White supremacists said to hail from southern Queensland took a trip across the border into the Northern Rivers region in order to display their ignorance & racism to the world

 

ABC News, 5 November 2024:

The white supremacist group said they had travelled from Queensland to the mountain. (Supplied)

Police are investigating after a group of white supremacists posted on social media that they had staged a rally at a sacred Indigenous site in northern New South Wales.

Warning: This story may be offensive to some readers.

More than a dozen members of the balaclava-wearing group posted images on social media platform X on October 31, which they suggested were taken on a weekend at Wollumbin Mountain, formerly known as Mount Warning.

The site, which includes a summit track, is regarded as sacred to the Aboriginal community and remains closed to the public.

The group carried a flag consistent with the neo-Nazi National Socialist Network and held a banner which read, "Mt Warning for the White Man".

The men erected a sign with white supremacist messaging up at Wollumbin Mountain. (Supplied)

"Members of the National Socialist Network in Queensland travelled to climb Mount Warning last weekend," the post on X, formerly known as Twitter, said.

"White Australians established and maintained the trail for nearly a century and White Australians will decide who climbs it.

"Mt Warning for the White man!"

'Vile demonstration not welcome'

NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe described the actions as "vile" and "utterly disgusting", with National Parks referring the matter to police.

"I condemn those involved," the minister said in a statement.

"It is not acceptable anywhere in NSW, whether it be a sacred Indigenous site or on our city streets.

"To these far-right extremists and neo-Nazis, who are reportedly from Queensland, you and your vile demonstration are not welcome in NSW.

"Any attempts to spread hate are taken extremely seriously. I ask anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers," she said....

On the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service website, Wollumbin is described as "highly significant to Aboriginal people, particularly the Bundjalung nation, as a place of sacred ceremonies linked to traditional law and custom".

"Wollumbin (Mount Warning) summit track and Aboriginal Place remains closed. Decisions about the future of the summit track will be made by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service in accordance with the wishes of the Aboriginal custodians," it said.

This is not the first time this year that people have deliberately chosen to give offence and inflict hurt on the Aboriginal custodians of this sacred mountain.

In August 2024, former Young Liberal and 27 year member of the Liberal Party of Australia before being elected to the NSW Legislative Assembly as a member of the Libertarian Party, John Riddick and his Libertarian mate Marc Hendrickx, in an ignorant act of defiance and self-promotion climbed Wollumbin.

IMAGE: The Daily Mail, 3 August 2024

Things are crook in Tallarook and Muswellbrook, the mood is down in Brisbane town, while everything's wrong in Woolongong and Woodenbong - in fact spirits seem to be low in many households all around Australia

 

The reason for this gloom? Well if household spending is any indicator, it is likely to be because cost-of-living pressures have been grinding people down for what seems like a long and tiresome 29 months.

The Reserve Bank cash rate target/interest rate may have stopped climbing at 4.35% and stayed there for the last 12 months but it's not showing signs of coming down anytime soon.

Households around the country are still having to tighten their belts in order to make pennies stretch as far as possible in the face of persistently high prices for goods and services.

Click on image to enlarge

Australian Bureau of Statistics, Monthly Household Spending Indicator: Experimental estimates of household spending, Reference period September 2024, Released 1/11/2024

In 2024 from 1 January to 30 September national household spending fell from 4.2% to 1.3% as most people focused on covering the essentials – food, medicines & other health costs, transport costs including petrol & car repairs, mortgage payments, rent, schools fees etc.

While household discretionary spending fell from 3.6% in January to 0.8% in September, as many chose to avoid clothing/footwear purchases and spent less on such thing as recreational activities & eating out.

Click on image to enlarge

Australian Bureau of Statistics, National household spending, March to September quarterly graph, September 2024

The national barometer for the level of tension in household spending choices is possible marked most clearly when it comes to the purchase of alcohol and tobacco.

National fall in spending on alcoholic beverages and tobacco – January to September 2024

NSW   -12.3%

Vic      -13.3%

Qld     -8.8%

SA      -11.9%

WA     -2.9%

Tas     -11.1%

NT      -5.7%

ACT    -6.7%.

