Grievance Debate

Aged-Care Facilities

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:25): In South Australia, if you hit someone on the head, attempt to violently force-feed them or in any way cause harm and injury to that party, when it is deliberate or reckless and you are over 10 as an offender and you are of sound mind, clearly you are liable to be convicted of a criminal offence. The Criminal Law Consolidation Act and a number of other provisions in our law make it a state responsibility, and it is a matter which is clearly within the domain and responsibility of this government.

That is exactly what happened in September last year when Mr Lucas, a carer in a Mitcham residential care facility, was convicted of two counts of aggravated assault and received a 10-year gaol sentence. As we now know, he has been dismissed from that facility. The victim was an 89-year-old man, whose story has now been sent around the country, and the treatment of this man in an aged-care facility has been met with horror by Australians.

Our sentencing in South Australia also makes it absolutely clear that if your victim is a vulnerable person—usually very young, very old, disabled—the penalty that applies should be much higher in the application of that. That is the criminal law that is clearly the domain of the South Australian government, the Premier and the Attorney-General. Elder abuse, more generally, is described as an act occurring within a relationship where there is an implication of trust which results in harm to an older person. Abuse can include physical, sexual, financial, psychological, social and/or neglect. It is a broad phenomenon which makes the people who are victims of it cringe, as it does those who witness such assault and are very concerned for the relatives.

The case that was reported and exposed by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation yesterday makes it very clear that the public will not tolerate this kind of behaviour and, as I said, the perpetrator in this particular case has now been sent to gaol. However, when the opposition raised today the important reaction to this, in saying that the situation should not be tolerated, that we would work with the government to look at the law reform to protect persons such as the 89-year-old victim in this case to make sure that this is not repeated, the government's response—both the Premier's response and that confirmed today by the Attorney-General—was that they would not be taking action other than to write a letter to the federal government and to refer it to them for review, as they are the regulators of the operation of residential care facilities in South Australia and aged care.

Certainly they are that, but the South Australian government is responsible, and this parliament has the responsibility to act in legislation to deal with law and order in this state. This is a criminal offence. It is unacceptable behaviour. It is illegal and it is the responsibility of this government to act. It is shameful that the Premier and the first law and order person of the state should stand here in this parliament today and tell us that they have just written a letter to the federal government.

Do people who are living in aged-care facilities not deserve the protection of the criminal law in this state? Of course, they do. They are entitled to it. They live in South Australia, they are living in their home and, if they are assaulted and they are a victim of a criminal offence, they are entitled to the protection of the police and every other law enforcement agency. It disgusts me that the Premier and the Attorney-General should walk away from this responsibility.

We are prepared to take up this action to ensure that there is an opportunity to provide extra protection. Whether that is under our surveillance law, whether it is added to our criminal law, whether it is made a provision in a regulatory obligation, whether it assists by speaking to our federal colleagues in making a condition in relation to aged care facilities' licences, all of those things can be added. However, the primary responsibility to deal with people who are victims of a criminal offence is the man who sits across the room in this chamber, the Attorney-General, and it disgusts me that he has walked away from that. When the now Premier was the minister for ageing, he published a booklet in which he said:

We recently released our ageing strategy…The State Government has a zero tolerance for the abuse or harm of older people and we are committed to protecting older people from harm and to keeping them safe in their homes and in their communities.

He has clearly forgotten that. The concern this Premier has expressed in the last 24 hours is insincere, his response is concerning and his refusal to act is alarming.

Time expired.