NEW AGED CARE QUALITY COMMISSION WELCOME BUT TURNBULL GOVERNMENT MUST RESPOND TO AGED CARE REPORTS

Labor welcomes reports the Turnbull Government is planning to establish a new aged care quality commission.

 

However, the Turnbull Government must turn its attention to fully responding to the Review of National Aged Care Quality Regulatory Processes which first called for this change in October 2017.

 

To date the Turnbull Government has responded to only two of the Review’s ten recommendations.

 

What’s worse, there is no evidence it has acted on the Review’s other recommendation it did accept – unannounced re-accreditation audits of residential aged care facilities.

 

The Minister for Aged Care must come clean on the implementation of this recommendation.

 

The Minister promised in October that unannounced audits would begin ‘as soon as possible’ and be ‘relentless’.

 

We still haven’t seen the legislation to implement these “unannounced audits”.

 

The Review into regulatory processes is part of a disturbing number of reviews and reports into elder abuse and aged care the Turnbull Government has failed to respond to.

 

Older Australians and their families deserve better than this.

 

Labor recognises that everyday around the country older Australians are treated with care and respect at residential aged care facilities.

 

But any reduction in the quality of care being delivered to older Australians is not acceptable.

 

Transparency for older Australians must be at the centre of any new aged care quality commission.

 

Labor looks forward to the Turnbull Government releasing the full details about the new watchdog and stands ready to work with governments at all levels to progress this issue.