As I flagged in my second reading debate contribution, I have some clarification questions on this bill and the inspector-general more broadly and how aged-care services are being regulated. To remind the minister, who may not have been here at the time, I’ve had the very sad news in my area in Central Queensland in recent months of an aged-care home—the Mount Morgan aged-care home—about to close. I’ve had people at that home contact me. They’re understandably very upset at the situation. That aged-care home is apparently shutting because they can’t receive a long-term exemption from the government’s 24/7 registered nurse requirements.
As I outlined in my speech in the second reading debate, there is just no way the town of Mount Morgan is going to get enough registered nurses to maintain 24-hour, seven-day-a-week staffing. It’s a town of 2,500 people. I have written to the minister, but I would just like to ask: is the government considering loosening some of the strict conditions for exemptions? It is now my understanding that the exemptions only last for a year, so that’s not a long-term solution for Mount Morgan. As I say, it doesn’t matter how long it takes; you’re not going to get the four, five or maybe six registered nurses necessary to fill a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week requirement. So what is the government doing to respond to cases like that of Mount Morgan? I believe there are at least 29 other aged-care homes around the country that might be in a similar position.
This is having a real-world impact on people’s lives. Just to give one short example, Marlene Sealey, who has contacted my office, is an 83-year-old woman who visits her husband, who has dementia, six times a week at the moment in Mount Morgan. But, because of this strict decision of the government, her husband will have to move 30 or 40 minutes away to Rockhampton, and of course Mrs Sealey, who has no drivers licence, will not be able to visit him as often in the last few years of his life.
So I just wonder: is the government actually considering these heartfelt individual cases in its rollout of this requirement, and can it give some hope to people like Mrs Sealey that there will be a more liberal interpretation for small country towns like Mount Morgan, which just aren’t going to be able to meet the strict requirement as laid out at the moment?