Commonwealth Government "COVID-19 Response Inquiry Report" released on Tuesday, 29 October 2024.

Then Australian prime minister & Liberal MP for Cook Scott John Morrison, his ministers and the 'National Cabinet' he created at the start of the SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 global pandemic fared reasonably well in the Commonwealth Government "COVID-19 Response Inquiry Report" released on Tuesday, 29 October 2024.

That is, fared reasonably well in comparison to other countries. The general public and other interested parties appear to have expressed other opinions to the Inquiry and the inquiry report itself is not without pointed criticisms.

"The fear in the community, and wider impacts on children and young people, could have been mitigated through more proportionate decisions based on a balanced approach that used evidence on the risk of viral spread in school settings and the effectiveness of in-school measures. Earlier communication and greater transparency around decisions, and improved engagement with experts and advocates to feed into government decision-making, would also have minimised the long-term harm caused by the suspension of face-to-face learning.

There was a strong sense that people with disability were not a priority, despite many being at a higher risk from COVID-19 infection and pandemic-associated disruptions to their usual supports. Poor planning, inadequate communications and a lack of transparency around prioritisation decisions in the vaccine rollout exacerbated a sense of being forgotten by government......

The initial strengthening of trust in government did not continue for the duration of the pandemic response. By the second year, restrictions on personal freedoms were less accepted across Australia as outbreaks tended to be short lived and infection rates remained low. The decrease in levels of trust reflects the complexity of the relationship between trust and engagement – trust is vital to ensuring adherence to life-saving restrictions, but those same restrictions could risk increasing distrust the more effective they are and the longer they are in place.

The Inquiry heard that there were many reasons for the decrease in trust. These varied within and across jurisdictions, but common drivers included concerns about the lack of transparency in and supporting evidence for decision-making, poor communication, the stringency and duration of restrictions, the implementation of mandated measures, access to vaccines and inconsistencies in state and territory responses.

During the pandemic, the advice underpinning the imposition or extension of control measures and the evidence that the measures were working or set at the right level were rarely made public. This fed the perception that the government did not trust the public to understand or interpret the information correctly and contributed to the decrease in trust....."

["Commonwealth COVID-19 Response Inquiry Summary", 29 Oct 2024, pp. 16, 39]

Office of Prime Minister & Cabinet, 29 October 2024:

On 21 September 2023, the Prime Minister the Hon Anthony Albanese MP announced an independent inquiry into Australia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The inquiry reviewed the Commonwealth Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic to identify lessons learned to improve Australia’s preparedness for future pandemics.

The report includes nine guiding recommendations that are aligned with nine pillars of a successful pandemic response. The report identifies 19 immediate actions for the next 12-18 months, and a further seven medium-term actions prior to the next national health emergency.

Commonwealth Government "COVID-19 Response Inquiry Report" (full report DOCX 11.03 MB) at

https://www.pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/resource/download/covid-19-response-inquiry-report.docx

"COVID-19 Response Inquiry Summary: Lessons for the Next Crisis", released 29 October 2024 at

https://www.pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/resource/download/covid-response-inquiry-summary.pdf

Conclusion (at page 61)

Almost five years since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, for most Australians there is a collective desire to move on and forget what was an immensely difficult period. There is undoubtedly much to forget, but there is also much to be proud of as a nation.

Our hope is that this Inquiry will ensure that the immense body of work undertaken by individuals, community organisations, businesses, universities and research organisations, and government will be recognised into the future. There is also, importantly, much to learn from our collective experiences.

Our objective in undertaking this Inquiry was to document what worked and what could be done better for a future crisis, and to ensure that the lessons are learned so that we are better prepared for the next pandemic. With individuals and communities less prepared to change their behaviour we will not be able to simply rely on what worked during COVID-19, and must learn the lessons to ensure a future response is effective.

We heard from many individuals across government and in the community about the toll that the pandemic response had taken. People worked beyond normal limits, and many of the public health professionals, frontline community service and health staff, political leaders, health experts and public servants we relied on to get through the pandemic are no longer in their positions. This poses risks to our resilience to face another crisis.

