The federal aged care regulator handed a $2400-a-day strategic communications contract to a “master of reputation management” and another consultant near the peak of Victoria’s fatal coronavirus second wave when its quality assessors were overwhelmed by the scale of the outbreak.
On August 26, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission paid $27,225 to two communications consultants — Glenn Byres and Maddie Gay — for just 11.25 days of work.
The contract, awarded to Byron Bay firm 89 Degrees East, was for “strategic communication advice.” A senior consultant for the company, Byres is a former national policy lead for the Property Council of Australia has worked in media for two NSW Premiers and former Labor leader Mark Latham.
“We call him the master - master of strategy, messaging and reputation management,” the company website says of Byres.
Since the pandemic began, there have been more than 2000 cases of aged care residents with Covid-19. Of these, 633 have died.
As the virus began its spread throughout Australia the ACQSC, led by commissioner Janet Anderson, stopped on-site quality and safety audits of nursing home operators for a period of months. The commission has faced heavy criticism for this decision and also for relying on “self-assessment” phone calls with providers to determine whether they were at risk of an outbreak. Almost all nursing homes reported they were ready and nearly half rated themselves as “best practice” including Newmarch House in Sydney, where 19 residents died in a matter of weeks after the virus spread throughout the facility.
Ms Anderson said the commission “sought the assistance of an external agency to provide additional capacity given the expanded volume and scope of communication demands created by the Covid-19 pandemic.”
“The chosen agency has undertaken communications planning as well as supported the development of information and other resources for aged care providers and consumers as part of the Commission’s work during the pandemic,” she said.
“These services continue to be provided on an as-needed basis to assist the Commission in fulfilling its range of communications needs.”
Ms Anderson did not respond to a question about whether the contract represented value for money but noted the firm is an approved provider of communications services on other commonwealth procurement panels.
At Friday’s hearing of the aged care royal commission, Ms Anderson told the inquiry “there aren’t enough” compliance staff in its prudential oversight division — which monitors billions of dollars worth of accommodation bonds paid by residents to providers — and flagged a hiring spree.
“We are currently recruiting across most operational areas in the Commission, and I expect that I will be building a larger complement of staff over the coming months,” she said.
At the weekend, The Saturday Paper revealed the Commission has been recruiting quality assessors in Melbourne through labour hire firms such as Programmed Health Professionals. These contracts are casual one-year affairs with staff employed by Programmed but “performance managed and trained by the agency.”
Documents published by the Covid-19 parliamentary inquiry also revealed the ASCQC, which began operation 18-months ago, has staff working on different software platforms and IT systems.
“The (commission) is well progressed in delivering a single IT platform for commission staff,” it said.
On Wednesday, the aged care royal commission will deliver its special Covid-19 report to the Governor-General, which will then be tabled in parliament.
“It will contain specific recommendations from the Commissioners to expedite and facilitate the implementation of comprehensive measures to protect older Australians,” the inquiry said in a media release.
Rick Morton is the author of the bestselling One Hundred Years of Dirt. He has been a journalist for 15 years with a particular focus on social policy and national affairs. Rick is the senior reporter for The Saturday Paper.
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