-With AAP.
1. The Royal Commission has described Australia’s aged care system as a “cruel lottery”.
Australia’s aged care system faces a complete overhaul, starting with ending “a cruel lottery” where some older people die before ever finding out if they have won access.
The aged care royal commission wants fundamental reform and a redesign of a failing system it labelled “a shocking tale of neglect”, not mere patching up.
Those comprehensive reforms will be outlined in the inquiry’s final report in November next year.
But the commission wants immediate action to cut home care waiting lists, stop the over-use of drugs to sedate residents and end “a national embarrassment” by stopping the flow of younger people with disabilities into aged care.
Last year I initiated the Royal Commission into Aged Care. It was one of my first acts as PM.
Today we have been handed the Interim Report. As warned, it’s shocking, disturbing & heartbreaking.
We must establish a new culture of respect for senior Australians.
— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) October 31, 2019
Top Comments
While action on abuses and shortcomings in aged care is very welcome, this is Morrison very much strumming his base - the elderly, who may be in or on the verge of entering aged care. While Newstart recipients, far less likely to vote for Morrison, languish on starvation rations.
Help both, but increasing Newstart has the added benefit of providing stimulus to our stagnating economy.