Labor must move beyond the slogans and make the policy reforms necessary to improve life for older Australians in care
was the centrepiece of his budget reply, and Albanese campaigned heavily on the issue, making much of of what he described as the Coalition’s “cynical” and ineffectual one-off payment schemes for workers while emphasising Labor’s “plan” to “fix” the aged care crisis.
These are all critically important issues: round-the-clock registered nurses will improve palliative care and pain relief; an increase in staff numbers and a pay rise will help recruit and retain workers; and measures to address appalling rates of malnutrition and enhance financial transparency are also urgently needed.
Complex policy issues get boiled down to bullet points in election campaigns. But now that Labor is in government, it’s time to move beyond the slogans and get into the meat of the complex policy reform that must take place to improve the daily reality for older Australians in care.While addressing pay conditions and chronic understaffing is critical, the Albanese government must also tackle the training and regulation of aged care workers, in order to professionalise the workforce.
Likewise, aged care workers should be regulated so that unqualified or unsuitable workers can be excluded from the workforce – just as they are in other areas of healthcare.Additionally, the Albanese government must urgently address the vexed issue of regulation – about which the two commissioners delivered divergent recommendations in the royal commission’s final report – by scrapping the present aged care regulator, and creating an empowered and independent body to oversee providers.
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