What will it take for us to confront the aged-care crisis?

I share the concerns of Tim Woodruff (Letters, 1/2), but from the perspective of someone who relies on aged-care services daily. Dr Woodruff is right; staff are overworked and underpaid, and there are severe staff shortages.

On the one hand, it is wonderful to see how these dedicated people turn up day after day, friendly and supportive; I could not do without them. This week the PM had the opportunity to do something meaningful for these people; instead, he squibbed it.

Instead of saying he would support the wage claim currently before the Fair Work Commission, he criticised Labor for saying it would intervene and questioned whether the wage claim could be funded and at what cost.

The government’s two bonuses – a maximum of $400 each – are welcome but not the solution to the staff shortages and poor wages.

Rob MacDiarmid, Mollymook, NSW

I have worked at the front line of the aged-care sector for 10 years. It’s time to stop patronising the elderly who have reached such a decline in their health that they need residential care. Throughout the pandemic, decisions have been made about what is good and not good for them. They have been told they must get vaccinated, they can’t go out, they must stay in their room, and certainly no visitors.

How many of these decision-makers actually consulted a decent number of residents in nursing homes as to whether they wanted to be “kept safe” in these draconian ways?

My personal observation is that locking down nursing homes has made their lives totally miserable, and has significantly accelerated their decline both physically and mentally.

Their treatment has been cruel and inhumane.

C. McKew, Mittagong, NSW

Congratulations, Peta Credlin (“Campaign’s opening salvos prove a fizzle”, 3/2) for telling things as they really are. There is something very odd about politicians congratulating Australians for supporting a policy that has saved lives by stopping people living life.

As an octogenarian I have appreciated the restrictions advocated to keep me “safe” and all the corollaries; however I have not appreciated being “nannied” by so many faceless people.

Most Australians once could decide their own ways of life; this seems to have gone out the window. We are sheep being led by donkeys.

Glenda Ellis, Bardon, Qld

We are daily reading of, hearing of and some of us experiencing the shortfalls in the aged-care sector. Covid has exacerbated already existing problems.

Report after report concluding with the recent royal commission has highlighted both the shortcomings and the systemic failures of the system.

The government has truly dropped the ball. It cannot blame Covid; the issues predate the pandemic. As a so-called civil society, we will be condemned for our treatment of this most vulnerable sector. It is time we demanded of our elected representatives a better deal for aged care.

Graham Reynolds, Soldiers Hill, Vic

Noelle Oke (Letters, 2/2) is spot-on: pettiness, hubris, arrogance. As a journalist, I’ve heard the epithet “absolute psycho” said of Canberra press gallery members over the years, both as a disparaging judgment and in sheer jest.

Despite appreciating the imperative to report many shades of “news”, I am horrified it has taken until now for some emerging media acknowledgment of the aged-care crisis and the failures of Aged Care Services Minister Richard Colbeck.

He must step down now, pending election or not. A token Health Department inquiry is insulting. The PM has conceded he should not have let the department dillydally over the vaccine rollout. A royal commission has already been held; its recommendations need implementing.

Army personnel, medics and others need to be sent in today to free the aged from their locked-up rooms and assist with neglected cleaning, personal care, elementary exercise and nutrition.

For Anthony Albanese belatedly to call for Senator Colbeck’s demise merely proves the Opposition Leader too has been ignorant of these circumstances of national shame.

Susie Boswell, Port Macquarie, NSW