Campaigners: Don’t hang up your hats!
Aged care reform campaigners need get no rest, according to the National Aged Care Alliance. The federal government may have announced its aged care reform package but NACA still aims to maintain the pressure.
By Yasmin Noone
The federal government may have given the sector the aged care announcement it has been long waiting for but that by no way means that aged care reform campaigners should hang up their hats.
According to the National Aged Care Alliance (NACA), the sector-wide campaign for aged care reform – Agewell – is still alive and well post-20 April 2012, with Agewell supporters now being encouraged to maintain the pressure on government to correctly implement reform.
When NACA meets next on 28-29 May, it will examine what shape the campaign should take in the near future. But, NACA spokesperson and CEO of COTA Australia, Ian Yates, has stressed that the Agewell campaign is far from over and, although it is celebrating a recent win, its goals are far from being achieved.
“There’s quite a lot of detail [about aged care reform] to still be worked out,” Mr Yates said.
“It’s clear there are number of areas in the package which says, ‘such and such will happen’ or that don’t say how or in what scope [specific reforms] will happen. That’s fine because [part of the package] is a statement of intent.
“The good thing is that this means we will all have an opportunity to be involved in defining exactly what it is.”
He said that it will also be the responsibility of NACA members and Agewell supporters to monitor the government and ensure no “unintended consequences” arise following the implementation of reform.
“We need to pitch in and help the government, in the most constructive way, to implement the package. So we need to go further and maintain the pressure for that.”
Mr Yates compared the Agewell campaign to the ‘Every Australian Counts’ campaign behind the National Disability Insurance Scheme and its continued existence beyond implementation.
“NACA has always said that, even if it got 100 per cent of its blueprint for reform [endorsed by the government], it would need to maintain the pressure on government.
“Agewell supporters are a committed group of people. We need to continue to campaign to maintain the dialogue and discussion [about aged care reform] with government.”
Fellow spokesperson for NACA and CEO of Catholic Health Australia, Martin Laverty, backed the collective’s call to Agewell supporters to keep on keeping on.
“The government says it will establish the Aged Care Reform Implementation Council,” Mr Laverty said.
“But the council has got to have real teeth and not just be a cup of tea committee to make people feel good about on-going discussions.
“The government has got to give this council a mandate for it to make the case for broader change in the months and years ahead. And, to scrutinise the pace at which the government’s decision, announced weeks ago, is implemented.
“In particular, we would expect that this council would be advising government on the implementation of other Productivity Commission recommendations not announced.”
Mr Laverty said Agewell supporters should therefore seek to keep the implementation council, once established, “honest”.
“The council should make sure that the changes implemented result in real reform.”
To sign up to the Agewell campaign or find out more details, click here.
… if there are no workers the great and glorious promises of the government will come to nothing.
No living wage = no staff = no change.
When will they get it?
Having now had a period of time, and the assistance of well respected industry advisors, to digest the reform package and its implications, rather than ‘cherry-pick’ what we like and don’t like about the reforms I think we should reject the reform package in total and call on government and the opposition to return to the bargaining table. This is a once in a decade opportunity. One that has, to date, been missed.