BILLS – Inspector-General of Aged Care Bill 2023, Inspector-General of Aged Care (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2023 – In Committee

 Thank you for that. I’ll leave it here. I’ll just make a quick comment. I appreciate that. I would just say, though, that requiring a centre to apply every 12 months for an exemption probably isn’t giving them the sort of long-term certainty they would need to maintain continuity of service, to invest in their infrastructure and to give employees, if nothing else, the certainty of a job in the long term, to keep staff around. I appreciate the attention that has been provided to this, but I would humbly suggest that there may be a need to think of a longer-term exemption for categories like this in smaller towns, keeping in mind that there are probably other ways we can make sure that standards are maintained, that oversight is provided and that we don’t unnecessarily close centres which are otherwise providing high levels of service. To my understanding, the Mount Morgan aged-care home has a high degree of community satisfaction, and there’s no need for these requirements to be imposed on it. Thank you, Minister. I thank the Senate for its time.