The Federal Government, with the support of One Nation, has blocked an Aged Care Legislation Amendment (New Commissioner Functions) Bill 2019 – which was seeking transparency and accountability for the billions of dollars in taxpayer-funding received by nursing home operators. Once again, the Government, this time with the support of One Nation, has failed to commit to genuine improvements in aged care and for older Australians, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) said today.
The Amendment, introduced into the Parliament by Senator for South Australia, Stirling Griff, would have made aged care operators reveal their income sources and disclose how much of it they spend on direct resident care, including costs of staffing and training, medical products and continence aids. The information would be provided to the new Quality and Safety Commissioner, who would make it publicly available.
ANMF Federal Secretary Annie Butler commended Senator Griff for proposing this important Amendment and thanked the ALP, Greens and Centre Alliance for supporting moves to bring much-needed transparency into aged care funding.
"Privately-operated aged care providers receive between 70-80% of their funding from the Australian taxpayer, but with no current laws in place, they aren't obliged to disclose how this money is spent and whether in fact, it's being used for the care of elderly residents. Providers are currently free to spend public funds however they choose," Ms Butler said.
"Last year's ANMF commissioned Tax Justice Network Report Tax Avoidance by For-Profit Aged Care Companies: Profit Shifting on Public Funds examined tax avoidance in aged care sector, showing how Australia's top six aged care providers, some with foreign ownership, posted enormous profits whilst taking advantage of AUD $2.17 billion in Australian taxpayer funded subsidies, using various loopholes, corporate structures and discretionary trusts to avoid paying their fair share of tax.
"Over the years, Governments have injected additional funding into the aged care sector, some of which was designed to improve wages for nurses and care-workers but with no guarantees attached or requirements to demonstrate its use, it has failed to make a difference to the wages of aged care staff. Consequently, we've seen no improvements to the aged care workforce. In fact, we've seen the opposite, their capacity to provide quality care has been further diminished.
"This Amendment to the Bill would have at long last required providers to be transparent and accountable for the public funds they receive and reveal how much they direct to actual care provision. Until we have this in place we will not be able to make genuine assessments about what further funding is needed for the sector. It is extremely disappointing that the Government and One Nation have rejected this great start towards improving transparency and accountability in the aged care sector.
"The ANMF will continue to work hard with those politicians, Centre Alliance, the ALP and Greens, who are genuinely committed to improving care for older Australians in the New Year. "
The ANMF, with 275,500 members, is the industrial and professional voice for nurses, midwives and assistants in nursing in Australia.
