Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety

• Immunity for aged care providers will strip elders of legal rights

  25th Mar 2022

  A proposed amendment to the Aged Care Act that will protect aged care providers from civil claims and criminal charges arising from unlawful restraint incidents must not proceed, say lawyers.

• The Morrison Government is proposing astounding discrimination against vulnerable aged care residents

  24th Mar 2022

  'When our Parliament is presented with a Bill which removes fundamental rights and liberties from a discrete cohort of Australians only, a cacophony of objections may be expected' writes Rodney Lewis. 'In this case, however, the victims have no voice.'

• Government urged to act quickly on Aged Care RC recommendations

  1st Mar 2021

  The Federal Government must act quickly to implement the recommendations of the Aged Care Royal Commission to prevent further deaths, abuse and neglect in aged care homes, says the Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA).

• Aged care performance data must be made public

  20th Nov 2020

  Consumers need easy access to data about the performance of individual aged care facilities so that they can make informed decisions, says the Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA). 

• COVID-19 shows the cracks in our aged care system

  20th Aug 2020

  Catherine Henry questions why we are seeing so many COVID-19 deaths in aged care, and suggests that it's not just that older Australians are more vulnerable to the infectious disease. She believes that COVID-19 is, in many ways, just the next thing to expose the systemic problems in an aged care system that demands a major overhaul.

• Newmarch House coronial investigation welcomed

  4th Jun 2020

  A coronial investigation into the COVID-19 deaths at Newmarch House is welcome as it should provide the opportunity for much needed scrutiny of the issues that led to the tragedy, says the Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA).

• A spotlight on the Newmarch House tragedy: Where to next?

  14th May 2020

  In this article, Catherine Henry argues that the rampant, nationwide failures in governance, accountability, policy and the regulatory framework of aged care have been laid bare in the tragedy that has unfolded at Newmarch House. Catherine attributes these failures to the flawed Aged Care Act 1997 (Cth), whose provisions prefer the interests of providers over those of residents and their families. She calls for a dedicated inquiry into the Newmarch House tragedy and for the enactment of a new Aged Care Act which addresses the shortcomings of the current aged care system. 

• Inquiry into Newmarch House needed: tragedy highlights urgent need for aged care reform

  6th May 2020

  An inquiry into the COVID-19 tragedy at Newmarch House is urgently needed as the situation has tragically highlighted the desperate need for reform in the sector, says the Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA).

• The aged care Royal Commission’s three areas of immediate action are worthy, but won’t fix a broken system

  5th Dec 2019

  There are no simple or quick fixes for the problems identified in the aged care Royal Commission's interim report, released in November 2019. Joseph Ibrahim calls on government to collaborate across ministerial portfolios to address the huge waiting list for home care packages, the use of chemical restraints in aged care facilities and the plights of younger people with a disability living in these facilities.

   

• Independent complaints tribunal needed to hold aged care facilities to account

  27th Nov 2019

  The introduction of an independent tribunal to hear complaints of substandard care with the power to issue fines and order monetary compensation would help hold the aged care sector to account, said the Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA) today at the Aged Care Royal Commission public consultation session in Newcastle.

• Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety

  28th Feb 2019

  An overview of the structure, composition and intended objectives of the Royal Commission.