The federal government has announced a cash splash to try to retain aged care workers but critics have been quick to dismiss that, saying what staff really need is a long-term pay rise.
The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety's final report last year laid out a plan to overhaul the aged care system, calling for better wages and a new national registration scheme for all personal care workers, who would be required to have a minimum level of training.
And since that report was released, unions and industry groups argue things have only gotten worse, with the pandemic exacerbating funding and workforce issues.
It's timely because at the moment, the Fair Work Commission is considering a case brought forward by the unions, who are calling for a substantial wage increase for residential and home care workers.
So, to bring you up to speed — let's look at what's going on and the positions of each major political party.
Who is arguing for a pay rise?
The Health Services Union and the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation have brought a case in front of the Fair Work Commission (FWC).
The Fair Work Commission is the independent wage umpire and sets the minimum pay rates for different industries.
The union is seeking pay rises of 25 per cent for more than 200,000 workers, arguing pay rates in aged care don't meet the Fair Work Act's requirement for a "safety net of fair minimum wages".
Aged care providers also want a pay rise for their workers, but haven't specified how much.
In a joint submission to the Fair Work Commission, several industry stakeholders said wages need to be competitive to attract and retain skilled workers.
Where does Labor stand on this?
The Opposition says it would make a submission to the FWC supporting an increase in pay for aged care workers if it wins the election.
"Why is the government not providing support for aged care workers on a permanent basis?" Labor leader Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday.
"There's a case before the Fair Work Commission where the federal government is refusing to support a submission saying they should have their pay increased."
Labor is also refusing to put a figure on how much it wants wages to rise but has consistently argued aged care workers are not paid enough.
Labor frontbencher Bill Shorten told Channel 9 that if wages don't increase, the sector will see a mass exodus of employees.
"If Mr Morrison was fair dinkum, he'd turn up at the Fair Work Commission, the independent umpire of wages, and support increasing the base rate per hour.
"If we don't do that, we're going to see a flight of aged care workers into hospo, into retail, into Bunnings, and nothing ever changes."
What about the government?
The federal government has announced it'll give aged care workers across the country two one-off payments of $400, the first this month and the next in May.
They're "incentive payments", aimed at keeping staff in the workforce.
The total amount paid will depend on how many hours people have worked and it includes workers in government-subsidised home care and residential care.
But Prime Minister Scott Morrison has dismissed calls to permanently increase the wages of workers and has criticised Mr Albanese's position on the Fair Work Commission case.
"I haven't heard how he proposes to fund that," Mr Morrison said in Canberra on Tuesday.
"I don't know what he estimates the cost of that will be and how he would work that through.
What happens next?
If the case succeeds for the unions, the FWC would allow the industrial tribunal to raise wages across the sector by varying the award, which outlines the minimum pay rates and conditions of employment.
That would mean different things for different workers at different levels — but essentially, aged care could see the minimum wage rise by at least $5 an hour.
That would see a qualified personal carer's minimum wage bumped from $23.09 to $28.86 an hour, on wage rates when the application was lodged.
Looking at weekly wages, a level 1 aged care employee could have their weekly pay bumped from just over $800 to more than $1,000 a week, under the union's proposal.
A level 6 aged care worker would move from just over $950 a week to almost $1,200.
The case in the FWC has been going on since 2020 and is due to have hearings later this year, with a final decision due after that.
