Aged Care Insite Issue 92 | December 2015 - January 2016 | Page 17

industry & policy

SHAYNE NEUMANN
SHADOW MINISTER FOR
AGEING
The shadow minister
for ageing, Labor MP
Shayne Neumann, says
the government fails
to understand that the
ageing population is an
opportunity, not a burden.
He points to an array of issues that resurfaced
throughout 2015. In particular, he raises
concerns about the future workforce.
“One of the things I think the government has
failed in is the development of appropriate skills
and a qualified workforce, and also in terms
of making sure that workforce is properly and
better remunerated,” Neumann says. “I think it
was a retrograde step for the government to cut
that funding.”
He says it’s now more than 540 days since the
announcement of a stocktake of governmentfunded aged-care workforce initiatives, and still
no news.
“The government has failed to produce a plan
to deal with the critical shortages of aged-care
workers. Wages and conditions still aren’t as
good as they ought to be and career pathways
need to be improved. The government has
monumentally failed by simply thinking that the
market will sort these issues out.”
Also on his hit list was the “poor”
implementation of the My Aged Care website
and hotline, as well as the “failure to implement
Labor’s Living Longer, Living Better reforms in a
timely and appropriate way”.
On the brighter side, Neumann does see good
opportunities abroad, particularly in Asia.
“We’ve got a world-class system of aged care,
wonderful institutions and tremendously skilled
and talented people … export opportunities are
vast. We’ve got an opportunity to penetrate the
markets in Asia with development and delivery of
our aged-care services, through our wonderful
peak bodies and also through the big players who
are major stakeholders in the aged-care sector.”

SUSSAN LEY
FEDERAL MINISTER FOR
HEALTH AND AGED CARE
“The best thing to happen
this year for me was that
I became the minister for
aged care,” federal health
minister Sussan Ley says. “I
put my hand up when the
change of prime minister occurred because I
believe it was the right time for aged care to
come back into the health portfolio, where it
used to be, and to link the important aspects of
health and ageing.”

She says the significant change for the sector in
2015 was the move to consumer-directed care.
“We’re not going to transition overnight, but
we know where we want to go. We know how
we are going to get there. Most importantly,
we know it’s going to work for consumers,
for those who do have every right to say what
services they want delivered to them, how they
want them, what they want to pay for them,
and for there to be some real competition in
the market.”
She anticipates the industry roadmap to be
delivered shortly, which she says is an “exciting
response from the sector that indicates where
they believe we need to be going more broadly”.
“I say that’s exciting because, again, it’s not
government dictating to people who work each
and every day in the important area of aged
care what the future needs to look like, both for
residential and home care, but it’s a roadmap
coming back to us, to me as minister. I haven’t
got that yet. I’m getting it very soon, and I will
obviously have more to say when I do receive it.”
Moving into an election year, Ley says the
government will continue to engage with the
community around consumer care packages,
and build meaningful services, policies and
programs for individuals.
“Obviously, I’ll have more to say during the
election campaign, but my passion is rural and
regional aged care. I come from western New
South Wales, and I know that what works in the
city doesn’t always work so well in the bush. I’m
interested in particular models and particular
financing models around rural and regional
aged care.”
When asked about criticisms of her recent
mental health reforms, which some say fail
to recognise the needs of older people, Ley
was quick to suggest people need to speak to
consumers themselves.
“One of the initiatives I’m keen to start around
quality is asking older people what quality looks
like, what it means to them, and how we, both
in residential and home and community care,
should measure it appropriately.
“Just because someone else thinks quality
exists doesn’t mean the most important person
at the centre of that care agrees with them. I
want to find ways of measuring and then valuing
quality in terms of the individual and what it
means for them.”
Ley is comfortable that there are many
discussions taking place around the workforce.
She says she will pay close attention to the
coming stocktake and Senate inquiry.
“It’s not a problem that governments can solve
with a wave of a magic wa