All language subtitles for Careless.2025.720p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.BZ]

Sometimes
we're all a little careless.

Me dead. Oh!

And tell these
dickheads in the embassy

to just give me simple sentences.

I'm on a prescription drug

and they say certain things
may happen to you if you drink

and they were absolutely 100% right.

Politics can be
a bruising sport.

In countries all over the world,

populations are getting older.

Some countries provide good care

for their ageing populations.

Many countries are worried

about the rapid increase
in the number of old people.

It's a problem that
gets bigger every year.

In Australia,
governments seem to think

that old people and their care
don't win elections.

But what's it like
to be an older Australian?

If we're lucky,
this will be us one day.

Let's go into the kitchen
and make a cup of tea.

Oh, yeah. I'm gonna
need some help, I think.

Yeah.

See, it's because I...
I'm not concentrating.

It's all right.

I don't know whether I can.

- You'll have to pull me up.
- Oh, okay. Sorry.

- Oh!
- Yep, yep, yep.

- There I am.
- Oh, we did it!

How's your arm?

Okay, are we stable?

Yes, I'm stable now.

Just stand and look ahead
and just take a breather.

Oh, my goodness.
That was full-on.

Oh, you poor girl.
I'm so sorry.

No, it's fine!

- Yeah, bash up your daughter.
- Normally...

Yeah, just you watch what
you're doing on your feet.

Yes.

So did you ever
imagine that you would end up

having to consider
going into aged care?

Never. Never, never
in my wildest dreams.

Why?

Because it was
like a black mark against you

if someone had to go into a nursing home

when they had family.

It was all on the families.

I think that's a good point,
to be honest.

Do you know, that's why
I'm making a film about it.

It was nice
meeting you guys.

You might make a fortune
out of this, you know?

Then you'll be careful!

Oh, dear.

So thanks for doing
whatever it is you do.

You just walk behind me, dear.

Do you know
your My Aged Care number?

No.

And what about myGov?
Do you know how to access that?

MyGov? Well, ask the operator.

Okay, here.
We can ring My Aged Care.

Why are you ringing them?

'Cause we've gotta
ask them about your respite...

Oh.

...and see if they
can help us.

Welcome to My Aged Care.

Our calls are recorded for
training and quality purposes.

If you do not wish
for your call to be recorded,

please advise
your contact center agent.

When you had to
become a single mum,

when Dad and you separated,
was that hard?

Oh, terribly.

That hurt me because
I wanted my children

to be brought up by the same people

and live a very ordinary life.

On the whole,
my life has been all right,

but old age is nothing to be
pleased about, in my opinion.

It was better to be
an older person in the '50s.

At least that's what I think.

Governments used to take
better care of older people.

That's how I remember it.

I think it probably changed
at the end of the '60s

and there was a rapid increase

in for-profit providers

and they really were
interested in the money.

Hello.

- Hello.
- Hi.

I'll let you in now.

Mum, remember
I told you the idea that I had

of getting young people

to narrate a film about old people?

- Yes.
- So these three

have been part of the narration team,

- 'cause there's a few people doing it.
- Well done, girls. Well done.

- And do you have grannies?
- Yes.

And how old are they?

My gran is around 72.

Oh, that's good.

I'm much older than that.

Well, how old are you, Mum?

I'm, um, 80... 89.

Are you going to be in the film?

Yes.

Oh, well done.

- Thanks.
- Thank you.

Absolutely marvelous.
And I'm sure you'll star.

Once upon a time,
a Labor prime minister was elected.

His government
decided to do things differently.

They wanted to work closely
with the business community.

We are about a fundamental change

in the way government operates

and the way it cooperates

with important sectors
of the Australian community.

Hawke's treasurer was a man named Paul.

We were
not trying to run prosperity

out of the Commonwealth budget.

Rather, we wanted to employ the markets

to make the whole economic pie larger.

From Keating onwards,

you've got the march
of neoliberal groupthink.

Governments come and go.

Then, a Liberal named John
became prime minister.

He decided
to do things differently.

Welcome to our show-and-tell
on the Aged Care Act.

To begin our presentation on ageing,

we're going to read a bit from
the 1997 Australian Aged Care Act.

"The objects of this act are as follows."

"To provide for funding of aged care

- that takes account of..."
- "The quality of the care..."

"The need to ensure access
to care that is affordable..."

"And appropriate to the needs
of the people who require it."

Basically, what the government
is saying here

is every older person will have access

to affordable aged care
as they grow old.

