Please help me advocate for my 96-year-old grandmother and her fellow residents who are currently being neglected in aged care. 

My grandmother's aged care home failed on all 8 of the 8 ACQSC care standards in the most recent audit by the aged care regulator, leaving residents at  “immediate and severe risk” of harm and neglect. You can read the ACQSC regulator's report from November here and watch the ABC's 7:30 report here.

Please support my petition to the Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services, Richard Colbeck, and the Federal Member for Grey, Rowan Ramsey, to take action on the crisis in Aged Care now.

We request that Mr Ramsey and Minister Colbeck intervene and provide staff, resources and support to immediately improve the standard of care and to remove the "immediate and severe risk" in this facility and all other failing facilities around Australia. At present, this facility has only been required to hire a contractor "to review the quality systems", provide education to staff and prevented from taking on new residents for 6 months. This is insufficient immediate action to prevent my Nonna, other residents and staff from the "immediate and severe" risk of harm.

Additionally, we demand that the Member for Grey, Mr Ramsey, stand up and advocate for his constituents and all vulnerable older Australians and workers in Aged Care.

We demand that Mr Ramsey:

Formally and publicly write a letter to Minister Colbeck requesting a written guarantee in the case that any aged care provider fails on all 8 criteria again, the Minister would immediately intervene to remove the risk of “immediate and severe” harm to residents and staff.

• We expect this to be done through the appointment of appropriate in-facility management, the supplementation of staff were deficiencies in skill and staffing volumes and the supply and regulation of appropriate training.

Formally and publicly write to Minister Colbeck to demand that he intervene in the current Fair Work dispute and award care staff in the aged care industry the pay rise they are asking for and deserve.

• If Mr Ramsey honestly believes attracting staff into the country is an issue (as stated to me by Mr Ramsey in my phone call with him on 82/2022), we request he takes an additional step by asking for a “regional worker incentive” to be applied to all regional and remote care staff in aged care. If one exists, it's clearly insufficient. We ask him and Minister Colbeck to lobby their party publicly to increase this incentive.

We demand that the Federal Government change the financial reporting requirements of all aged care facilities. At present, the financial reporting obligations of facilities only require facilities to disclose their audited financial records to the ACQSC and the next of kin of the resident.

• When my family requested the financial records from the provider caring for my Nonna, we were asked to sign an NDA which would have prevented us from doing anything, including making a complaint, regarding the financials and profit the provider made in the financial year leading up to their failed audits. We decided not to proceed with signing the NDA or accessing these records due to fear of litigation by the provider. Taxpayers and families deserve transparency. 

We demand that Minister Colback and Mr Ramsey immediately become a part of the solution to the Aged Care Crisis.  

This is not too much to ask. This is what the people of Grey and the people of Australia deserve.