Aged care royal commissioners chosen, terms of reference outlined

Justice Joseph McGrath and former public service commissioner Lynelle Briggs will preside over aged care commission.

Minister for Aged Care Ken Wyatt, left, and Prime Minister Scott Morrison announce the commissioners in Sydney. The aged care royal commission will be based in Adelaide, where shocking abuse of residents of the Oakden nursing home first came to light. Picture: Joel Carrett/AAP

Former Western Australian Director of Public Prosecutions and supreme court judge Joseph McGrath, and former Australian Public Service commissioner and Medicare chief Lynelle Briggs will preside over the Morrison government’s royal commission into aged care.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the appointment of the commissioners this afternoon, thanking more than 5100 Australians who have made submissions regarding the terms of reference for the inquiry which was announced last month.

“Both these individuals have had an enormous amount of experience in the Australian public service throughout their careers in their respective fields and I am grateful they have taken up the invitation to undertake this very important task,” Mr Morrison said.

“They will need to determine the full extent of the problems in aged care and to understand how we can meet the challenges and the opportunities of delivering aged care services now and into the future.

“This is very much looking at what has happened, but it is also very much about understanding what needs to be done into the future.”

Mr Morrison said the commission would ensure Australia learnt from the mistakes and problems of the past, with a final report due by April 30 2020, and an interim report no later than October 31 next year.

“The royal commission is in a position to provide an early report if they believe that they are in a position to do so,” Mr Morrison said.

“Our government is committed to giving older Australians care that supports their wellbeing, the dignity they deserve, the choices that they are seeking, the comfort and reassurance

that their families demand when it comes to making the biggest decision often that they had to make about the care of someone they love so deeply.”

Adelaide base

Mr Morrison said the royal commission would be based in Adelaide, but hold hearings around the country as well as hearing evidence in video and other formats.

He said Australia needed to establish a national culture of respect for senior Australians and Australians as they age.

“It is that culture of respect that actually ensures that people are treated with dignity and the care that they deserve,” he said.

Mr Morrison said he, Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt and Health Minister Greg Hunt knew many in the aged care sector worked hard to provide high quality care.

“But we also know that there are too many instances where that has not occurred,” he said.

Mr Hunt said the royal commission was about respecting older Australians.

“As Scott said, ultimately it is about helping to build a national culture of respect for ageing and our senior Australians, and if we can achieve that, then everything else will follow, so in a way, this could be the most important legacy of everything that we do,” Mr Hunt said.

‘There will be some difficult stories’

He said Justice McGrath and Ms Briggs were selected not only because of their history and capabilities, but because they would bring a culture of caring and concern and a frank and fearless approach to the inquiry.

“It now falls to them to hear the stories, to listen to the concerns, to be the custodians of care and concern and future protection for older Australians, and we know that as the Prime Minister has said, there will be some difficult times and some difficult stories, but above all else, this is about a future and laying out a foundation for the years to come.”

Mr Hunt said the commission’s terms of reference were deliberately broad.

“They deal in particular with the quality and safety in relation to any examples of substandard care, how best to deliver care services, how best to deliver for the increasing number of Australians with dementia, the future challenges and opportunities for delivering accessible and affordable high-quality care, what the government and the aged care community can do in relation to ensuring quality, allowing people greater choice and control, best delivering services through innovative care and investment and in particular noting the importance of providing options for young people with disabilities who have been placed in an aged care environment,” Mr Hunt said.

“There is also a broad power for the commissioners to examine any matter that they believe are relevant to their inquiries, so they have an area of focus, but they are not constrained in the areas that they can examine as part of that.

“Ultimately, this commission has come about because of the concerns of the government and the public because of the needs of the present and importance of planning for the future, but if, at the end of the day, it contributes not just to better care, but a stronger national culture, then it will have been an abiding legacy of decades and generations to come.”

Mr Wyatt said the commission had come about because the government had listened.

“We have listened to the families who have been affected and listened to those on the ground who have expressed their concerns,” he said.

“We want a royal commission that is viable and strong into the future, a workforce that is trained to meet the needs of people who live not in residential care but in their homes.

“Our government is committed to building stronger and safer aged care for those choosing to stay at home and those who choose to go into residential aged care.

“It will give all Australian families a high degree of certainty that the quality of care that is provided will give them the assurance that they will live a quality lifestyle that live with the certainty of knowing that the wraparound services that they need to give them a safe sense of living will be provided into the future.”

Mr Morrison said that if the commissioners required more time, it would be granted.