Minister determined to see legislation pass this year
The journey so far has been a “very long one” the Minister for Aged Care has told an industry event this week.
There have been “incredible” feats achieved in one year alone, as well as skeptics along the way, said Minister for Aged Care Anika Wells. But their “work is not done yet”, she added during her keynote at the Aged & Community Care Providers Association national conference in Adelaide – Kaurna Country – on Wednesday.
During her speech in the main hall of the Adelaide Convention Centre, Ms Wells told over 2,000 delegates the last two-and-a-half years had been focused on navigating the aged care crisis and delivering the most urgent recommendations.
“It’s no secret that negotiations took longer, and they went right up to the 11th hour, but it was worth it to finish with a more secure future for the sector,” said Ms Wells referring to the deal to reach bipartisan agreement on the new Aged Care Act.
Ms Wells said she and the government were pushing as hard as possible for the legislation to be voted on and passed in Parliament this year.
In a subsequent Q&A with conference MC Tony Jones, he asked Ms Wells how likely that was. “We really have to get this done before the end of this year,” she reiterated and added her resolve to make it happen.
“We haven’t come this far just to come this far,” Ms Wells told delegates. “If there are amendments in the Senate, which I anticipate there will be, it will come back to the house for the final vote. As I said when we were going through the long process of both taskforce deliberations and then negotiation, I will drive on this hill. You can trust that this is what I have come to Parliament to do.
“We have come this far, and I am determined that we will get it done before Christmas.”
Ms Wells agreed the passage of legislation was “critical” to the sector’s financial sustainability. She promised to “herd the cats of the federal parliament” to get it done.
“We very carefully examined the investability gap and what it looked like for people to be sustainable and investable in years to come… What I hope that you in this room consider out of today is the certainty that hopefully we can give you this year.”
Ms Wells urged people in the room, and all aged care boards and leaders to consider what they wanted to do and how it wanted the sector to be seen in the decades to come.
“Do you want to be like HammondCare, who specialises in dementia? Or Ryman, who does the campus living style and combines retirement living? Are you going to be a specialist in home care? Or like Jason at respect, who’s so brilliant at lifting nursing homes out of distress. I hope this gives you some excitement about the possibilities ahead and being able to plan for that whilst … I will herd the cats at the federal parliament.”
Ms Wells said the fact that we have been able to land a bipartisan agreement with the opposition, signals that – “this is something that they will support.”
“I do genuinely believe that this is too important not to do, and so we in aged care will be one of the very few areas of bipartisan agreement left.”
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