In reading the Aged Care Bill,

it would appear that nursing homes

have disappeared and vanished
from the face of this earth.

George Orwell would be proud of this bill.

It should be called the
Aged Care Bill of 1984, not 1997.

I must point out that there is
general agreement

throughout much of the aged care sector

that the lack of capital care funding...

in particular, for nursing homes,

estimated to be approximately 800 million

constitutes nothing less than a crisis
which must be urgently addressed.

Say hello to my grandma.

That's not your grandma.

Grandma represents everyone
who needs care in Australia.

Before 1997, Grandma and her friends

felt the care was already going downhill.

The government didn't like
spending on aged care anymore

and the money they did spend

was incentivizing
nursing homes to make money.

Not great for Grandma.

But if Grandma thought
things were bad before 1997,

she had another thing coming,

and that thing coming was privatization.

That's where the government said,

"Hey, who wants to make money off Grandma?

We don't want to be
responsible for Grandma's care.

You can do it."

So they gave aged care
over to private companies

who were very happy about it.

Ageing is an industry

worth over $22 billion a year,
and growing.

Today, nursing homes are marketed

more like hotels than hospitals.

The elderly no longer patients,

rather customers.

You don't call
most people "consumers."

I think that's quite
a demeaning, derogatory term.

Most of the consumer... consumer...

consumer... consumer... consumer...

All consumers are... Consumers...

The thought of them
just ordering a glass of wine

or, you know...

I mean, these people are struggling
to have their dentures put in.

Well, you're more
like selling a cruise.

You're selling a cruise
with extra packages.

You're not selling a service

that's keeping your mother,
father or whoever

safe, well-looked-after and happy.

You know, it's stuff on top that's fluff.
It's fluff.

I think it is fair to say

that we have commodified
the elderly in Australia.

They're walking profit targets

when you've got big corporates

who are making a lot
of money out of them.

The fact that they were able to, you know,
release prospectuses

and say, "Hey,
literally profit from the elderly,"

that was one of their sub headlines,
like, it's crazy to me.

John Howard had set the ball rolling

on a system that was
dramatically outsourced

but that was suddenly
running out of money.

What he basically did
was opened it up to the free market.

They are sacrificing older people
for the good of the economy.

Many older Australians
in residential aged care

are still not getting
the minutes of care per day

that they should be.

Advocates say the for-profit
sector is most at fault

and there needs to be better scrutiny

on how government funds are being spent.

I love the radio
and I learn such a lot.

There's very interesting talks
by interesting people, in my opinion.

Yes, we've got a good relationship,

the radio and me.

If I'm going to die,
I'd like to die here,

surrounded by my family.

That's the most important thing.

If I'm on my own somewhere,

I'm going to be very frightened.

I know I am.

It's quite a common feeling,
I've discovered amongst aged people.

We lose all our "doing stuff
on our own" decisions.

It will be a group decision that's made,

not an independent decision.

The fear of death and dying
and the taboo around that

and the fear of losing agency
and losing control,

they go very, very deep

and the reality is both of those things
do relate to aged care.

There's no sort of shying away from that.

There's no aged care
services at Batchelor.

It would be nice if there was.

So the pressures on family members
can be very overwhelming.

As a carer, going in to help
my sister do her insulin,

it was very scary and daunting,

but she didn't want to go to
an aged care facility.

Having her daughter there

and her grandkids coming
and great-grandchildren

and her siblings come and visit,
and friends,

at her home...

she still felt like she was the queen

in her own environment,
and that was important to her.

It just helped her stay alive
for a bit longer.

Of course, we all want to do our bit

to be able to share
in our responsibilities

and obligations to family members

to make sure that they get
as much support in their decision

either to stay at home
or to go into respite care.

None of my family
actually wanted respite care,

'cause they thought they had
enough family members

that could come
and look after them anyway.

Do you mind if Jeremy
puts a microphone on you?

So we're just gonna
stick this on the inside.

Just actually I think we'll go between
the jumper and the thing.

So I'll get... I'll feed this...

Probably the easiest way is feeding it
from upstairs to downstairs.

Why are you... What are you...

We're gonna put
a microphone on you.

We're doing a little
bit of filming with Sue.

- Yes, I know.
- Oh, great.

But why do you need
to listen to me?

Because you'll be talking.

Because we want
to hear what you're gonna say

'cause we're just gonna film
you in the car with Mum...

Oh, right.

...going to the nursing home.

