Coronavirus

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (15:24): This afternoon, I would like to use the five minutes available to me to air some concerns I have about the impact this current health crisis is having on particular groups in our community and also to highlight what we do next once the crisis is over to ensure that we still have a fair and just Australia. The first issue I would like to talk about briefly concerns the most vulnerable people in our community who, for example, are in some sort of care facility, whether they are the aged members of our community or people living with a disability.

For a whole range of reasons, these people live in some sort of care facility. Many of those care facilities are now shut down to visitors. I appreciate that that measure has been designed to reduce the risk to the people who live and work in these facilities. I understand why because obviously they have older people who are at higher risk and also may have a whole range of other illnesses and comorbidities that may contribute to some poor health already. We need to keep the virus out of these facilities, but in doing so we also need to balance the protections we have for people who are living in our care facilities.

This is not to say that wrongdoing is occurring, but only in recent times we have had huge reports before this parliament, in the media and before a number of inquiries and royal commissions where there have been examples of very poor treatment of people living in our care facilities of some description. My concern is that, without any visitors allowed, family will be less able to visit. There will be fewer opportunities for people to visibly check how a family member is, how they are going and what their condition may be.

I think it is very important that all spheres of government—local, to the extent that they are involved, and state and federal governments—up their compliance activities. It is very important that, if we do not have family members and friends walking in to speak with people in these care facilities, that we have people who are going there to ensure that people are being well fed and well cared for and that their medical conditions are being addressed.

It is no secret that our aged-care sector and our disabilities sector are poorly resourced. It is not a secret when I say that. Unfortunately, this crisis is bringing additional burdens on those people providing services to this group of people, so it is important that we do that. That is one aspect of my concerns, that we ensure that all spheres of government are very proactive to make sure that people living in care facilities are being protected.

The other issue is about social isolation. People in care facilities are often socially isolated, more so than the general community. Now that the facilities have been shut down—again, I understand why—we need to make sure we work out ways for the people not to become socially isolated to the extent that it has a negative effect on their mental and psychological wellbeing. That is a very real risk to this group of people.

Another issue I would like to raise today is the impact that the virus is having on the volunteer sector. I do not think we have fully understood the effect that the virus is having on the volunteer sector. First of all, the number of volunteers available is reduced because often volunteers are in the high risk group in terms of their age, and so they are not able to participate in a whole range of community events. There are also the people who rely on the services provided by the volunteers at risk, organisations like Meals on Wheels. They are often the only contact that some people have in their homes.

This virus is not only causing social isolation; it is compounding social isolation for some people in our community. Many activities have now been shut down. A lot of sporting and recreational activities are being shut down. It is very important that we have policies in place to make sure that, when this virus is over, they can gear up. What I am suggesting is to make sure that local, state and federal governments get behind our sporting and recreational organisations in our communities to make sure that we reduce their costs and other things so that they can re-engage with the community at the appropriate time.