Trust has also been eroded, and many of the measures taken during COVID-19 are unlikely to be accepted by the population again. That means there is a job to be done to rebuild trust, and we must plan a response based on the Australia we are today, not the Australia we were before the pandemic.

The CDC will be an important part of rebuilding that trust and strengthening resilience and preparedness, providing national coordination to gather evidence necessary to undertake risk assessments that can guide the proportionality of public health responses in future crises. However, as we continue to face more complex and concurrent crises in the years ahead, there is a need to build broader resilience in our systems.

We have focused our priority actions on building that resilience now, but it will need to be maintained over time. We cannot predict when the next global health crisis will occur – it may occur at any time – in 12 months, in a decade or beyond our lifetime – but human history tells us that it will occur, and it will once again test us in ways that are hard to imagine. Acting today will ensure in the future we are better prepared, benefiting from our learnings of what worked well and what didn’t during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ms Robyn Kruk AO, Chair

Professor Catherine Bennett

Dr Angela Jackson

"Things we need to do to get ready for the next pandemic" at

https://www.pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/resource/download/easy-read-recs-actions.pdf

A rather hurried Senate Inquiry is currently considering reforms to Australia's privacy laws which may have a chilling effect on news delivery and political debate amongst ordinary citizens

 

On 19 September 2024, the Senate referred the Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 [Provisions] to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee, for inquiry and report by 14 November 2024.

This parliamentary inquiry has a very short timeframe for consideration of legal reform which apparently intends to capture the content found on all digital news and social media platforms, as well as content found on websites and online chat rooms.

Officially the Bill be considered by the Inquiry:

...would enact a first tranche of reforms to the Privacy Act 1988 to implement a number of legislative proposals agreed by the government in its Response to the Privacy Act Review (September 2023). The Bill would also introduce a new statutory tort for serious invasions of privacy and targeted criminal offences to respond to doxxing. [my yellow highlighting]

The definition of "doxxing" according to the Explanatory Memorandum displayed with the draft Bill is "the release of personal data using a carriage service in a manner that would be menacing or harassing".

A clearer description is probably along these lines; "doxxing is the act of publicly providing personally identifiable information about an individual or organization, usually via the Internet and without their consent" [Wikipedia retrieved 23.10.24].

There are concerns being expressed that the Bill as it now stands may invite misconstruction or legal overreach, as well as have a chilling effect on investigative reporting, political discourse and, the implied freedom of opinion and expression that Australian citizens now enjoy under the Australian Constitution and specifically by way of four of the seven core international human rights treaties Australia is a party to.

The Committee received 68 submissions by the 11 October 2024 closing date.

One public hearing was held in Canberra on 22 October, at which representatives from 21 different different Australian government departments/agencies, independent commissions, public broadcasters, industry and consumer groups, charitable organisations, news agencies & multinational social media corporations.

Among those submissions were 4 pages from Google, 17 pages from Meta and a 39 pages from the Law Council of Australia.

The Law Council's submission is recommended reading as it sets out its concerns and recommendations concisely and clearly.

Its submission can be found and downloaded at

https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=ab37ee62-de00-4125-8791-711143f3b13a&subId=768485

STATE OF PLAY AUSTRALIA 2024: the numbers tell us households around the country are wealthier than they were a year ago so why doesn't it feel that way for so many people?

  

According to Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data released 26 September 2024:

> Australian household wealth rose for the seventh consecutive quarter (up 1.5 per cent or $250 billion) in June 2024;

> Total household wealth in that quarter was $16.5 trillion which was 9.3 per cent ($1.4 trillion) higher than a year ago;

> This growth in household wealth was also supported by superannuation assets, which rose moderately by 0.3 per cent ($13.7 billion);

> Households' investment increased by $3.8b to $53.3b, driven by an increase in gross fixed capital formation in June quarter 2024 and non-financial assets owned by households increased by 2.2% ($258.5b), driven by a $216.0b rise in residential land and dwellings; 

>While on the downside household liabilities increased by 1.9% ($58.3b), with a $35.6b rise in housing loans and a $0.5b fall in short term loans.

