Scott Morrison has hosed down Peter Dutton’s suggestion that troops could be deployed to aged care homes to help with the sector’s staffing crisis, saying defence personnel were “not a shadow workforce”.
But the prime minister has acknowledged the situation is a “crisis”, as aged care providers report being stretched by sickness furloughing, with dramatic staff shortages leaving some elderly residents without food, cleaning or support.
“Simply taking [army] reserves out of where they are working, putting a uniform on them and getting them somewhere else, that doesn’t change anything,” Morrison said on Friday.
He spoke after comments from Dutton, the defence minister, who had earlier conceded there was an “enormous amount” more the government wanted to do to relieve the workforce crisis in aged care – including the possibility of sending in the Australian defence force.
The federal government’s most recent figures on aged care reported active Covid outbreaks in 1,261 facilities, with 9,643 residents and 14,257 staff infected with the virus.
The defence minister said “of course” the government had to consider sending in troops: “If that’s what’s required, that’s what we will do.”
Mike Baird, a former New South Wales premier and now chief executive of the aged care provider HammondCare, had said troops were required because the sector was facing a “perfect storm” of rising infections and staff shortages triggered by isolation requirements.
But the aged care minister, Greg Hunt, stopped short of endorsing the idea, saying on Friday the ADF was already currently “playing the role that they are best skilled for”.
Morrison has never ruled out using the ADF in aged care but he poured cold water on the idea in mid-January.
On Friday, Morrison resisted moves to send troops in to assist in tasks like bed making or cleaning, as Baird had suggested – criticising what he called “simple solutions to complex problems”.
“The defence forces are not a shadow workforce for the aged care sector,” the PM said.
“We have some 60,000 members in our defence force, half of those are in the reserves. To the extent that they work in the health sector, they are already working in the health sector.”
Morrison said he had asked Dutton and Hunt to collaborate on how the defence force could be better used in the health response, and noted members were already assisting on triple-zero call lines and in the ambulance service.
“Not anyone can walk in and shower and clean and do those important jobs. They are skilled jobs. They can’t be done by just anyone walking off the street,” Morrison said.
“There is not some imaginary workforce that can just come in when the workforce is furloughed by people getting Covid.”
Aged care providers estimate about a quarter of all shifts – or the equivalent of 140,000 shifts a week – are going unfilled, while the disability sector has reported roster vacancies of up to 30% during the peak of Omicron.
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, and major aged care provider Arcare, both told Guardian Australia they would support defence personnel further assisting in homes with tasks like cleaning, admin or bed making. But Gerard Hayes, from the Health Services Union, said the army wasn’t needed.
Instead, he called for the federal government to try to tap into retired or underemployed people in the community with skills in health or aged care, to offer paid jobs to immediately assist staffing shortages.
On Friday Dutton said aged and disability care were “obviously the most difficult” sectors because Covid-19 “deliberately targets older people” and those with underlying medical conditions.
Asked if use of the ADF was something that needed to be considered, and quickly, Dutton replied: “Of course it is … If that’s what’s required, that’s what we will do.”
He said the best thing the government could do was “provide those nurses and those additional shifts to be covered where people are sick”.
Hunt told Guardian Australia that the ADF had already played a key role in responding to the pandemic, including in aged care, including in Victoria’s second wave outbreak in 2020. Asked whether a further announcement about ADF deployment into aged care homes was imminent, the health and aged care minister stopped short of endorsing the idea.
“At the moment they have been providing strategic support to assist the national medical stockpile in the delivery of essential PPE to aged care,” a spokesperson for Hunt said in a statement.
“They are playing the role that they are best skilled for.”
The Queensland deputy premier, Steven Miles, called the situation in aged care a “national disgrace”, and said he welcomed Dutton raising the potential for army assistance.
“We have elderly residents locked away, isolated in their rooms, not being bathed, not getting food, not getting the medical care they need, and the national government should be doing absolutely everything they can to change that,” he said.
Federal Labor’s health spokesperson, Mark Butler, said it was “high time the Australian Defence Force was called in to help with this crisis.”
“Scott Morrison cannot continue to sit on his hands,” he said on Friday.
Hunt’s office said the federal government was assisting with a surge workforce to cover 78,000 shifts in aged care, noting an agreement with private hospitals to provide extra staff, and changes to furloughing conditions which decreased the number of staff required to isolate.
Anthony Albanese repeated his call for the aged care services minister, Richard Colbeck, to resign, saying he had “failed before” and “continues to fail”.
At his press conference, Morrison rebuffed a journalist’s question on whether Colbeck should remain in his job, saying the minister had an important job.
Guardian Australia last week revealed that Colbeck attended the Hobart Test from 14 to 16 January after declining to attend the Covid committee on Friday 14 January – citing the workload of officials battling the Omicron wave.
On Wednesday Colbeck defended the decision and said the aged care sector was performing “extremely well”, despite coming under “genuine stress” due to coronavirus.
Australian defence force staff helped at aged care facilities in Melbourne in mid-2020 during Victoria’s Covid wave. Hunt also noted ADF members had assisted with vaccinations in aged care.
