Aged Care

Demanding accountability from the Minister for Aged Care Services, Richard Colbeck, is being “a knocker”. So says our King of Spin, Scott Morrison. Given the media’s new obsession with appearances – and whether people smile for the camera – it was not a good look for Colbeck to be enjoying…

Many aged care homes are not designed to cope with an airborne virus. Without good ventilation, Covid has spread like wildfire in aged care homes. On December 3, there were 28 aged care homes with an outbreak. By Christmas Eve, the number of outbreaks had increased to 105. By 7 January,…

When the federal government decreed that Australians should “live with Covid”, the safety of older people living in aged care homes was once again not on the Coalition’s radar. In yet another predictable disaster, Covid has spread like wildfire in aged care homes. On Christmas Eve, 105 aged care homes…

Just when you think this government can’t get any more sneaky. In a virtually unnoticed move, the Coalition government has snuck an alarming last-minute amendment into an aged care bill before Parliament that removes the legal and human rights of aged care residents. The amendment removes the civil and criminal…

Where to start in listing the deceitful behaviour of the Coalition government regarding aged care? Is it that the government continues to throw large amounts of taxpayers’ money at aged-care providers but refuses to tackle the systemic changes that are needed? That Greg Hunt, the Minister for Aged Care, gave…

The only aspect of in-home care for older people that makes the news is the ridiculously long queue for home care packages. Flying under the radar is the chronic rorting, with corporate providers skimming off vast profits. The Aged Care Royal Commissioners noted that a recipient of a Level 4…

Mandating all aged care staff are vaccinated shifts the blame from the federal government's failure to vaccinate staff to individual aged care workers. With high levels of vaccine hesitancy and low levels of supply of Pfizer, some staff will prefer to stop working in the age care sector rather than…

While the federal Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck was asleep at the wheel, 685 older Australians living in aged care homes died of Covid. If 685 deaths don’t warrant a ministerial resignation, what will? Minister Colbeck continues to put lives at risk by allowing staff to work at multiple aged…

With Richard Colbeck as the federal aged care minister, 685 Australians in aged care homes died from Covid. Is he asleep at the wheel? Colbeck’s lack of leadership since Covid emerged is now putting even more lives at risk by allowing staff to work at multiple aged care homes without residents…

The federal government is reportedly planning to spend a further $10 billion over four years in the budget on aged care, with a focus on home care packages. This is on top of the $21 billion already spent each year. The highest level of home care help for older Australians is $52,000. And…