October 30, 2024

scott morrison

New Report: Morrison Government Must Ensure Billions in Public Funding is Tied to Care of Australian Aged Care Residents

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A new report examining the financial and tax practices of some of Australia’s largest nursing home operators, again highlights the urgent need for the Morrison Government to ensure greater transparency and accountability for the billions in additional public funding poured into the troubled aged care sector, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) said today.

The report released today by the Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability & Research (CICTAR) – titled ‘Careless on Accountability, is Federal Aged Care Funding Siphoned Away?’ – examines the financial practices of several publicly-listed and not-for-profit nursing home operators over the last two years, a period when aged care operators had received additional subsidies to assist in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report, which includes examination of Regis Healthcare, Southern Cross Care, Bolton Clare, BlueCare and Tricare, is particularly timely, as many aged care operators seek to secure additional funding from this year’s federal Budget. This is while many chronic issues plaguing the sector continue to be unresolved.

Despite billions in Government funding, nursing homes continue to be dangerously understaffed, with workers in the sector amongst the lowest-paid in the country. Workers, who, despite promised improvements from Government, continue to be disadvantaged. Most recently in relation to the Government’s COVID-19 bonus payment – a new national ANMF poll of more 2,200 aged care workers shows that only 1.4% have received the promised $400 aged care bonus.

ANMF Federal Secretary Annie Butler says the findings of the CICTAR Report demonstrate yet again the critical importance of guaranteeing that any increases in funding announced in tonight’s Budget are tied directly to the provision of care for elderly nursing home residents – and not for other purposes as determined by the owners and operators of the aged care facilities.

“We obviously continue to be very concerned that there is still no real accountability over how Government-funded aged care providers are investing their money as the CICTAR report shows, including in some cases in China’s aged care system. This is while food in Australian nursing homes remains sub-standard, there are widespread failures in care due to chronic staff shortages, and the efforts of an overwhelmed, burnt out workforce go unrecognised and inappropriately remunerated by the Morrison Government.

“Mr Morrison must act to ensure that the public’s money is being spent where it’s actually needed – for safe, dignified care of older Australians in nursing homes – it’s the least they deserve.”

To view the Report, go to:  www.cictar.org/careless

Wages go backwards as corporate profits surge: ABS data 

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Australian workers are worse off under the Morrison Government, despite growth in both the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and corporate profits in the December quarter of last year, according to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today.    

Australian wages went backwards in real terms across 2021, with inflation growing at 3.5 percent, while wages only grew by 2.3 percent. 

As such, Australian workers have experienced the biggest cut in their wages for over 20 years. A worker on an average income of $68,000 saw their pay shrink in real terms, by $832 last year.   

In contrast, the GDP grew by 3.4 percent. Corporate profits also surged by 13 percent in the same period.  

Sally McManus, Secretary of Australian Unions, urged the Morrison Government to act on this wage stagnation crisis.  

“These figures will be little comfort to working people who saw their wages go backwards in real terms,” McManus said.  

“Workers need a fair share of the national prosperity they are creating. We need wage growth to put money in the hands of working people and create a strong, durable recovery from the pandemic.” 

Unions across the country, including the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association, are currently fighting for fair wage growth, including above inflation wage rises.  

Australian workers cop worst pay cut in 20 years 

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Wages in Australia are going backwards in real terms, according to recent statistics released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). 

Inflation for the year of 2021 was 3.5%, while wages only increased on average by 2.3% over the same period of time – meaning working Australians on the average income of $68,000 received a pay cut of $832 last year. 

The Australian Council of Trade Unions’ Sally McManus described this as “the worst pay cuts workers have faced in over 20 years in real terms”. 

“The recovery from the pandemic relies on real wage growth so that working people can keep up with the rising cost of living. Instead, the Morrison Government has delivered a pay cut,” she said. 

McManus called on the Morrison Government to work with unions to increase wage growth across the county. 

“The Prime Minister should be working with unions to create wage growth and more secure jobs, rather than attacking frontline workers in an attempt to save his job. 

The Reserve Bank of Australia is predicting that inflation will continue to outstrip wages until at least the middle of this year. 

 

Crisis in aged care: Mr Morrison, you let it happen

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Aged care nurses and workers will hold a COVID-safe protest in Canberra today to voice our frustration and anger over the Morrison Government’s continuing failure to protect aged care workers and residents and to demand immediate action to fix the crisis and prevent any more unnecessary deaths in Australia’s nursing homes.

The country’s aged care system is on the edge of collapse – and Mr Morrison has let this happen. His Government has overseen:

  • Dangerously unsafe staffing levels;
  • Inadequate supply of personal protective equipment (PPE);
  • Lack of rapid antigen tests (RATs);
  • Failed delivery of booster shots;
  • Cynical cash ‘bonus’ incentives for poorly-paid workers, but no commitment to real wage increases;
  • A failure to act decisively on the Royal Commission’s recommendations for mandated staff ratios; and,
  • Ministers Hunt and Colbeck refusing to accept their responsibility for the lives of older Australians and instead deflecting blame for their failures onto the sector, the workforce, and even aged care residents themselves.

These failures to protect older Australians in the current COVID crisis follow a decade of neglect by consecutive governments.

Registered nurses, enrolled nurses and aged care workers are furious. We will not stand by and watch nursing home residents and elderly Australians suffer any longer. This is why we, the ACTU and interested politicians and members of the community, will stand-together in solidarity today to condemn Mr Morrison and his Ministers for allowing a complete breakdown of privately-run nursing homes.