When it came to cost of living there was some welcome news from the ABS head of “Annual inflation was 2.7 per cent in August, down from 3.5 per cent in July, and is the lowest reading since August 2021.”

ABS All groups monthly CPI indicator, annual movement (%)

ABS Grocery products, annual movement (%)

While the Cost Price Index showed a continued downward trend, petrol along with fruit & veg remained volatile and manufactured foods like tea, coffee, frozen prepared meals & health supplements remained stubbornly resistant to lowered prices. Although while the price of a bag of groceries may fluctuate, rental costs rose 6 per cent in the year to August.

Offsetting this was the ABS announcement in its media release of 25 September 2024 that:

Electricity fell 17.9 per cent in the 12 months to August, which is the largest annual fall since the electricity series started in the early 1980s.

“Commonwealth Government and State Government rebates led to a 14.6 per cent fall in electricity prices in the month of August, which followed a 6.4 per cent fall in July. Excluding the rebates, electricity prices would have risen 0.1 per cent in August and 0.9 per cent in July,” Ms Marquardt said.

ABS Electricity, Australia, monthly and annual movement (%)

Countering the residential electricity rebates has been the rollout of Term of Use Tariffs in Qld, NSW & SA by the retail energy supply industry - involving three different residential tariff rates over each 24 hour cycle for general use electricity in addition to a fixed price tariff for heating water.

ABC News, 1 October 2024

Industry lobby group, the Australian Energy Council has called for a halt to the roll out of Time Of Use and Demand Use residential power tariffs.

 After employing what has to be biggest industry-wide suite of deceptive practices to arbitrarily impose punitive price increases, it seems energy retailers are now in a deep public relations hole.

Faced with the consumer backlash as the reality of 'power bill shock' hits households, energy retailers have tried to distance themselves from the reforms, instead blaming regulators and poles-and-wires companies. In their turn the equally deceptive poles-and-wires companies are pointing the finger of blame at the energy retailers for not directly informing their customers about changes to how residential electricity costs are calculated.

What all those numbers do not say....

The Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research has updated the poverty line for Australia to the March quarter 2024. Inclusive of housing costs, the poverty line [a relative measure of poverty] is $1145.61 per week for a family comprising two adults, one of whom is working, and two dependent children. This is an increase of $4.78 from the poverty line for the previous quarter (Dec 2023).

Based on a 2024 Bank West Curtin Economics Institute assessment of child poverty in Australia it is possible that at least one in six couple with children households would meet that degree of comparative poverty, with another one in twenty living in significant poverty and one in forty in extreme poverty.

An est. 13.4% of the Australian population lived below the poverty line in 2019-2020. There is no indication that the situation has markedly improved in 2024. 

The Independent COVID-17 Response Inquiry Final Report will be given to the Albanese Government by the end of September 2024 - with only about 15 Lower House sitting days left between 1 October and the day the parliamentary year ends - when will the report be tabled?

 

On 21 September 2023, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the Commonwealth Government COVID-19 Response Inquiry which had the stated purpose "to identify lessons learned to improve Australia’s preparedness for future pandemics".

The independent panel members heading this inquiry are Robyn Kruk AO (Chair), Professor Catherine Bennett (Member) and Dr Angela Jackson (Member).

The list of authors of the 2,092 submissions received by COVID-19 Response Inquiry from 6 November to 15 December 2023 and, those who gave permission for publication, can be read at:

https://www.pmc.gov.au/covid-19-response-inquiry/consultation/submissions.

COVID-17 Response Inquiry's published summaries can be found at:

https://www.pmc.gov.au/resources?f%5B0%5D=area_program_initiative%3A46&f%5B1%5D=area_program_initiative%3A75&f%5B2%5D=area_program_initiative%3A90&f%5B3%5D=area_program_initiative%3A683&f%5B4%5D=area_program_initiative%3A703&f%5B5%5D=area_program_initiative%3A707

The Independent Panel will deliver the COVID-17 Response Inquiry Final Report to Government, including recommendations to the Commonwealth Government to improve Australia’s preparedness for future pandemics, by the end of September 2024.