Where?

We're going to visit
that nursing home.

That's what we're doing today.
We're going to look at...

We'll be gone for half an hour,
coming back, that's it.

So we just want to hear
what you think

of the nursing home,
we're gonna look at today.

You can just be honest, Mum.

- Mm-hmm.
- So I'm just gonna put this one down.

Oh, good glasses, Granny!

Oh, they look so cool, Granny!

You've got to put
some purple in it. Yes.

- Love you, Granny.
- Love you too.

See you soon.

So this place we're going to,

my friend, Mum, I told you is there.

Right.

Two of her children are doctors
and they did their research

and said this place
is one of the better ones.

All right.

Ageing is often something

we think happens to other people.

It's not something
that's ever gonna touch us.

The same thing doubly so for aged care.

"Aged care is something
that other people go into.

It's not a system that
I'll ever need to go into."

Most people think this way.

Well done.
Okay, can you just stand here?

I'll get your handbag and mine.

Most people try and keep
their older person at home,

however, the burden of that,

the weight of that for a carer
who's providing all the care

is often too great.

The person who generally
gives the care is a woman,

either the spouse or the daughter.

The idea of sort of being

in someone else's hands so completely,
like you are in aged care,

it's very confronting to our sense
of who we are as competent people,

as people who are making choices in life.

I'm an only child
and my parents had me

relatively late for the time.

So Dad was 45 when I was born
and Mum was 35.

Dad was a mineral metallurgist
by trade,

but he had so many
other interests and hobbies.

So he loved classical music.

He loved jazz. He played jazz piano.

He loved reading.

He had a giant library that
I was given free rein of,

full of inappropriate books
that, you know,

probably should have been
withheld from me at that age.

He was a wonderful, wonderful dad.

He was diagnosed with
Parkinson's when I was 18.

He had a relatively kind of slow decline

and then it kind of caught up with him
and, eventually,

kind of with great reluctance,

we had to move him into aged care.

And at that moment,
pretty much instantly

Mum and I felt that
we constantly were worried

that things were being missed.

He was having lots of falls

because he wasn't
medicated at the right time.

And then we had
a sort of really awful crisis

where a whistleblower came to us

and mentioned that a staffer
had been deliberately kind of abusing Dad.

I presumed it would be relatively easy,

that I would make a complaint
to the regulator,

the regulator would
investigate the complaint.

And then when that didn't happen,
then I went to the police.

And eventually I realized
that it wasn't just bad luck,

that it was the system.

And so then when the Royal Commission

into Aged Care
Quality and Safety was called,

I made a submission to that.

The room belonged
to an 85-year-old woman with dementia

whose identity is protected.

Within hours of putting
the camera in place,

this is what it captured.

A warning. The footage
is very confronting to watch and hear.

Terrible revelations of abuse

against some of society's
most vulnerable

have prompted the Prime Minister
to call a royal commission into aged care.

I just could not get past

what was occurring in our
residential aged care sector.

I solemnly and sincerely...

- Declare and affirm...
- Declare and affirm...

- That the evidence I shall give...
- That the evidence I shall give...

I was sort of nervous
about my father's privacy.

I was nervous about my family's privacy.

And then I thought,
"No, it's the right thing to do."

So in your statement, you
detail that from about 2016,

you start noticing some issues.

It was when Mum and I would go and visit,
we would often find Dad disheveled,

in unclean clothes...

Aged care's an issue
that's poorly understood by most people

because they don't want to think about it,
I understand.

I'd never given it a moment's thought

before we had to move Dad into care.

She'd verbally abused him and told him
that she was "sick of his shit,"

um, that she left his wheelchair
away from the bed

so that he was left completely immobile,

and the whistleblower
also mentioned to my mother

that the reason that she'd told us
and not the facility

was that if she told the facility,
it would get swept under the carpet

and absolutely nothing would be done.

There was so much publicity

about abuse and lack of care
in aged care.

I think that many, many family members

would consider
the care that their relative receives

as being careless.

What a tragedy that an old person
at the end of their life

is treated with such disrespect.

So, you see, it's not just
breaking down in the nursing homes.

It's breaking down everywhere.

It's our humanity.

How did things get so bad?

Why was care forgotten
and profits put before people?

Perhaps it had something
to do with this guy.

Doug Moran was a man with a plan.

I suppose it could be
compared to a five-star hotel

for the residents that are
going to come in here.

This is one of our private rooms,

which has an ensuite bathroom
attached to it.

