Huge news ! 78 year old aged care advocate , Margaret Walsh, aged care taskforce member and a fellow member of aged care reform now, today released a bombshell in an exclusive ABC news investigation.
Margaret is a supporter of our petition because she knows we are right about the aged care task force recommendations. She knows that if enacted (and providers are trying very hard for this to happen) it is terrible news for older people and the next generation. It’s also NOT what Margaret approved (calling into doubt if others on taskforce weren’t consulted either).
The same article also confirms aged care advocates voices speaking out are being quashed , the taskforce recommendations as we say in our petition ARE a super and inheritance tax . The article also conclusively demolishes the lie that older people are wealthy enough to afford user pays aged care. The article also shows that the aged care act the recommendations will change doesn’t protect older people’s human rights at all. In fact abusers of older people cannot be even tried before a court!
Please don’t let this open abuse of older people happen!
Please don’t let greedy rich media government controlling aged care providers steal our hard earned super, and our kids’ house deposits.
Show rich aged care providers they can’t fool the public by splashing money to media and lobbyists to get their way at the expense of older people’s human rights.
We CAN stop this but we need your help to get this out in the open with as many as possible signing our petition which we will then lodge at the senate.
https://www.change.org/handsoffoursuper
Thank you on behalf of all the older people and future generations you help signing and sharing.
Alwyn Blayse Founder of campaign to #saveoursuper, physiotherapist , independent aged care advocate and member of aged care reform now www.agedcarereformnow.com.au
ABC article excepts below in italics (my comments non italics). Full article should be read for context https://amp.abc.net.au/article/103672736
Speaking for the first time to the ABC, she says the consumer voice was "quashed", with the final report being released with changes that she didn't approve.
She is concerned about how much extra people will be asked to contribute.
She said the vast majority of 85-year-olds have super balances of less than $50,000.
"Many of us have scrimped and saved over the years, we haven't taken overseas trips," she said.
"We don’t want a user-pays system creating two tiers and yet still not have an aged care system, where the minimum level of care is not certain and even basic services might need to be paid for."
Note what Margaret says about super balances. She knows which means the taskforce she was on knew as well. Older people aren’t “increasingly wealthy” as the report said , and the authors still published this , and aged care provider lobbyists dominated the airwaves to reinforce the talking points.
And note this too , that the aged care act our petition calls for to be based on human rights doesn’t respect human rights at all. In fact and it’s worth emphasising as many seem unaware of this. The draft aged care act that will go before parliament is NOT legally enforceable if it’s breached!
Steven Duckett from the Grattan institute and a well renowned policy expert says
“there's a kicker in the final paragraph of that subsection: "Nothing in this (act)... creates rights or duties that are enforceable by proceedings in a court or tribunal".
In other words, if any of those rights are breached, there's still no redress for the elderly and their families. “
Don’t let greedy rich aged care industry ceos and lobbyists win and steal our super and kids inheritances!
Sign and share our senate petition here and #saveoursuper !
https://www.change.org/handsoffoursuper
** Note - this post has been updated with Margarets correct age now of 78, not 85 as originally published. Our apologies to Margaret for the error, and our thanks to her for her advocacy and bravery standing up to the very taskforce she was on, and Aged Care Minister who chaired it. ***