17 February 2022
The battle for the federal electorate of Boothby will be the scene for a virtual Town Hall ‘meeting’ next week featuring aged care advocates and four key political candidates for the State’s only marginal seat.
In fact, Boothby could very well decide the outcome of the federal election and as such the future of a decimated aged care sector.
Three of the four candidates have already signed the ANMF (SA Branch) Fix Aged Care pledge: the ALP’s Louise Miller-Frost, Independent Jo Dyer and the latest, Greens’ candidate Jeremy Carter pictured above.
The Liberals’ Dr Rachel Swift has not responded to our requests to sign up, but then again not one member of the Liberal Party has agreed to sign our Fix Aged Care pledge. However the upcoming forum gives her another opportunity to do so.
The pledge seeks a commitment to 4 key areas of reform:
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RNs on site 24/7; and
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mandated staffing ratios and skills mix;
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greater transparency of funding tied to care; and
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improved wages and conditions for some of the lowest paid and most overworked workers in the country.
Federal Labor has committed to the pledge. Labor leader Anthony Albanese has gone on the record, saying “Fixing aged care will be a central priority of an Albanese Labor Government”. He told The Lamp: “We absolutely need minimum staffing ratios in residential aged care so that residents get the care they deserve’’. Please see the article
here.
ANMF (SA Branch) CEO/Secretary Adj Associate Professor Elizabeth Dabars AM said the union was delighted to have Greens candidate Jeremy Carter on board.
“He is a young gun full of energy, intellect and a passion for change; someone with a strong understanding of the needs of aged care,’’ Ms Dabars said.
Mr Carter, who has 20 years’ experience as an engineering director and project manager, said aged care was “absolutely” an issue in his electorate.
“It has been highlighted by COVID and the cracks that were appearing have widened. I guess in Boothby we’ve got an older demographic than some of the other seats and, clearly, we need to do better. Australia’s a wealthy country but you wouldn’t know it if you went into our health and aged care system,’’ he said.
“My mother passed away a couple of years ago, so I got to see firsthand how overworked the people are and how understaffed the facilities are.
“This is a sector that needs way more funding and there’s just no way that it can be acceptable what’s happening at the moment, given how much money is being poured into other sectors that don’t need it.
“As an example, over the next three years the Federal Budget has $27 billion in subsidies for the coal and gas industry. That’s an industry that doesn’t need that money; whereas health, education and aged care would be a much better place for that money to be spent,’’ Mr Carter said.
“A lot of people would think ‘Oh, the Federal Government are doing that because they don’t understand about climate change, or they don’t understand about the needs of health and education’, which is not the case. They fully understand.
“They are making those decisions because of the corporate donations they are getting from the fossil fuel industry.
“That’s just one example. There are developers, there’s the gambling industry, and many other private sector industries that are influencing political decisions through money.
“In the Greens we don’t take corporate donations, which means that we are here for the community and we’re here to look after people and look after the planet.’’
Hosted by Ms Dabars and moderated by media personality Jessica Adamson, the Boothby aged care forum, Fix Aged Care – It’s Now or Never, will shed light on the critical needs of the aged care sector and just what the political candidates and their parties are committed to do to fix it.
Fix Aged Care – It’s Now or Never
When: Wednesday 23 February 2022
Time: 6:30pm - 7:30pm
Where: Online/virtual
Click here to register your attendance