Labor’s budget reply speech saw a major announcement from Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese, with the Opposition Leader committing to addressing the crisis in aged care.

If elected, a Federal Labor government has committed to:

• A registered nurse in every nursing home 24 hours a day;
• A mandated minimum 215 minutes of care per resident per day;
• Funding real wage increases for aged care workers;
• Ensuring accountability across the sector.

This is the first time ever a major political party has committed to mandate a safe staffing ratio that is sufficient to keep our residents safe, and to reform a sector that has been in a state of neglect.

In his budget reply speech in Parliament, Albanese said that a government he leads “will stop the neglect and put security, dignity, quality and humanity back into aged care for older Australians.

“[Our] plan will put nurses back into nursing homes, giving carers more time to care. It will lift wages in the sector, deliver better care and improve transparency and accountability,” Albanese said.

Federal Labor’s announcement was welcomed by the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation’s Federal Secretary Annie Butler.

“After years of inaction, we may finally have a plan to fix the core problems underlining the crisis in aged care,” Butler said.

“Nurses and care-workers have finally been given a sense of hope. That a Labor Government might finally treat them, and the older Australians in their care, with the dignity and respect they deserve.

“Hope that, with enough time to care, nurses and care workers, who love their job but have become so stressed and worn-out because of staff shortages, can go home after their shift, feeling proud and satisfied with what they’ve done for every older Australian.”

The commitment to fixing aged care was the result of the tireless work of aged care nurses and care workers, who have been central to the campaign to improve the broken sector.