Older Australians will die waiting each week before Christmas

Years of reports have gathered dust as shocking neglect wears on, writes Julie Collins

THE Hobart hearings of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety have this week shed further light on Australia’s aged care system.

The Mercury’s front page on Tuesday said it all: “Aged care disgrace”.

Witness after witness confirmed the same sad fact — the aged care system is failing older Tasmanians.

But the evidence we have heard in Hobart won’t be shocking to anyone who has read the interim report of the Royal Commission released last month. The reflections of the commissioners laid bare the disturbing state of aged care. In their words, it is a “shocking tale of neglect”.

The more than 6000 pages of evidence include numerous solutions from experts, older Australians and their families about how the system can be reformed.

Are these solutions new? Well, a few are but the frustrating thing is that hundreds of solutions in the form of recommendations have already been presented to the Government even before the Royal Commission.

You can find these solutions easily enough because they exist in more than a dozen reports, reviews and inquiries that have sat on the desks of four ministers collecting dust while the aged care system lurches from crisis to crisis. Some of these reviews were commissioned by the Liberal Government.

The commissioners in their interim report make reference to these reports. There is an overwhelming sense that a lot has been written about the aged care system and the reform measures needed. So the question remains, with all of the evidence and solutions at hand why hasn’t there been any action by consecutive Liberal governments?

One action Scott Morrison has not been shy about saying is it was his call to establish the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.

That’s all well enough to say but where’s the leadership to ensure his Government was well placed to respond immediately with a plan to deal with the Royal Commission’s interim report?

He and his ministers can’t argue they didn’t have any solutions. Why was the Morrison Government caught so flat footed without a plan, especially on how to deal with the home care package waiting list?

The Morrison Government has known for more than two years that more than 100,000 older Australians have been assessed and are waiting for their home care package. More than 72,000 of these have no home care at all.

We know from questions in past Senate Estimates that the Department of Health has

continued to prepare modelling for the Government about the provision of additional home care packages. So the ministers know the cost and they know how many are needed.

The day after the Royal Commission’s interim report was handed down, Scott Morrison said there may be some action before Christmas.

What does “before Christmas” mean to the thousands of Australians desperate for care in their homes? The commissioners were very clear in what needed urgent action.

Providing more home care to reduce the waiting list for higher level care at home was the commissioners’ first priority. They described the home care waiting list as neglect and said funding should be forthcoming.

But none of this is breaking news for Scott Morrison and his ministers.

They have known for a year and a half that 16,000 older Australians died waiting for their approved home care package in 2017-2018.

If no action is taken immediately, 300 older Australians will die every week before Christmas waiting for the care for which they have been approved. Not only is this terribly sad, it is unacceptable.

Scott Morrison having called for the establishment of the Royal Commission must not abrogate any of his responsibilities.

He must listen to the growing chorus of voices calling for urgent action to fix Australia’s broken aged care system. These voices now include the commissioners who have heard the evidence and have handed the Morrison Government three interim recommendations that require urgent action.

Solutions exist — we know what to do.

It’s abundantly clear older Australians and their loved ones can’t afford to wait any longer.