The following excerpt from a media article is the latest journalistic opinion on Inquiry evidence to date, in what has been a rather low profile inquiry.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 27 July 2024:

COVID-19 has left Australians with poorer physical and mental health, helped fuel inflation because of too many government handouts and encouraged people into the black economy, the first wide-ranging inquiry into the pandemic has heard.

Businesses, unions, health experts and the education sector have told the inquiry, due to report in weeks, that Australia needs to prepare for future pandemics to avoid repeating mistakes made across all levels of government that are still being felt in some parts of the nation.

The inquiry, promised by Anthony Albanese ahead of the 2022 federal election, is being headed by former senior public servant Robyn Kruk plus economist Angela Jackson and infectious diseases expert Professor Catherine Bennett.

Established last year, the 12-month inquiry is due to report by September. It has been given a wide remit to look at joint Commonwealth-state actions, although its terms of reference preclude examining unilateral actions taken by states and territories or international programs.

Across a series of roundtables, the inquiry has been told of major shortcomings with elements of the federal and state governments’ responses to COVID-19 and the long-term problems these have caused.

Health experts said border closures had a “significant” impact on healthcare provision, particularly in rural, remote and border communities, arguing health workers should be exempt from such restrictions.

Australia’s average age fell last year while the country experienced a record number of deaths in 2022.

Chronic disease monitoring and cancer screening were disrupted, the sector said, noting a nationally co-ordinated effort was now required to clear the backlog of tests.

“People are currently waiting longer for care than before the pandemic, are often sicker and [are] finding it less affordable,” the sector said.

Experts said the mental health system was in crisis before the pandemic, and COVID-19 had exacerbated problems that had only worsened since.

“Australian communities are experiencing a process of rolling recoveries from one emergency to the next (extreme weather events and the pandemic), with resulting cumulative trauma,” they told the inquiry.

“More emphasis is needed on community resilience and on strengthening the system ahead of the next emergency.”

Calls to tax the super rich increased in 2024 & G20 countries have noticed. Here in Australia, billionaires have increased their wealth by 70.5% since 2020

The world’s richest have truly never been richer and the gap between the rich and the poor in most countries has truly never been wider. In the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world’s ten richest men doubled their collective fortunes – from $700 billion to $1.5 trillion – at the same time that incomes for 99% of humanity fell. [Patriotic Millionaires, January 2023]

Wealth Of Australia’s 50 Richest On Forbes List Rises To $222 Billion [Forbes, 15 February 2024]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Top 1 percent bags over $40 trillion in new wealth during past decade as taxes on the rich reach historic lows

______________________________________

Oxfam Australia Media Release

______________________________________

Thursday 25 July 2024

The richest 1 percent have amassed $42 trillion in new wealth over the past decade, nearly 34 times more than the entire bottom 50 percent of the world’s population, according to new analysis by Oxfam today ahead of the third meeting of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Here in Australia, billionaires have increased their wealth by 70.5% or $120 billion since 2020. Australians are increasingly concerned about this growing inequality and support a wealth tax to address it. This is evidenced by newly released YouGov polling commissioned by Oxfam. The polling shows:

• 76% of Australians are concerned about the growing wealth gap between the ultra-rich and everyday people

• 74% Support a wealth tax of people with wealth of over $50 million

• 63% Support wealth tax proceeds being used to reduce inequality

The average wealth per person in the top 1 percent globally rose by nearly $400,000 in real terms over the last decade compared to just $335 – an equivalent increase of less than nine cents a day – for a person in the bottom half.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Responding to the Rio de Janeiro G20 Ministerial Declaration on International Tax Cooperation published on 26 July 2024, Oxfam International’s Tax Policy Lead Susana Ruiz, said:

"This is serious global progress —for the first time in history, the world’s largest economies have agreed to cooperate to tax the ultra-rich. Finally, the richest people are being told they can't game the tax system or avoid paying their fair share.

"Governments have for too long been complicit in helping the ultra-rich pay little or zero tax. Massive fortunes afford the world’s ultra-rich outsized influence and power, which they wield to shield, stash and supersize their wealth, undercutting democracy and widening inequality.