It's being built by Doug Moran,

the country's largest
private nursing home operator.

Moran lobbied to introduce
the user-pays principle

into nursing homes.

I mean, there's almost no doubt that
Doug Moran was heavily involved

in writing the 1997 changes
with John Howard.

And he rallied the rest of
the for-profit groups around him.

Someone who's got power and money

and who believes they can
actually dictate the outcome.

The Federal Government introduced

a user-pays system for nursing homes.

Elderly people stood to pay
up to a quarter of a million dollars

as a bond for their accommodation.

And the government
has to accept their responsibility!

The government's
under pressure to overturn its decision

on nursing home entry fees and bonds.

John Howard had said,
"We'll give you accommodation bonds,"

and Moran was so disgusted he didn't
get them, he quit the Liberal Party.

There's got to be some good
aged care providers out there.

And there are,
there are places that do it well,

and isn't it a shame
that they get a bad name

based on the others.

- She seemed very nice.
- Yeah, they all seemed nice.

Yes, they do.

No, I think that's definitely
one of the top ones so far.

Yes, I think...

I'd have to talk to people now.

I'm getting worried about finances.

Yeah, if you move
into something like that,

what do you do with your flat?

Yes, I'd have to sell it.

We'll go and see a financial adviser

so you don't have to sell your flat
in case you want to go home.

I think if I make
the effort to go somewhere,

I'm not going to want
to go back home...

however nice that sounds.

Yeah.

Oh, dear, it's exhausting
doing all these things.

Now we're done anyway.

- We've looked at five now.
- Four.

Four. I've read all about them.

All right, if you get
to the point where you go,

"I can't live alone,
I can't do it, I'm too lonely,

I don't like the weekends,"

- which is what...
- I hate the weekends.

And why do you hate
the weekends?

Because everyone's out
having fun, fun, fun

and I'm not.

Oh, pardon me.

Oh!

I'm here today with Minister Butler

to announce the Government's new policy

on the future of aged care.

When Labor
were last in government,

they picked up the baton
from where Howard started.

They introduced the so-called
"Living Longer, Living Better" reforms.

I'm sure that was more for industry,

not for the actual recipients of care.

And that really just put
everything on steroids.

Today, we announce
the most sweeping reforms

to our aged care system
in almost 30 years.

In designing these reforms,

we've listened
to stakeholders in the sector

who have worked with us very closely.

Aged care in Australia
is industry-driven

and it's a partnership between
government and industry.

Industry... Industry... Industry...

The community have been
largely disenfranchised.

Yeah, they've been
shut out of the system.

We will also finally introduce

a single system of
accommodation charging,

reflecting the principle
of ageing in place, which...

So with the help
of a Labor government,

the industry finally had their bonds.

John Howard was spooked
by the reaction

to wanting to introduce
accommodation bonds.

And so Mark Butler,
whether he wants the crown or not,

is the guy that finished Howard's reforms.

I'm Olivia Dorothy Cornwell

and I'm 94 years of age.

She's a miracle.

This is my daughter Jane

and she's a journalist
and she lives in London.

She and I are in contact
in some way or other

pretty much every day.

My knees are a bit sore.

When I was a preschool teacher,

I used to put out planks
for the kids to jump

and I'd have a plank under each arm.

I'm sure that's responsible.

Oh, look at the parrot.

I'm a Mallee girl.

I was born in Birchip
in the north-west of Victoria.

I was trained to be
a preschool teacher

and then I went overseas.

I went to the
Buckingham Palace Garden Party

and the Queen was cross with me

because I didn't curtsy
like everybody else was doing.

One minute, we were all standing up,

the Queen appeared, I looked around

and everybody was down there
and I hadn't...

And she really did give me
an unpleasant look.

I came back from England
and I did some more preschool teaching,

but then I decided
I'd like to be an air hostess,

as we were called in those days.

Then I met my husband Alan.

We eventually married.

And then our beautiful daughter Jane
was born

and Alicia was the next one,
and Chris was the next one.

My husband liked outdoor sport

and he was very fair-skinned

and he got a melanoma
and he died when he was 73.

I suddenly lost interest in everything.

I didn't want to do anything.

I got a couple of rather
unpleasant illnesses

followed by depression

and my doctor suggested I spend

a few... a couple of weeks in respite care

and the place I went to was wonderful.

I always associated old people's homes

with dear old ladies and bingo,
you know, so...

But I went there for a couple of weeks,

and it was amazing.

