Failure to protect Federal aged care residents has left 389 elderly Australians dead this year alone, and 40% of private nursing homes locked down. Dr Sarah Russell reports on the government’s devastating failure as the Covid aged care crisis grips. Demanding accountability from the Minister for Aged Care Services, Richard Colbeck, is being “a knocker”. So says our King of Spin, Scott Morrison. Given the media’s new obsession with appearances – and whether people smile for the camera – it was not a good look for Colbeck to be enjoying an outing at the cricket on the same day he declined to appear before the Covid-19 committee. In a letter to chair Katy Gallagher, Colbeck claimed he could not justify “diverting the time and resources” of his office given the pandemic was at a “critical point”. That the aged care system is at a “critical point” was an understatement. On the day Colbeck was out and about at the cricket (14 January), thousands of older people were in lockdown. Some 1,107 of the 2,704 federally operated private aged care homes (40 per cent) were locked down. The residential aged care system was in crisis.

Source: A Poor Knock: Colbeck carousing at the cricket amid aged care crisis just tip of incompetence iceberg – Michael West Media