Australia could “miss the boat” in the global race to recruit aged care workers unless the federal government adjusts migration rules, as research shows the labour shortage in the sector has doubled since the depths of the coronavirus pandemic.
The not-for-profit Aged Care Workforce Industry Council has been speaking to the Health and Home Affairs departments about an industry labour agreement for aged care workers from countries such as India and the Philippines.
Australia needs an extra 43,000 aged care workers to meet promised new minimum staffing levels.CREDIT:ISTOCK
Council chief executive Louise O’Neill said the pipeline for overseas migration needed to be reopened to make it easier and simpler for aged care providers to quickly access migrant workers.
“People are ready to go and, if we don’t get in early, we might miss the boat and other countries like the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand will get access to these workers,” she said.
O’Neill said she would raise the labour agreement proposal in a meeting with Aged Care Assistant Minister Ged Kearney next week after productive discussions with bureaucrats and providers before the election.
Aged care is in crisis, with 65,000 workers leaving the sector each year. In the lead-up to the federal election, Labor committed to mandating a registered nurse in every aged care home 24/7 by next July and an average daily 200 care minutes per resident from October 2023, including 40 minutes with a registered nurse.
This will increase to 215 care minutes a day, including 44 minutes with a registered nurse, from October 2024, implementing the aged care royal commission’s key recommendations.
The Committee for Economic Development of Australia will on Tuesday release a report warning the aged care staffing crisis is deepening and that an extra 43,000 workers are needed within a year to deliver the government’s promised minimum staffing levels.
The report said the aged care skills shortage had doubled in nine months, with the sector now facing an annual shortage of 35,000 workers – up from 17,000 in August last year – just to meet basic care needs, with a further 8000 to meet new staffing mandates.
Labour agreements covering the fine dining hospitality and dairy, fishing and meat industries allow employers to sponsor overseas workers to migrate to Australia, with a pathway to permanent residency.
O’Neill said a similar approach could work in aged care if the agreement was drafted to ensure migrant workers’ salaries did not disadvantage local workers. Workers could be trained in their home countries to ensure they were “job ready”.
She said migration was “not the only answer” and that the aged care sector, which had “taken a battering” to its image during the pandemic and the royal commission, must become more attractive to workers in Australia.
CEDA senior economist Cassandra Winzar said it would be extremely difficult to deliver the government’s staffing promise without proactively recruiting overseas workers amid fierce international competition for labour.
“We need to make it an attractive proposition, whether it’s nurses or personal care workers to come to Australia,” she said. “Giving them a pathway to permanent residency is something that will make it much more attractive.”
Aged and Community Care Providers Association chief executive Paul Sadler, representing providers, said members were reporting staff shortages of between 10 and 15 per cent and that the government must act quickly to attract more overseas workers.
Aged Care Minister Anika Wells said Labor was investing in the sector and would deliver the royal commission recommendations and give older Australians the care they deserved.
Health Minister Mark Butler has said while migration would play a role in boosting the aged care workforce, he believed there was untapped capacity in the current, largely part-time workforce.
Comment has been sought from Immigration Minister Andrew Giles.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/miss-the-boat-plan-to-import-aged-care-workers-as-shortage-deepens-20220627-p5awum.html
