Aged care deaths not an indication of failure? Colbeck shirks responsibility in Senate estimates

Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck should be on the chopping block, Senate estimates has heard, thanks to the unfolding crisis in residential aged care as Omicron cases surge. 

But Colbeck will not resign — he’s avoided calling the escalating deaths and issues of understaffing a “crisis”, and has been put on the back foot, lashing out at Labor Senate committee members over death statistics, lack of preparedness, and booster doses. 

It was revealed that since the beginning of COVID, 1358 aged care residents have died from the virus — 691 of those occurred this year.

Labor Senator Murray Watt questioned whether Colbeck was the unnamed minister being sacked, with the Ten Network reporting last night that one minister was about to be let go. 

“[There was] the headline Scott Morrison is getting ready to sack one of his scandal-plagued ministers. After everything we’ve seen in aged care, shouldn’t that be you?” he asked. 

“How can anyone have confidence in you?” 

Instead of addressing the concerns, Colbeck shot back, accusing Labor and the Greens of “political point-scoring” over their line of questioning. He said Labor hasn’t put forward an exact figure to increase the minimum wage for the aged care workforce and refused to say there was a crisis in the system, saying he had been “very careful with his language”. 

“I don’t accept the deaths in the community or deaths in aged care is an indicator [of personal failure],” Colbeck said. 

“We are in the centre of a global pandemic and the completely tragic result of that is that people will catch the virus across all parts of humanity, and tragically some of them will die.”

As revealed earlier this month, 80,000 residents haven’t received booster shots; residents are missing out on food, water, and medical care for wounds; and one-quarter of shifts in aged care facilities aren’t being filled — totalling 140,000 shifts per week.

The government told the Senate estimates 73.4% of eligible aged and disability care residents have received a booster dose. 

In not fronting the aged care COVID-19 inquiry earlier this month, Colbeck said: “Would I have been better off actually trying to deal with the issues and the pandemic or talking to the committee about it? I would rather have been actually dealing with the issues,” he said. 

He had skipped the inquiry to attend a Test cricket match in Tasmania and is on an annual salary of $332,720 a year plus allowances. In September 2020, the Senate passed a no confidence censure motion against Colbeck due to his handling of aged care.

In response to allegations of poor care, Colbeck said that families, instead of going to the media, should put their concerns over the care their loved ones were receiving to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission. 

While he dodged many questions, Colbeck agreed the government had made mistakes around bolstering the workforce at the beginning of the pandemic. He also said the sector’s performance has improved over the pandemic.