Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety

Mr BASHAM (Finniss) (15:33): I rise to welcome the Prime Minister's announcement on Sunday regarding the establishment of an aged-care royal commission. Residents in aged-care systems, their families and service providers should stay informed about the progress and be ready and prepared to have their say. I will be encouraging those in my electorate of Finniss to get engaged and make sure they are part of the process and make sure, if they have concerns they would like to raise, they do so.

Anyone can provide an email address at the Australian government's aged-care website to stay in touch with developments and also to have some input into the terms of reference. For those who do not have email in my electorate I am more than happy to help them through my electoral office if they wish to do so. I am very keen to keep everyone in the Finniss electorate informed. This is very important for my electorate. There are many people in the electorate and in my community who are retired, spending their latter years in the community; some of them, as they become more frail, end up in nursing homes in the community. We need to make sure that we do everything we can to protect them as we go forward.

One thing we have to be very careful about, though, is understanding that the royal commission will not solve everything. It might highlight some issues and we will need to look for solutions, but we need to make sure that we do everything we can to get the right recommendations out of the commission and to make sure that the more serious cases are referred to the courts. There certainly will not be a silver bullet, I am sure, out of this royal commission; if there were, I am sure others would have fixed this a long time ago to make sure that we do not see mistreatment in our retirement homes.

It will be a combination of many solutions and implementing the resources and oversight to make sure that we lift up to the standard the community expects. The royal commission will enable the government to determine the scope of the problem and the necessary response. It will be the government's response that matters the most in the process. This week marks the anniversary of the closure of Oakden—a shameful chapter in our state's history, which has nevertheless resulted in significant reviews of aged care nationally and a more robust compliance regime. Requirements of stricter compliance have seen about a dozen facilities across Australia shut down in the past year and many others on notice to improve their performance.

Clearly, the Morrison government wants to make sure that it is not missing anything. The Australian government spent about $18.6 billion on aged care in the previous financial year, and spending is projected to increase over the next five years to $23.6 billion. Demand for aged care is only going to increase in coming years, as people are living longer and staying at home longer. Once they move from their homes into the care that is required, we are going to have to make sure that they are cared for.

The ratio of people working to older people requiring their support is falling. We need to make sure that the levels are those needed to make sure that people are cared for. We need a long-term plan and a strong and healthy economy to ensure that Australia has the resources to meet the aged-care demand in the future, and I am pleased that this point was so strongly made by the Prime Minister's announcement. We will need significant resources to meet increased demand and a strong, healthy economy to pay for it.

While the royal commission will provide an opportunity for people to air their concerns or grievances about the current substandard care, it is extremely important that everyone keeps an eye firmly on the future of aged care in Australia. It is important that if anyone has immediate concerns about substandard care they understand that they can contact the Aged Care Complaints Commissioner or lodge complaints online. Do not wait for the royal commission.

The SPEAKER: The member for Mawson.