industry & reform
Their advice to me was , ‘ As the Aged Care Minister , the best thing you can do is get vaccination rates up for the residents in our facilities and to get antivirals to as many residents ,’ basically , to offer them to all residents over age 70 if they return a positive RAT test .
So that is my focus as the federal minister , and I hope , like myself , everyone continues to take health advice .
You said that there ’ s enough stock for providers to access RAT tests and PPE gear , and that you ’ re better prepared compared to last year . Do you think the provisions will be enough to cope with an upcoming COVID wave ? Well , during the Omicron wave in January you ’ ll remember people could not get their hands on a RAT kit and queues for PCR tests were lasting 8 , 12 and even 16 hours . We are now providing 1.9 million free RAT kits to facilities every week from the federal government , representing a huge difference in our ability to test people quickly .
We also have PPE now pre-deployed to facilities so that people won ’ t have those shortages again . I ’ m not currently hearing of any reports that people are short of PPE or RATs but , of course , if that changes , I do want to know about it .
At the beginning of July the Health Department announced that it would raise the aged care budget by 1.7 per cent , a rate far lower than the CPI of 5 per cent . People are seeing this as a cut in the aged care budget . Will the Health Department make adjustments ? Critics here are referring to the Indexation rate , not to the federal budget , and everyone is also aware that come 1 October , the new funding model for aged care will come into place .
I have been working very hard at my end to make sure that we can get that legislation through the Parliament so that providers can rely upon that date , where it will be a significant boost to funding , one that ’ s unprecedented in federal aged care .
You ’ ll recall that this is the funding model that was allowed to lapse under the last Parliament under the previous government , and allowing that funding model , that legislation to lapse has put everybody into a greater state of unease and uncertainty .
I am seeking to address that as quickly as possible by getting that legislation passed which represents a big boost to aged care funding in place for 1 October .
Regarding the aged care workforce , after the Fair Work Commission ’ s increase in the minimum wage , the union and later the ANMF called for a wage increase of 25 % for residential care workers . How far have you come with the Fair Work Commission to make this happen ? We have sought permission to put a submission in , and we ’ ve been granted that permission . That was one of the first things I did in the job . That submission is due on 8 August , with further hearings to be held in September .
The Australian Defence Force has been helping out in aged care for quite some time , and is due to exit next month . How likely do you think we ’ ll see this extended , and where will be get aged care workers in the short term ? That ADF involvement has been ramping down since February . The ADF has been in aged care facilities since February , and those numbers have been steadily dropping as they prepared to exit .
The majority of those shift shortages are now covered by the government ’ s surge workforce . The surge workforce covered 1,900 shifts in aged care just last week , so the focus is really using health workers in the health surge workforce for this purpose , not the ADF .
The fact that we even have the ADF in aged care demonstrates how neglectful the Morrison government was with respect to aged care and supporting our most vulnerable and the providers who look after them .
It is an extreme measure to have the ADF in aged care . It is a desperate measure to have the ADF in aged care . We shouldn ’ t be looking to that as the first port of call to answer these problems .
We need actual big , systemic reform , which is why I ’ m bringing some of the Labor election commitments to the Parliament , introducing them as legislation in the first Parliamentary fortnight .
For example , our commitment to 24 / 7 nurses , our commitment to increasing care minutes , as well as the submission that we are putting to Fair Work Commission to give aged care workers a pay rise . We are not going to address these enormous workforce issues that the sector is experiencing without doing big reform , as well as these short-term measures .
We ’ ve got to get the balance right , but my focus is on trying to fix this , this winter , but also do what we need to make sure we don ’ t have a problem again next winter .
For long-term workers , you ’ ve been collaborating with the Immigration Minister , Andrew Giles , to increase the number of overseas workers in Australia . How far have you come with regards to suitable visas and attracting workers ? Discussions are ongoing there , because , obviously , decisions about visas and immigration are not in my portfolio , so as a government we ’ re looking as a whole on what can be done about the skilled visa program .
But , here in aged care , migration is very much only one piece of the puzzle . We aren ’ t going to solve workforce with one measure alone , so we need to do other things like give a pay rise to aged care workers , look at what skills and training can be improved , bring confidence back to the sector so that more people want to come and work in aged care .
It is so important for everyone that we have this sector thriving in the years to come .
You ’ ve recently welcomed a new member to the National Aged Care Advisory Council . In what way do you hope the voice of First Nations people will be heard and changed in their representation in aged care ? I was pleased to take the recommendation of the departing member to appoint Jody Currie , who is a proud Brisbane woman like myself . We ’ ve only managed to have one of those meetings so far in my time as the Aged Care Minister , so I look forward to having more meaningful discussions with them as we move forward .
But one of the important recommendations of the royal commission was that we do things that are more specifically tailored for our First Nations people , for our CALD community .
Along with a significant amount of funding that we announced during NAIDOC week , it ’ s really good to be able to start doing that now under an Albanese Labor government that has that kind of focus . ■ agedcareinsite . com . au 13