But after two weeks,

I felt like I was living in a bubble.

I thought, "Now, I'm still mobile.

"I don't really want to spend
any more time here."

'Cause you went into respite
with a view to long-term staying.

So we got you a room with a courtyard,

I'm back here because I thought

I was going to have to
sell the house to pay for...

Well, I had no intention of staying there.

I just love living at home.
It's just great.

I love my garden,
I like playing the piano

and I'm very keen on jigsaws.

I'd like to spend a lot
more time doing jigsaws.

Oh, and I like to attract the birds

even though the cockatoos
come and take all the seed.

I love to be independent
and do my own thing.

The more research
I started doing about aged care,

it became obvious
that there was a way

that you could get help
living in your home.

And what I was told was that

to be able to stay in your home
was the goal of the government.

You know,
they have a vested interest

in keeping, you know, people at home.

They have to come out and inspect
and I remember saying to you,

"Please act as doddery as you can."

Most people that you speak to

say that they want to grow old
in their own home.

So it's all very well and good
for an older person

to have their home modified and cleaned

and to get their nursing care

and their medication
management in their home...

but if they walk down the street

and nobody knows their name
or cares to say hi to them

or, you know, would even notice

if they didn't step outside their door
for a couple of days...

There have been
some really harrowing stories

coming out of home care

just as there have
out of residential care.

The problems in home care
are lesser known

because they're not monitored.

There's a huge degree
of vulnerability in home care,

so I don't think
we want to romanticize it

and say everything's great
so long as you can stay at home.

Hello.

- Hi, Mum. It's me.
- Yeah.

I'll be there in about 20 minutes.

20 minutes.

And is Lola going to do
that bit of shopping for me?

Yes, she's definitely gonna do that.

And where are we going to go?

Given what happened,
we're gonna go and look

at a couple more aged care places.

Oh, okay.

We'll sort it out when you get here.

You just drive past this one

because it's Glen Huntly Road.

Right, is that the one we went to?

No, no.

And then there's another one, this one.

So we'll just have a look
out the car window

and you think about,
you know, what you think.

Mm-hmm.

Can you put them in your bag?

- Oh, okay.
- Hang on.

Here.

We're actually out the back, Mum.

Right.

Just... I'm gonna
shut your front door.

Yeah, they're coming
and they'll lock it.

Big step. Watch your head.

Okay, I'm gonna just
change those hearing aids.

You've got them in the wrong ears.

- Oh!
- Anyway, that's the right way.

Where are we going now?

We're gonna go and show you

- the two aged care places up here.
- Oh, that's right. Yes.

You can see just from the outside.

- Yes.
- So they're...

Because what was your criteria?

You said you wanted them around this area.

Yes.

- Anything else that you...
- No, no.

I'd just like to be left alone.

- In the place or now?
- In the place.

What, you don't want people
coming into your room?

No, I don't want thousands
of people coming in and out.

The Aged Care Act was
supposed to help old people,

but were these changes
really about helping Grandma

or just making private companies
more money?

They were coming for the money,
no doubt about it.

If you look at the aged care providers

and the owners and the CEOs,

some of them are on the BRW rich list.

They live in mansions,
they drive luxury cars,

yet they're constantly crying poor.

The industry was sought
as independent experts

to the newly created
Aged Care Financing Authority,

such as the CEO of Bupa.

You know, Bupa is the biggest

private aged care provider in the country.

They had a shocking track record.

That's a provider that time and again
has failed care standards.

There were so many of its homes

that had failed with the regulator,
but they were still operating.

By 2019,

over half of Bupa's 72 nursing homes

were failing to meet
all the health and safety standards.

When you look at the failures
over the last 20 years in aged care,

it really is a story
of provider influence.

First and foremost, that is the issue.

There is no doubt that the regulator

is absolutely captured by industry.

The regulator says,

"Can you not do that?
You're embarrassing us.

But, you know,
we'll let you get away with it

if you, you know,
tick some boxes on a piece of paper

and say that you will never
be like that again."

The fox is guarding the hen house.

There does seem to be something of
a revolving door, if you like,

between industry
and government positions.

It's the same list of names
that have been moving

from government to regulation to industry
and back again for 20 years.

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I might have to go
into that place a bit sooner.

- What place?
- The nursing home.

Do you want to go
into a nursing home?

- No.
- Why?

Not at this moment in time,

because I've got enough
faculties still going.

There are a few that
are going down the tubes, but...

