Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk last week formally set up a 12-month inquiry which will look into the issues around aged care, end-of-life and palliative care in the state, as well as the community and doctors’ views on voluntary assisted dying.
Announcing the inquiry in September, Ms Palaszczuk said she wanted to bring the same national attention as she has brought to domestic violence and cyber-bullying,
“It’s now time to show courage and leadership to confront an issue that has been avoided for too long,” she said.
“Too many families are troubled by its cost and complexity of aged care in Queensland.”
A waste of money?
But many have questioned the need to spend taxpayers’ money on an inquiry, given the Federal Government’s upcoming Royal Commission into the Quality and Safety of Aged Care, with some Queenslanders accused the Premier of chasing votes on her Facebook page.
While we welcome the scrutiny into palliative care and assisted dying, like the commenters we do query if we really need another aged care inquiry.
The Royal Commission will have a wide range of powers to investigate the sector including the extent of substandard care, delivering services to people with dementia and ensuring residents receive safe and high-quality care.
The terms of reference for the Queensland inquiry require the Government to “proactively work” with the Commission, but it seems likely that they will cover much of the same ground.
The Queensland announcement also comes on the back of a raft of inquiries into aged care on both a state and federal level including several high-profile reports by David Tune, Kate Carnell and Professor Ron Paterson.
These have all made similar recommendations including reviewing the way aged care is funded in Australia to ensure it is adequate – and how we can pay more to support the system.
Recommendations waiting to be implemented
Surely the focus should be on implementing these changes, rather than investing more money in another inquiry that will result in the same recommendations?
As one of the Facebook comments summed up: “Don’t just talk about it, fix it! These issues have been around for a number of years and all you hear is talk and no action.”
There is some good news.
While the Commission won’t report fully until 2020, the Federal Government has committed to making reforms while it is underway.
Just last week, they put $3 million towards a new Elder Abuse Prevention and Support Framework and digital aged care staff training system to protect older Australians.
We hope the Government continues to do more now to guarantee a better system for our mums and dads – and ourselves. It’s worth getting it right – for all of us.
