s aged care system has been a recurring headline.
Advocates, unions and the Labor Party have been calling on the Government to take action for years, and they were eventually dragged kicking and screaming to establish a Royal Commission into Aged Care.
As I write this, it has been a year since the Royal Commission handed down its report.
The report shone a light on the awful standard of treatment in aged care. We saw examples of maggots in the wounds of residents and two thirds of residents malnourished or at risk of malnourishment.
This shocking evidence should have driven the Government to take urgent action.
But a year after the Royal Commission’s report was handed down, you would struggle to find an aged care worker or resident who would tell you the situation has improved.
The Liberals and Nationals cannot pretend they do not know about the myriad of problems in aged care – they have presented with a report that spells out all the issues, plain and simple.
After pretending there were not any issues for years, the Morrison-Joyce Government is now dragging its feet on fixing the sector.
The aged care system is evidently not delivering an adequate service to older Australians. In 2020 some 11,000 people died waiting for an aged-care package.
The skills shortage ravaging so many areas of the Australian economy is hitting aged care hard. Australia’s largest aged-care body is urging the Government to let them bring in staff from overseas because they cannot find enough skilled workers here.
It is shameful that as a country we have not prioritised ensuring we have the skills required to care for older Australians.
These people have worked their whole lives, done their bit to support themselves, their family and their country, and they rightly expect to be treated with dignity and respect in retirement.
We should not have to rely on foreign labour to provide care for older Australians. COVID-19 has made this abundantly clear – emergencies like pandemics that cut off international workers also intensify the labour required to operate aged care facilities safely.
The crisis in aged care is having a particular impact on the Italian community. Italian speakers are the largest group of non-English speaking nursing home residents. As someone of Italian background with family in aged care, I am appalled that elderly members of our community are being exposed to potential abuse and maltreatment in aged care facilities.
Older Australians deserve so much better than this neglect. The Coalition needs to get its act together for their sake.
Senator Ciccone is a Federal Labor Senator for Victoria