"Now to the next step: at the G20 Summit in November this year, leaders need to go further than their finance ministers and back concrete coordination: agreeing on a new global standard that taxes the ultra-rich at a rate high enough to close the gap between them and the rest of us.

"Brazil has kickstarted a truly global approach to tax the ultra-rich. But the work is just beginning and international cooperation is crucial.

"We call on G20 leaders to align with the progress being made at the UN and establish a truly democratic process for setting global standards on taxing the ultra-rich. Entrusting this task to the OECD —the club of mostly rich countries— would simply not be good enough."

BACKGROUND

• Earlier this month, close to 20 former heads of state and government of G20 and higher-income countries called on current G20 leaders, including US President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, to support a “new global deal to tax the world’s ultra-rich individuals” in an open letter.

• Oxfam’s research found that the share of national income going to the top 1 percent of earners in G20 countries has increased by 45 percent over the last four decades. During the same period, the top tax rates on their incomes has fallen by roughly a third (from around 60 percent in 1980 to 40 percent in 2022).

• According to the EU Tax Observatory, global billionaires have very low personal effective tax rates, of between 0 percent and 0.5 percent of their wealth.

 

TOP 10 RICHEST AUSTRALIANS

according to Forbes, 14 February 2024

1. Gina Rinehart; US$30.2 billion

2. Andrew Forrest & Family; $21.5 billion

3. Harry Triguboff; $16.2 billion

4. Mike Cannon-Brookes; $13.7 billion

5. Scott Farquhar; $13.5 billion

6. Anthony Pratt; $10.3 billion

7. Cliff Obrecht and Melanie Perkins, $8.8 billion

8. Bianca Rinehart & Siblings, $8.5 billion

9. John, Alan & Bruce Wilson, $6.6 billion

10. Frank Lowy, $6.5 billion

Coalition parties & aged care industry unhappy with federal government proposal to make care providers criminally responsible for abuse and neglect of vulnerable older Australians in their care

 

In 2018 the Morrison Government established the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.

The Royal Commission's Final Report was delivered to the Federal on 1 March 2021. The Summary contained in Volume 1 of the report stated in part;

Over the course of 2019, we heard from many people about substandard care—those who experienced it, family members or loved ones who witnessed it or heard about it, aged care workers, service providers, peak bodies, advocates and experts. We heard about substandard care during hearings and community forums. We also were informed about it in public submissions. Substandard care and abuse pervades the Australian aged care system.

The accounts of substandard care were always sad and confronting. They were no doubt difficult to tell, and very difficult to hear and read. We acknowledge the courage people have shown in sharing their experiences with us. Their contributions have been essential to our inquiry and we are grateful.....

The abuse of older people in residential care is far from uncommon. In 2019–20, residential aged care services reported 5718 allegations of assault under the mandatory reporting requirements of the Aged Care Act. A study conducted by consultancy firm KPMG for the Australian Department of Health estimated that, in the same year, a further 27,000 to 39,000 alleged assaults occurred that were exempt from mandatory reporting because they were resident-on-resident incidents. In our inquiry, we heard of physical and sexual abuse that occurred at the hands of staff members, and of situations in which residential aged care providers did not protect residents from abuse by other residents. This is a disgrace and should be a source of national shame. Older people receiving aged care should be safe and free from abuse at all times......

Commissioner Briggs attached 148 specific recommendations to her final report and it is unclear exactly how many have been acted on to date, apart from the initial response found in the Aged Care and other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response) Act 2021 and the subsequent Albanese Government's Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response) Bill 2022.

So it should come probably come as no surprise that disturbing media reports were still surfacing in 2023.

May 2023 - a NSW police officer deliberately tasered a 92 year-old woman on a walking frame at the nursing home of which she was a resident. She died of her injuries.

July 2023 - an 89 year-old woman was allegedly bashed to death inside a Sydney nursing home room by a fellow dementia patient with his walking frame. She died of her injuries.

Nov 2023 - A woman in her 90s died in hospital after allegedly being sexually assaulted by an intruder in a nursing home on the New South Wales Central Coast.

