MOTIONS

Senator RUSTON (South Australia—Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) (15:10): I stand also to support the urgency of the issue that has been put forward by Senator Allman-Payne because the evidence before us is absolutely damning. The integrated assessment tool is not working, and there is not one piece of evidence to suggest that it is. This is no longer about a few teething problems.

This is a systematic structural flaw in the algorithm that is put in charge of making decisions about the care needs and the urgency of those care needs of older Australians—older Australians like Audrey. For any of you who saw the Four Corners program— The PRESIDENT: Senator Ruston, I remind you this is a suspension debate, not a debate about the substantive motion.

Senator RUSTON: Thank you very much, President. I can't think of anything that is more urgent than older Australians dying because they're being misassessed by an algorithm that's been put in place by this government. People are dying.

There is nothing more urgent than putting in place in this chamber and in this parliament measures to prevent people from dying. So I don't think anybody in here would disagree that there is nothing more urgent than making sure that people are not dying unnecessarily, because legislation and, quite frankly, a computer are making decisions that leave their care needs so underfunded and under-resourced that they're dying while they're waiting for the care that they have been assessed as needing.

I don't believe I need to stress the urgency of this motion any more, but, quite frankly, the fact that the government, since the introduction of the new reforms into aged care in November last year, have failed— The PRESIDENT: Senator Ruston, I remind you once again that your comments need to focus on why this suspension order ought to be agreed to. Senator RUSTON: I'd ask the people of Australia: do you think it is urgent that we should make changes to a computer algorithm that is making decisions about older Australians that is causing them to die while they wait for the care that they need?

I don't believe that there is any more urgent thing that we should be doing in this place or the other place. The fact is that this place has already passed legislation. The will of this chamber is that the algorithm requires human override.

What we're seeing today, though, is the urgency has been escalated because of the Four Corners program last night— The PRESIDENT: Senator Ruston, I'm going to remind you once again you need to focus on the debate at hand, which is whether or not a suspension ought to be agreed to. Senator RUSTON: I believe the suspension needs to be agreed to, and the reason for its urgency is that unless something is done about the failed computer algorithm that this government has in place and its continued refusal to address the fundamental and structural flaws older Australians will die.

I don't know if anybody in this chamber would like to disagree with me and argue that older Australians dying unnecessarily because of a piece of legislation and an algorithm that has been legislated through this place is not urgent. I would be pleased for you to come forward and make that case, because I believe my case is very strong. As I said, please come forward if you disagree with me.

It's not just me. I absolutely agree about the urgency of this and the fact that older Australians are dying, but the experts also agree about the urgency of this motion. The experts are people like the former inspector-general of aged care Ian Yates, the recently resigned inspector-general of aged care Natalie Siegel-Brown and one of the most pre-eminent experts when it comes to making assessments about the care needs of older Australians Professor Kathy Eagar, the architect of the AN-ACC system.

Nobody in Australia knows better than Professor Eagar about how you go about assessing the needs of older Australians. This government— The PRESIDENT: Senator Ruston, I'm going to remind you once again that we are debating a suspension motion. Senator RUSTON: The suspension motion, President, is about a piece of legislation that this government refuses to address and is causing Australians—older, vulnerable Australians like Audrey—to die.

I don't believe that there is anything more urgent than trying to remedy a situation where people are dying as a result of a decision of the government that has been put through this chamber, through rules that were not made evident or obvious when the legislation was put through. They were subsequently revealed in a series of rules that were opaquely put through this chamber.

I can't think of anything that's more important than the will of this chamber being recognised, such as the will of this chamber when the aged-care assessment tool private senators' bill was put through this place. I commend Senator Allman-Payne for raising attention on the urgency of the fact that a cruel tool this government refuses to acknowledge is causing older Australians to die unnecessarily.