Childcare matters, but so do our elders

Both major parties should take inspiration from Medicare and the NDIS and make aged care a priority.

Labor could be making a mistake if it were to focus on childcare at the expense of the aged care sector.

With flooding along Australia’s east coast and the war in Ukraine, there isn’t much room for anything else in the news cycle right now.

But that surely will change as the election draws closer. Labor wants to target Scott Morrison, convinced his personal brand has been damaged. It also believes the challenges of the pandemic have exposed a conga line of stuff-ups that will lead Australians to shift their votes after nine years of Coalition government.

For its part the government believes the uncertain times we are living through can be used to lock in voters with the incumbent. The budget will focus attention on the economy, and if national security persists as an issue Coalition strategists won’t mind that.

But what about aged care? The royal commission report released a year ago presented worrying details about a sector under strain. It should worry all of us.

Labor has been on the ball when it comes to pointing out failures in need of fixing, but it has been less clear about what it would do to repair the system if it wins office. Presumably those details will manifest on the campaign trail, but perhaps not. Bill Shorten lost the 2019 election presenting as a big policy target, and Anthony Albanese shows signs of having learnt the wrong lessons from Shorten’s failure – at least on aged care.

As the government seeks to shift the focus to the economy, a traditional strong suit for the Coalition, Labor may baulk at putting forward a big-spending alternative agenda to repair aged care. That would be a mistake, with new research showing just how important the policy area is for voters.

Independent polling agency the RedBridge Group conducted research in three typically swinging electorates (Corangamite, Lindsay and Banks), canvassing 1500 voters for their views on the aged-care crisis. Labor has high hopes of winning the western Sydney marginal seat of Lindsay and the Liberals are eyeing the Victorian seat of Corangamite as a potential gain to help offset losses elsewhere. What voters in these seats think matters in determining who forms the next government.

The findings from the polling given to The Weekend Australian suggest Australians are fed up with the poor state of aged care. Four out of five voters believe the federal government hasn’t adequately funded the sector. While there has been a significant injection of money since the pandemic hit, more needs to be spent or the government needs to raise awareness about what it is already doing. Either way, we know more cash is a good start but it isn’t enough. How it is spent is also important, and what reforms are conditioned on the new money is too.

For example, the pay and conditions of employees within the sector need to be looked at. A recent survey of those who work in aged care conducted by the unions found 21 per cent of employees planned to quit within the next 12 months. Staffing is already a critical vulnerability; with rising demand for services, any further shortfall in aged-care centre personnel puts lives at risk.

The mix of public and private money used in aged-care homes is in need of attention too. Some facilities are excellent, but the quality of what is on offer is directly tied to an individual’s capacity to pay. With both sides of government unwilling to tax the family home, finding necessary sustainable long-term funding won’t happen without wider tax reform.

If Labor does win the next election it needs to move quickly to establish a post-election tax summit along the lines of what Bob Hawke and Paul Keating did after their 1983 victory.

The RedBridge research also revealed less than a third of those polled (28.6 per cent) thought the sector was safe, which is a surprisingly high percentage given the findings of the royal commission. It detailed incidences of malnutrition, palliative care neglect and inadequate supervision. And all these findings were before the onset of the pandemic.

Since then a bad situation has only worsened. And those same findings, which included a raft of recommendations yet to be enacted, haven’t been taken seriously by the Coalition, according to the research. Only 18.8 per cent of voters believe the government’s response is adequate.

No wonder. Aged Care Services Minister Richard Colbeck struggles to explain himself when fronting Senate estimates, and while he was shifted sideways so Health Minister Greg Hunt could take over aged care, the Prime Minister refuses to sack Colbeck. Hunt is retiring at the election and no replacement has been named for the portfolios he holds. We therefore have no idea what the government’s plans are for the sector, if indeed it has any, if it wins a fourth term in office.

For politicians trying to win votes, perhaps the most telling data point is that 50 per cent of people polled by RedBridge are willing to change their vote based on what each major party throws up as their aged-care policy during the campaign.

Let’s hope the backroom boys and girls in both major parties’ headquarters are workshopping what to announce as their policy during the election.

Opposition aged-care services spokeswoman Clare O’Neil says: “This might be the first aged-care election we have had. I reckon the jury’s in on the last nine years of neglect. If Australians want a better system, they need a different government.” For that to be entirely true, Labor will need to put its money where its mouth is and elevate its aged-care agenda to the top of the policy pile.

I have heard that Labor is looking at a marque policy for the campaign on childcare – making it free for all, within targeted income bands. While there is certainly a need for improvements in childcare policy settings, to focus on one end of the age spectrum and not the other could be a mistake.

The baby boomers are hitting retirement age and they are not inclined to accept the poor conditions and standards the generation before them did. The demographic bubble among this voting cohort makes them electorally powerful. We have seen that at consecutive elections before now.

Labor was bold in righting the wrongs in disability services. The National Disability Insurance Scheme, while imperfect, has helped immeasurably. The same was true when universal healthcare was adopted by Gough Whitlam a half-century ago, before the Hawke government introduced Medicare to make Whitlam’s altruism sustainable. For the social policy triumvirate to be complete, it’s time aged care is prioritised by both major parties.

Peter van Onselen is a professor of politics and public policy at the University of Western Australia and Griffith University.