Minister For Ageing Recieves Charters For Quality Aged Care

Type: Union News Subject: Aged Care
5 November 2009

Brett Holmes (left) and Ged Kearney (right) hand the Quality Aged Care charters to Minister for Ageing Justine Elliot.

The ANF handed just under 20,000 charters signed by aged care nurses and the community as part of the Because we care campaign.

Around 45 people turned up at Amaroo Aged Care Facility in Tweed Heads last month to see Federal Minister for Ageing Justine Elliot accept just under 20,000 Charters for Quality Aged Care, which call on the Federal Government to properly fund aged care.

The ANF’s Charter for Quality Aged Care was the first part of the Union’s Because we care campaign, which aimed to boost funding for aged care in the next Federal budget.

NSWNA General Secretary Brett Holmes attended the handing over of the Charters to the Minister for Ageing. ‘There has been a huge groundswell of support behind the campaign, from both aged care workers and the wider community,’ he said.

‘It’s important that the Federal Government sticks to its promise to improve aged care. The fact we have so many charters signed shows how strongly aged care nurses and the public feel about the issue.’

ANF General Secretary Ged Kearney told the Minister, ‘The ANF believes that key reforms must be made in aged care to boost the numbers of nurses and trained staff and to halt a decade-long decline in their numbers. We need to adopt minimum staffing levels and close the $300 a week pay gap between aged care staff and those working in public hospitals.’

The Minister said she was pleased to accept the charters and reaffirmed her commitment to aged care. She also praised Blue Care which hosted the event at Amaroo, for the leadership it showed in bargaining and having a good workplace agreement that showed commitment to its staff.

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