Dec 2023 - A woman in her 70s was sexually assaulted in her room at an aged care facility on NSW north coast.

By 13 February 2024 The Guardian was reporting:

More than 1,000 cases of neglect are being reported in residential aged care homes each month, prompting a warning from the sector’s regulator.

The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) has flagged “a concerning spike” in neglect cases over the past 12 months and raised concerns about inadequate care standards.

So it was a relief when on 3 April 2024 the Albanese Government announced in a media release that it will:

• Introduce criminal penalties – including jail time - for dodgy aged care providers who seriously and repeatedly facilitate or cover up abuse and neglect of older Australians, and who deliberately breach the general duty of care they owe to their residents.

• Introduce a new duty of care, owed by providers, to recipients of aged care services, including a compensation regime when the duty is breached. This will create a path for class actions against dodgy providers.

• Create a new aged care complaints commissioner, to ensure complaints against providers are properly and thoroughly dealt with.

• Introduce new civil penalties for aged care providers who punish aged care workers, residents and families in retaliation for complaints.

• Give stronger investigative powers to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, including powers to enter and remain in an aged care facility at any time to ensure the safety of residents, as well as full access to documents and records.

• Introduce measures to ensure the 215 minutes of care and nursing that Labor has pledged per resident per day is actually spent on care and clinical support - not on marketing, administration, maintenance or other activities that are not direct care.

• Require providers to publicly report on the expenditure of residents’ and taxpayers’ money – including a breakdown of money spent on caring, nursing, food, maintenance, cleaning, administration, and profits....

These measures implement and build on the Royal Commission recommendation to establish a General Duty of Care for aged care – which will set minimum standards to protect residents and workers....

However, it seems that the Albanese Government's plans to reform the dysfunctional aged care system have met with political headwinds.....

The Saturday Paper, 13 July 2024, "Criminal penalties proposed for aged care bosses", excerpt:

The Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS) – instigated after the royal commission to track and reduce the frequency of major incidents, including unreasonable use of force, neglect, psychological and emotional abuse, unlawful or inappropriate sexual conduct, stealing or financial coercion, inappropriate use of restrictive practices and unexpected death – came into force in April 2021 in residential settings. In December 2022 it was added for home care. This scheme, which asks providers to self-report serious incidents, has shown concerning levels of delusion and dishonesty among providers.

In the most recent SIRS figures, providers self-assessed that of the 2257 incidents of unlawful or inappropriate sexual contact in Australian nursing homes from April 2022 to March 2023, 95 per cent of residents affected had experienced no or only minor psychological impacts. Put another way, providers reported that only 5 per cent of aged-care residents who experienced serious and unlawful sexual contact or conduct have had major psychological impacts afterwards.

In the same report, providers self-assessed that of the 28,890 incidents of unreasonable use of force in the same year, 98 per cent of residents had no or minor psychological impact and 92 per cent had no or only minor physical impact. In the scheme’s first six months of operation, 75 per cent of the nation’s home-care providers had not reported a single serious incident of any kind to the aged-care regulator.

These figures reveal a sector that is still fundamentally in denial about its own performance and the effects of abuse and neglect on older Australians in its care.

Now, as the federal government attempts to muster bipartisan support for its new act, the aged-care lobby is circling its wagons again, this time to fiercely oppose the government’s proposed imposition of a statutory duty of care on aged-care providers and responsible persons that could result in civil and criminal penalties, including potential jail time in especially egregious cases.....

Nonetheless, providers, peak bodies, the Australian Institute for Company Directors and shadow minister for aged care Anne Ruston have all come out swinging at the proposed introduction of criminal penalties. 

They claim the penalties will lead to vast increases in insurances for directors, are unnecessarily punitive and will discourage good people from working in the aged-care sector. This is a bit like arguing we shouldn’t have child-abuse laws or require police checks to work with children as that might stop good people from opening kindergartens.

The extraordinary optics of arguing against criminal penalties – even in cases where there is no reasonable excuse for failures of care that have led to death or serious injury – seems to be lost on providers and the federal opposition.