Aged care crisis - Australia's greatest shame

The ABC also made the accusation: "Repeated surveys findthat 20 to 50 per cent of nursing home residents are malnourished, and the Australian Medical Association says there are not enough doctors to visit residents."

And meanwhile: "The Nursing Federation says there are not enough properly trained carers, while Palliative Care Australia says only one in five residents receive proper palliative care."

New Aged Care and Mental Health Minister Jacinta Collins responded by reaffirming that the Government had a "10 year plan."

When asked by Lateline the Minister had no credible answer to why the government has failed to act decisively in response to Aged Care abuses and systemic failures when compared with its response to abuse of cattle in Indonesia.

Latelinejournalist Emma Alberici further pressed Minister Jacinta Collins on why Aged Care accreditation processes do not include assessments of the mental and physical well-being of aged care residents, including dehydration, malnutrition, depression, bedsores, falls, chronic pain, pain-management, over-use or inappropriate use of anti-psychotic medication, forced restraint and so on.

Collins was uncertain what research was being conducted in these fields. She asserted that families can discern between different providers in the best interests of their loved ones.

But if there is a systemic failure due to chronic lack of funds and failure to enforce sufficient standards, then it stands to reason that families often have little choice. And that is especially so when they are looking for a residence relatively close-by to enable regular visits.

Collins observed that over 200,000 Australians are currently in residential care – and that is going to expand dramatically with the ageing population. She also suggested that staff to resident ratios might be considered 'in the future'.

Finally, the Minister proclaimed she would visit aged care facilities 'on the ground' to see for herself the quality of care.

But time is of the essence and action needs to be 'locked in' now to be implemented in the near future – as a matter of urgency. Collins also needs to visit a very wide range of facilities without notice in order to get a better idea of what conditions are really like 'on the ground', while consulting closely with families who have reported neglect and abuse.

While Collins deserves to be given a degree of slack on account of only recently taking the Ministry, the Lateline report shows that the time for procrastination and empty rhetoric is over.

Rudd, Milne and Abbott need to immediately form a response to this story, and to the many stories provided by some residents and many families who have been trying – often without success – to bring this issue to the forefront of public discourse for years. They need to devote new funds – many billions of new funds for every year.