Cabinet archives: Kerosene bath reports led to aged-care clean-up action

The Howard government agreed to amend the Aged Care Act in August 2000 following reports of elderly residents at a Melbourne nursing home being bathed in kerosene.

The Howard government agreed to amend the Aged Care Act in August 2000 after the sector ­attracted intense public scrutiny amid reports of residents at a Melbourne nursing home being bathed in kerosene.

Aged-care minister Bronwyn Bishop took a plan to cabinet that suggested changes to the legislation, including powers to notify residents and relatives when a nursing home’s provider status was at risk of being withdrawn.

She also suggested changing the act to ensure nursing home staff would be removed if they had been “convicted of an indictable offence, are of unsound mind or become bankrupt”.

While Ms Bishop spruiked the Howard government’s Aged Care Act 1997 as “the basis for a sound and sustainable aged-care system” and “the most significant change for the industry in its history”, she acknowledged criticisms by the commonwealth ombudsman that the scheme lacked clarity and timeliness.

According to Ms Bishop’s submission, the government’s Aged Care Complaints Resolution Scheme, which provides a “free and accessible external complaints service for care recipients and their families” had received 4000 complaints since its inception in 1997.

She suggested the creation of a new commissioner for complaints role to help “enhance the scheme’s public profile”, declaring Robert Knowles had been appointed to the role with Mr Howard’s blessing. She also flagged there were good reasons for “not returning to nursing ratios”, as it could reduce efficiency.

Another briefing in the cabinet papers raises concerns that despite the doubling of Australians aged over 65 between 1971 and 1991, Gross Domestic Product spending on aged and community care services had increased only slightly from 0.64 per cent in 1990-91 to 0.67 per cent in 1999-2000.

It says the department notes there continue to be public concerns about quality of residential care; 20 years on, the aged-care sector still faces issues with maltreatment and inadequate staff­ing num­bers and is the subject of a royal commission.