The aged care sector has also presented a united front in urging the Commonwealth to broaden the skilled visa list,which already includes nurses,to include personal care assistants as well,with Catholic Health chief executive Pat Garcia saying the extreme shortage of workers was putting the viability of homes at risk.
“We need workers from overseas to plug the immediate hole in our system and we need higher wages to ensure there’s a healthy pipeline of labour into aged care where we know demand is going to rise sharply,” Mr Garcia said.
“The long-term solution has to be higher wages,but right now a temporary moratorium on labour market testing would help homes efficiently fill the gaps they have on their rosters.”
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Labor’s aged care spokeswomanClare O’Neil this week described a $2 billion wage rise sought by the battle-weary workforce as a matter of justice,hardening the federal opposition’s position on the Health Services Union’s (HSU) proposed 25 per cent pay boost and increasing pressure on Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese to commit.
However,Mr Albanese didn’t budge from his previous position when asked in Perth on Thursday,saying Labor had committed to endorsing the wage case in a submission to the Fair Work Commission if it won the election.
“It’s not up to us to determine what the wage rise is it’s up to the Fair Work Commission,but we would make a positive submission and I’ve said that on a number of occasions,” Mr Albanese said.