“The message from our exhausted aged care nurses, nursing home residents and their families is loud and clear – no more talking, no more ‘taskforces’, no more ‘inquiries’, no more deferring responsibility – only action,” ANMF Federal Secretary Annie Butler said today.

“We are fed-up with this Government for abandoning aged care workers and residents and we’re angry that Mr Morrison has let this all happen. Every day that Mr Morrison fails to act on safe, minimum staffing ratios, fails to deliver a decent, permanent pay rise for underpaid workers and fails to show our aged care workers and residents dignity and respect, is another day that elderly Australians in nursing homes continue to suffer.”

Aged care nurses call out Morrison on empty promises

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Burnt out and dejected, a group of registered nurses, enrolled nurses and assistants in nursing from residential aged care sites across NSW are travelling to Canberra, desperate to have their voices heard when federal parliament resumes tomorrow.

Armed with first-hand accounts of chronic workforce shortages, poor access to booster vaccines, and ongoing battles over supplies of personal protective equipment and rapid antigen tests, the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) members will highlight stark realities of working in aged care under the Morrison government.

NSWNMA Assistant General Secretary, Shaye Candish, said the situation was beyond shocking and the aged care nurses she travelled with would deliver home truths to every parliamentarian they encountered.

“Last Friday while the Prime Minister was shampooing an apprentice’s hair for the cameras, more aged care residents tragically lost their lives because of the horrible crisis the sector is in,” said Ms Candish.

“This government is accountable for the deaths of 1,500* aged care residents since the pandemic began. Sadly, 533 of these COVID-19 related deaths have occurred this year alone.

“Our aged care members across NSW are at breaking point. There’s simply still not enough staff to provide basic care.

“We’ve had reports of an aged care nurse working 16 shifts in a row. The expectation that a nurse can work 16 back-to-back shifts is disgraceful and unsafe.

“Aged care nurses cannot continue to carry the burden that’s being placed on them. Many have described the physical and mental exhaustion they’re battling each shift, not to mention the multiple shifts they’re working because of the chronic understaffing.

“Members tell us the government’s quick-fix privately sourced workforce has been remarkably absent, with reports of limited availability, the wrong qualifications, or not even showing up.

“It’s been more empty promises, more wasted money and a proper waste of time by this government, leaving aged care workers fatigued and fed up.

“The Prime Minister would have us all believe his government is doing everything it can to ‘fix’ aged care but is this really the best they can do?” Ms Candish questioned.

Patients, nurses and midwives deserve better 

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The first responsibility of any government is to protect its citizens from harm. By this measure, the federal and NSW governments have failed badly.

At every moment in the COVID crisis the federal and NSW governments have been behind the game and slow to listen to and act upon health advice.

The vaccine “strollout”’ and the rolling calamities in aged care were particularly inexcusable.

But with the arrival of the Omicron variant, things have gone from bad to worse, with both governments abandoning the health advice that successfully underpinned Australia’s pandemic response for the first 18 months.

Independent experts have been brutal in their assessment of the federal and NSW governments’ response to Omicron.

The respected multidisciplinary group OzSAGE has described their strategy as a “shambolic mess … that will condemn many people to death”, especially among the vulnerable.

“The only example Australia is providing to the world now is a warning about what not to do with the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dr Kerryn Phelps, a former president of the AMA and an OzSAGE member.

In aged care the federal govern-ment’s hands-off approach has had “heartbreaking consequences”, say experts.

Even Scott Morrison’s and Dominic Perrotet’s economic arguments for “letting it rip” have been skewered by experts.

“Letting people that are at high risk of having or spreading the infection return to work quickly helps the labour supply this week, and harms the labour supply in the coming weeks when it spreads. This is the definition of short-termism (and) we now have a COVID-induced labour supply problem,” said Richard Deniss, chief economist at the Australia Institute.

Nurses speak out

Many nurses have shown remarkable courage to speak out about what is happening in our public hospitals and our aged care system.

Since the start of the year, at least 40 members have spoken to the media. This has led to hundreds and hundreds of stories on radio, online, TV and in newspapers making sure all our communities know what nurses are going through right now and the impact that has on patient care.

I know the situation in hospitals and aged care facilities is incredibly tough and I’ve heard from members how exhausted, frustrated and angry they are feeling.

Nurses are absolutely right to be furious with the NSW and federal governments. Their actions and inactions have led us to this crisis. Their persistence in saying the system is coping reveals a complete disregard for the truth.

It is outrageous that NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet continues to spin the lie that our public healthcare system is ‘strong’. He repeats this lie while you are exhausted, working excessive overtime and are short-staffed. Patient care is suffering.

It is unforgivable that aged care nurses are struggling to have access to appropriate PPE with many not even fit tested. It is outrageous that the Morrison government asks people to rely on RATs, knowing ordinary working families can’t get access to them. It is diabolical that RATs are not available in nursing homes while many aged care residents still await their booster.

We need to challenge the dishonest government narrative that our hospitals are “coping”. It is only nurses’ commitment and goodwill holding our public health and aged care systems together and it will be our collective actions that can bring change.

I encourage all of you to get active, speak out and share your stories and experiences.

The public needs to know the truth about the dire state of our health system and the threat this poses to our patients.

 

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