A win-win, for providers and workers

Both Australia and Indonesia are facing a crisis in their aged care sectors. However, they are diametrically opposed.

“It’s no secret that Indonesia has quite a significant oversupply of nurses and care workers and Australia is grappling with very much the opposite,” Benjamin Gilmore, chief executive officer of University of New England Partnerships, told Australian Ageing Agenda.

Indeed, Indonesia’s aged care sector has a surplus of over 500,000 care workers, resulting in Indonesians having to migrate to other countries desperately in need of care workers due to ageing populations – such as Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore.

Australia’s aged care workforce shortage is equally as acute. Currently facing an estimated deficit of around 110,000 direct aged care workers by 2030, that number is projected to blow out to more than 400,000 workers by 2050 unless steps are taken. 

Through Katalis – a bilateral Australia-Indonesia business development scheme funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade – UNE Partnerships is taking such steps with its involvement in a pilot training program designed to solve the dilemmas of both countries. 

As Gilmore explained, on one the hand: “The program aims to ease the critical workforce shortage that has adversely impacted our health and community care sectors for many years and provide elderly Australians with improved quality of life and quality of care.”

And on the other: “It’s trying to find really compassionate Indonesian carers who have already dedicated their lives and their careers to working in the care sector with employment opportunities in Australia.”

Also on board with the program are Living Well Senior Communities – an internationally operated aged care provider in Indonesia – and Binawan University in Jakarta, from which 20 of its final-year nursing students have been selected to participate in the pilot.

The six-month program – which began early February – is run remotely by UNE Partnerships in Australia. Comprising of a series of modules – some academic others practical – “many of which these Indonesian nurses will be quite proficient in,” said Gilmore – the program aims to introduce students to the standards the Australian aged care sector requires.

“It’s about helping them understand how things are done here,” said Gilmore. “It’s about bridging the gap between the Indonesian care sector and the Australian care sector.”

Take something like lifting an aged care resident from a bed, for an example. “When an Indonesian nurse needs to lift a patient, they might just find four or five care workers and they’ll all lift together. Whereas in Australia you’d use lifting machines and lifting belts because that’s the way we do things,” said Gilmore.

The program also features 120 hours of work placement at a Living Well Senior Communities aged care home. “In many cases they will spend a day a week working as a carer,” Gilmore told AAA.  

And, while the home is based in Jakarta, “it is an aged care facility that runs more aligned with Australian policies and procedures”, he said.

Once the students have completed the program, UNE will present them with a Certificate III in Individual Support (Ageing), qualifying them to work in the Australian aged care industry.

And since the federal government introduced the Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement in 2023, providers can sponsor participants for the Temporary Skill Shortage (subclass 482) visa. Applications will then be fast-tracked by the Department of Home Affairs.

“We hope they will be well-positioned to apply for the visa,” Gilmore said. “We’d love to see this pilot group provided with the opportunity to live and work in Australia.” Ideally, he added, in a small regional community crying out for care workers.

Once the Australia-Indonesia pilot has demonstrated the model is viable, the plan, says Gilmore, is for either Indonesian students to self-fund their place on the program or for Australian providers to subsidise them.  

He told AAA: “Our expectation is, as the program progresses, we’ll identify three or four host employers in Australia – providers who might start to consider this as a potential part of their recruitment mix.”

And why wouldn’t they? After all, it’s a win-win.

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