Candidates vying for the seat of Wannon in the federal election share their thoughts on aged care.
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00:00we really need to be listening to local providers and providing better funding
00:11and more nuanced funding for different options we know it's very expensive in
00:15that acute aged care area so finding options for smaller communities so so
00:20people as they age can stay closer to home can stay in home and making sure
00:24that they have a really great and dignified latest period of life so I'll
00:29be listening to locals like Jane who we had recently a real expert in aged care
00:33talking to people like herself and making sure that these people who have paid tax
00:38their entire life are looked after in their twilight years so aged care crisis
00:42meaning workers well we do need more workers out there anyways because we
00:46have an employment problem anyways at the moment so we do need people out there to
00:53look after our aged care and with regards to the aged care crisis I think people
00:59deserve to get up grow old in the place that they want in the place that they
01:03grew up if they want to stay close to family so we need to make that possible
01:07by investing in affordable housing for older people we need supports in place
01:13better training and funding and better wages and conditions for carers so that
01:19there's more incentive incentives for people to provide care and better better
01:26access to care as people get older we know we're an aging population and we need
01:31to prepare for that care needs some care needs some input from the federal
01:37government the aged care population is growing the people that are planning the
01:47future of Australia haven't done a good job to plan for the increase in
01:53population the in my local town of Tarang there is 130 nominated out of a
02:05population of just over 1500 aged care people that's a very high percentage it's
02:14not going to go down soon so we need more qualified nurses or qualified doctors in
02:22the regions to help them and that leads me to another section is the training
02:30that's been offered to nurses doctors coming out of universities with a piece of
02:38paper but no life experience to care for the elderly just where education for this
02:47type of career and profession needs to return to hospitals not in a university classroom well
02:57working with the aged care sector in one and is something that's been a key focus of
03:02mine over a long period of time now obviously we were able to get 14 million dollars for
03:08EGLI they've now got a brand new aged care facility we've been able to help Abalee in
03:14Mortlake and we've also been able to help other aged care providers right round the
03:21electorate of Wannan and that will continue to be a key focus I've been working for
03:26instance with the group in Tarang that are looking at providing independent living
03:31and aged care facilities there and I look forward to working with them and all the
03:36aged care providers right across the electorate we also have to make sure that
03:41aged care is properly funded by government and one of the things that we
03:46did was put extra funding not only into aged care but into making sure that people
03:53got the support that they needed to be able to stay at home longer and that will
03:57continue to be a key focus of a coalition government if we're elected ah very very
04:04good and very pertinent question I've actually read through the Royal
04:08Commission about aged care and so pleased to have now aged care improving with more
04:15staffing people being paid higher wages so that and when it comes to nurses and
04:22health providers and health carers and of course you have that also backed by
04:26Medicare NDIS and so on being there as well in the background but I am very aware of the
04:34aged care sector having had my mother in care before the Labor government and I'm
04:41very very pleased to see the positive changes that have taken place you know my
04:45dad didn't want to go into aged care and it was fairly onerous helping to look
04:51after him in his latter years but in fact it was my pleasure and I think when
04:58families are reinstituted as prosperous entities and not having to be broken up
05:06with dysfunctionality we will get more responsible aged care happening in homes
05:12and the move to provide assistance for home-based living is really important
05:19aged care facilities can be very lonely places and they can be places where people
05:26say are just being put here to die and I think personally my inclination is to say
05:34those that are there need funding and staffing appropriately they need excellent
05:40medical care provided but I I do think that your parents and their well-being is
05:47actually an obligation of the children