Federation Chamber
Monday 31 August 2020
Our frontline workers have kept us safe during COVID-19, yet somehow this government has not been able to support them. Just last week, we saw Minister Colbeck—the so-called aged-care minister—who couldn't answer basic questions about how many lives in aged care have been lost during this pandemic. This was before he walked out of the Senate and turned his back on his colleagues during a critical debate on this topic. On Sunday, nine people were added to the state's aged-care death toll. This government simply has no grip on what is happening with this crisis.
Last month, I was pleased to have a number of meetings with members of the QNMU and have since written to Minister Colbeck. I was accompanied by the state member for Mount Ommaney, Jess Pugh, and I met a local resident, Patricia. Patricia, like many of our local dedicated aged-care workers, was with Blue Care for over 30 years and was shocked to have only a few days notice that her job had been cut, in what is one of the most critical times for this sector. Despite the fact that some residents are paying bonds of up to $500,000 for a bed and up to $750 a fortnight for care, and huge demands in aged care across Australia, there's been no communication or reason for these job cuts. Despite going to Fair Work, they've still not had their hours restored. I call on Blue Care in Queensland to lift their game.
A few weeks later I met with Jenny, Paula and Marina, wonderful, dedicated, hardworking aged-care workers and proud members of the QNMU. Again, they came to advocate how poorly aged-care industry workers are being treated, right now, during a global pandemic. Their members are being underpaid and overworked and are getting burnt out. Staff must do double shifts to keep up with demands and, as if this was not good enough, we're seeing a lack of basic PPE requirements for aged-care workers.
Over 57,000 constituents in my electorate have English as their second language or were born overseas. With an increasingly large number of multicultural seniors requiring aged care, members of the QNMU let me know the lack of workers who can understand and speak different languages, which has forced families to give up work to look after their loved ones. There is an enormous disconnect between what is being reported and what our frontline aged-care workers are experiencing. It's completely unacceptable, and this is before we get into the area of poor nutrition in our aged-care sector. Aged care is a federal responsibility, and the government need to lift their game before we lose more lives to the lack of resources in this sector. I call on the Morrison government to do better for our aged care.
