Former boss of horror aged care homes awarded $920,000 contract
The former CEO of Opal Aged Care, who oversaw a maggot-infested home and another residence where 11 people died in a fire, won a top government contract.
National
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A former aged care boss who oversaw homes with maggots and where residents died in a fire was awarded a near-million dollar government contract, the Senate has been told.
The consultancy company owned by ex Opal Aged Care CEO Gary Barnier was awarded two government contracts — worth $920,000 — to examine the finances of aged care homes that were not put to tender.
An estimates committee also heard Mr Barnier was also a member of the government’s Aged Care Financing Authority (ACFA).
“Are you aware that while he led that organisation (Domain Principal Group and later Opal Aged Care) 11 residents died in a fire at a facility in Quakers Hill, a resident of Opal Raymond Terrace Gardens was allegedly found with maggots in her mouth, and Mr Barnier was the subject of numerous bullying allegations?” NSW Senator Kristina Keneally asked.
Department officials said they were aware of media reports about the bullying allegations and “those matters were investigated through appropriate channels” before he was appointed to ACFA.
The investigation did “not show there were material findings against Mr Barnier” the departmental officials said.
Senator Keneally asked whether this was because Mr Barnier resigned as CEO of Opal Aged Care after the media aired the allegations and before an Opal board commission review was finalised.
“He admitted that he told a 94-year-old nursing home resident she had to leave an Opal home in Coffs Harbour if she continued intimidating the facility manager. Two Victorian families told the ABC Mr Barnier bullied them when they raised concerns about the care their patients had received. Another Victorian man said Mr Barnier offered him $10,000 after his blind and diabetic mother died at Opal Lakeside in Victoria,” Senator Keneally told the committee.
A departmental official said: “My understanding is that the matters that you refer to as bullying, were not matters that then ended in any kind of findings against Mr Barnier.”
Another official said: “Mr Barnier has been instrumental in assisting the department to identify the services that we find that we believe are at imminent risk of financial viability issues, and he has assisted the department to develop a mechanism to reach out to those services and provide support to be able to prevent them closing.
“In our view, he has the appropriate skill set and he has demonstrated the appropriate skill set to enable us to do that task.”
Aged care Minister Richard Colbeck told Senate Estimates he supported the awarding of the contract to Mr Bernier’s consultancy company Cooperage Capital.
“I have confidence in Mr Bernier his financial capacity which is the skill set that he has been employed to provide to the department,” he said.
Mr Barnier refutes the allegations against him.
In a statement to News Corp, a spokesperson said that “exhaustive investigations have found no wrongdoing by Mr Barnier.”
It continued, “Mr Barnier is disappointed that witnesses who can attest to the true nature of the events and conversations in relation to these false allegations have not been included in reports.
“Over the past decade, Mr Barnier has devoted his career to improving aged care for residents and their families, and he remains committed to this cause.”
In a statement Opal said the issues raised in the Senate Estimates Committee hearings were historical and had culminated in 2017 and had since been fixed.
An independent review had “ found Opal’s services and practices were generally of a high standard, it also identified some areas that could be improved,” the statement said.
“Since then the major matters within the review have been fixed by subsequent Opal leadership and a number of improvements to Opal’s processes and outcomes delivered,” Opal said.
“These improvements help explain why Opal now has an extraordinarily high 93.02% customer satisfaction rating,” the company said.
Meanwhile, spending on the national medical stockpile was slashed by 39 per cent before COVID struck.
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Originally published as Former boss of horror aged care homes awarded $920,000 contract