Juliana ADDISON (Wendouree) (16:43): I too am pleased to be able to stand before the house today to speak in support of the Aged Care Restrictive Practices Substitute Decision-maker Bill 2024, which will introduce clear guidelines for who has decision-making power regarding the use of restrictive practices.

This is a very important and necessary bill to safeguard the dignity, the respect and the care of vulnerable Victorians in aged care settings. I note that it was a recommendation of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, which I will talk about further in my contribution today.

I welcome the support of the opposition for this bill. I did think that there would be more opposition speakers given their discussions regarding the government business program in the debate earlier today, but alas I am on my feet and delighted to be contributing at this time in the debate.

I would really like to thank the many, many dedicated, skilled and hardworking staff across our aged care sector, who do such a great job in both our public and private aged care settings. In my electorate of Wendouree we have got Bupa Aged Care in Delacombe, we have got Nazareth House at Lake Wendouree, we have got Calvary Kelaston in Wendouree, we have got Pineview in Black Hill and a number of others in the neighbouring electorate of Eureka but particularly Mercy Place in Ballarat East. The aged care workforce plays such an important role in our community.

I particularly want to acknowledge the many members of our multicultural communities as well who work in aged care. Many of them are the backbone of aged care in Victoria, and I really want to thank them for the roles that they do.

My mum, as many of you know, was a physiotherapist, and she worked predominantly with the youngest members of our community, in disability. But when I was in primary school she also worked at Nazareth House. So whenever there was a day off, guess where I spent it? It was with Mum at Nazareth House. So I spent a lot of time at Nazareth House, both there with Mum and with my grandmother Eileen Dickinson, who spent her final years at Nazareth House. So it is part of Ballarat and part of my electorate that I do have firsthand experience of, as well as that connection with Mum working at Nazzy, as we like to call it.

I wish to thank the Minister for Ageing and her ministerial office as well as the Department of Health for the work that they have completed in bringing this bill to the house. I can see that Kitty is in the house at the moment, who does a great job, as does Harriet, who was just here earlier – another outstanding member of the minister’s office.

I am proud that Victoria has the largest public sector aged care involvement of any state or territory in Australia, with over 171 facilities, 90 per cent of which are in regional and rural Victoria. In my electorate of Wendouree we have many, many public sector aged care beds, and across Ballarat Grampians Health operates 429 beds across 10 residential aged care facilities and more than 600 beds across the Grampians region. So the largest provider of public aged care comes from my health service, Grampians Health, one that I was very proud to be on the board of.

Only Labor governments support these public sector residential aged care services by topping up Commonwealth funding to ensure appropriate access to care and maintenance of Victoria’s nurse-to-resident ratios that we are so proud of.

Our government also funds new and upgraded facilities, including over $500,000 for improvements to Talbot Place in my electorate of Wendouree. I have often visited Talbot Place, and it is really great to see that that investment continues to be put into Talbot Place so that it is a nice place in which to age and be cared for. This is one of several public sector residential aged care services in my electorate, and it is so important that the elderly members of my community have a place to access quality care and a comfortable, supportive and social place to live.

Just while I am talking about Talbot Place, a shout-out to the wonderful members of the Sebastopol and District Lions Club, who recently transformed the outdoor area at Talbot Place with the assistance of Bunnings Delacombe and the Ballarat East Community Men’s Shed. It is fantastic to see local community groups contribute to our aged care residential homes, making them an even better place to live.

Additionally, the public sector residential aged care services, PSRACS, and the community kitchen garden initiative are brightening the lives of aged care residents through grants to construct and improve kitchen gardens at several local services. The grants program was established following recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety concerning community engagement, social isolation and resident wellbeing. It has led to $133,000 in grants for Grampians Health Ballarat Aged Care facilities, including Bill Crawford Lodge, Talbot Place aged care, Steele Haughton at the Queen Elizabeth Centre, James Thomas Court and Jack Lonsdale Lodge in Sebastopol, Hailey House in Ballarat North and the Queen Elizabeth Village Hostel and PS Hobson nursing home in Wendouree.

Since our government was elected it has invested over $700 million in Victoria’s public sector residential aged care. Older Victorians deserve our care and support, and I am proud that our government is investing in exactly that.

The bill which is before us for consideration today comes in the wake of the federal aged care legislative changes regarding the use of restrictive practices. In the aged care setting, restrictive practices are actions which restrict a person’s rights or freedom of movement. They include chemical restraints, which include medications prescribed with the purpose of managing behaviours rather than for management of a specific medical condition. They also include environmental restraints, mechanical restraints and physical restraints. Restrictive practices also include seclusion, which can only be used if all other options for behavioural management, including other restrictive practices, have been exhausted, so it really is to be done only as a matter of last resort.

While all of these practices may be used in other circumstances or for other means, they become restrictive practices when they are specifically intended to modify a person’s practices. As such, they are to be used sparingly and only with great consideration. Restrictive practices must be a last resort, used only when necessary and implemented for as little time and with as little restriction as possible.

Oversight of aged care, including restrictive practices, is the responsibility of the Commonwealth. Changes to federal legislation in 2021 introduced a requirement for aged care providers to seek consent before implementing restrictive practices. This is applicable for the use of restrictive practices in all situations bar unanticipated emergencies, in which case other stringent disclosure and reporting requirements come into play. Who is able to provide or withhold consent on a care recipient’s behalf is determined by the Commonwealth’s temporary hierarchy and includes a succession of family members, carers, friends and others. But this hierarchy is only temporary while each individual state and territory organise their own processes for identifying substitute decision-makers, which is what this bill is all about and why we are debating it today.

This bill will introduce the new Aged Care Restrictive Practices Substitute Decision-maker Act 2024, in addition to amending the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998. Together these will clarify who may provide consent for the use of restrictive practices in Victoria under the Commonwealth Aged Care Act 1997. A bill overview in the last 30 seconds: a restrictive practices nominee is someone nominated in advance by the care recipients; a temporary restrictive practices substitute decision-maker is close family or a carer; a VCAT-appointed nominee is someone who has a close personal or professional relationship; and there is VCAT themselves.

In closing, I welcome the Aged Care Restrictive Practices Substitute Decision-maker Bill, and I commend this bill to the house.

You can take a look at more of my contributions to Parliament here.