Australia's aged care sector is still unprepared to deal with the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, a royal commission has been told.
Senior counsel assisting the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, Peter Rozen QC, on Thursday said none of the problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic were unforeseeable.
Mr Rozen told the commission the sector was not prepared for COVID before outbreaks occurred in Sydney aged care homes Newmarch House and Dorothy Henderson Lodge.
"Tragically, not all that could be done was done," he said.
"The lessons of those two outbreaks were not properly conveyed to the sector, and as a result the sector was not properly prepared in June 2020, when we witnessed high levels of community transmission of the virus in Melbourne.
"Based on the evidence that you've heard, the sector is not properly prepared now."
Mr Rozen said it was the Federal Government that had sole responsibility for aged care.
He said the Government was "firmly on notice" early in 2020 of the many challenges the sector would face if there was an outbreak in aged care homes.
Mr Rozen said the limitations of the sector's workforce were well documented, there were many reports of residents in aged care homes dying in North America and Europe, and experts had been raising concerns and offering solutions.
The commission had previously heard harrowing evidence from those directly affected by the outbreaks, including the daughter of a man who died at Newmarch House.
Unions have also given evidence about the daily struggle of workers in the sector.
Also this week, geriatrician Joseph Ibrahim issued heavy criticism of the Federal Government's aged care response and said the situation had been a "disaster".
"In my opinion, hundreds of residents are and will die prematurely because people have failed to act," he said.
The Government has refuted claims it did not have plans in place for an outbreak, pointing to two documents, the first of which was activated in February.
But Mr Rozen described them as "reactive" rather than planning documents.
Professor Ibrahim had also criticised one of the documents as being silent on known gaps in the sector.
The commission is hearing a closing address from Mr Rozen regarding the evidence about COVID-19 planning.
It will then begin to examine the physical settings in which aged care is delivered and whether the facilities are appropriate.
