Anthony Albanese says Australia’s aged care sector will need “structural changes” after the royal commission has completed its work, but he has declined to say whether a future Labor government would end for-profit care.
Speaking at the National Press Club on Thursday, the Labor leader highlighted the tragedies in aged care during the pandemic, and in questions after the speech, predicted structural reform would “undoubtedly” be part of the recommendations of the royal commission.
Albanese pointed the finger squarely at for-profit providers. He said one of the problems in the aged care system was “we have turned looking after older Australians into just one more source of profit”.
“What is very clear is that the problems that have arisen, if you look at where they are, they are almost exclusively in the for-profit system at the moment.”
But asked whether Labor would end for-profit aged care, Albanese said Labor would form its policy for the sector once the royal commission finished its deliberations.
He said the problems in evidence at the moment were failures of regulation. Recent events in Victoria, Albanese said, “should tell the story about a failure to properly regulate the system, which is the commonwealth’s responsibility”.
Labor has focused exclusively on aged care since parliament resumed this week. On Thursday, Albanese asked Scott Morrison why he was “playing down the human tragedy in aged care” when more than 70 aged care residents had died during the past week, and more than 360 residents since the pandemic began.
The prime minister rejected the question, telling parliament the government had responded to issues “on every occasion” and had shown absolute respect, understanding and sympathy to the families who had lost ones.
The Senate on Thursday ordered the aged care minister, Richard Colbeck, to make a statement detailing the government’s actions during the pandemic.
Colbeck defended the government’s record and accused Labor of playing political games. “We have been there every step of the way. Every day. We have not stopped, planning, adapting and implementing”.
The minister left the chamber immediately after delivering his statement, which caused uproar. Labor’s Senate leader, Penny Wong, said Colbeck had lost the confidence of the parliament and the public, and should leave his post.
Earlier this week, the Victorian Liberal backbencher Russell Broadbent pointed the finger at for-profit aged care. He said it had been a mistake by “successive governments over 30 years” to hand “the care of people into the private sector”.
Research conducted for the royal commission has singled out for-profit aged care facilities as being the least likely to provide the best quality of care to older Australians.
According to the paper, state government-run facilities and homes with 15 beds or fewer are the most likely to deliver the best quality care, but major discrepancies remain.
Of Australia’s best aged care homes, 24% are state government-owned, 13% are not-for-profit and 4% are for-profit.
Of aged care facilities rated as providing the best quality of care, 41% have between one and 15 beds, while 17% have 31-60 beds and just 5% have 61-120 beds.
The government has faced heavy criticism since the counsel assisting the aged care royal commission, Peter Rozen QC, told that inquiry there was no specific Covid-19 plan and accused the federal government of displaying “a degree of self-congratulation and even hubris” in the crucial months between Sydney’s Newmarch House outbreak in April and the Victorian second wave in mid-June.
The royal commissioners earlier in the week criticised the government for failing to establish independent monitoring and reporting of aged care quality outcomes. “It is unacceptable that in 2020 the aged care system is still without this,” the commissioners said on Monday.
“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.”
An independent review released on Monday about the outbreak at the Newmarch House found that a lack of staff and confusion between the levels of government made the crisis there worse. Nineteen residents died and there were 71 cases among staff and residents during the outbreak.