That's the trouble with old age.

It's... a lot of it is very frightening.

You find you can't do heaps of stuff.

- Mmm.
- Um...

For instance, I used to think
cooking was quite an honorable job.

I can't
be bothered with it now.

I'd rather starve to death.

- I would!
- That's not good.

What about, you know,
you used to catch the bus

to go and see movies,
book clubs, walking group.

You had so many things...

Yes, I did and I loved them all,

but it wasn't right anymore.

Yeah, now you don't...

Now I go out to the doctor.

About the only one I see!

The long-awaited final report
from the Aged Care Royal Commission

has delivered a damning assessment
of the system

which is supposed to protect
the country's most vulnerable.

I was waiting
for the report

from the Royal Commission
to come down.

I mean, it was our Four Corners,

our two-part Who Cares? stories

that actually prompted
the Royal Commission.

Scott Morrison got in
the day before the first one went to air,

so he got ahead of it.

This is the first of many volumes...

Morrison got out there
and brandished a copy of the report,

you know, saying effectively,

"Now we've done something
about aged care,"

where the journalists had only been given

access to the report 20 minutes beforehand

and then he never did
a press conference again.

You tabled
the report while we were here.

How can we ask questions...

He didn't like
being questioned.

He thought
he would get a free run.

The Department of Health
and the regulator

put a submission into
the Royal Commission...

I'm the Prime Minister.
This is my minister.

Our cabinet will decide

our response to this
Royal Commission, okay?

- So is this...
- So we've released it.

I think I've answered your question.
Thank you.

I think it says a lot about
how we regard older people.

We do regard them as disposable

after a certain period of time.

They're insignificant.
They're not important in our lives.

Thank you.

I don't think
any of the politicians

are thinking, "Oh, this is
a system I'd like to go into."

They're not thinking, "Great! We've solved
it. I'm gonna be right when I'm old."

They're thinking,
"Thank God that I earn so much

"that I'm not gonna have to
be touched by this system."

You know, that's... that's the reality.

And, you know,
what we should be doing

is stepping back from
all of this and saying,

"What do we all actually want
when we get old?"

The majority of the people

have worked their entire life
and have been paying tax

and have been contributing
to the community

and when they're older,

I think everyone
deserves to have a good life

and to have a secure home,
a safe home,

and I hope that I can contribute

to someone's wellbeing
to stay at home safely.

I am a care finder
with Housing for the Aged Action Group

and the role is to help
older people over 65 and plus

navigating through the aged care system.

I'm loving it.

Like, that's really a calling.

I have been in the social work
field for about 20 years

so I have been seeing,
like, a lot of changes.

Since it has been privatized,

I don't think the clients
are getting the help that they need.

If you are living by yourself
and don't have, like, a partner,

and you are still fit in your mind,

I still believe the best option for you

would be staying at home
and being independent

and have some support in your home

like cleaning, shopping

or someone to take you
to your medical appointments.

My husband's name
was Lewis.

I'd been with him for 27 years, yes,

and, um, I miss him every day.

When my husband died,
I didn't know what I was up against.

I realized that rent was
getting way out of my league.

When I'd get my pension,

I paid my rent,

I had a provision for my utilities,

I could see things diminishing.

- Hello, Hanh.
- Hi, Bev. It's Hanh speaking.

- How are you going?
- I'm good.

We are now on our way to see you.

Bye.

Continue on State Route 22

for seven kilometers.

I was frightened
of what the future held.

I knew that it would reach a stage
where I would be homeless.

So I rang My Aged Care

and along the way, I mentioned

that I would like independent living
if it could be arranged.

And the next thing I knew,

this little lass Hanh
came to my front door.

She put forward plans and we came out here

and I loved the place straightaway,

and, um, here I am.

Once you get the services,
you can stay at home.

A nursing home means death.

I would say, "You no..."

I'll say it in Italian.

"You're not going to put me there,
are you?"

We came to Australia in 1960.

Dad was here, was injured at work,

couldn't come back to Italy,
so we joined him here.

And I was... Loved it.

I was 14 and a half.

I went to work in a factory
and said I was 16

and I worked in a factory for four years

and it was dreadful.

The idea
was that I could go and study,

but then I met Mario.

I met Mario when I was 17.

We went to the Boathouse

and we had a really nice ride
on the river.

He said, "Well, I'm old enough.

We need to get married.
I want to start a family."

I said, "Okay."

And Mum said, "No, too young."

I said, "Well, I feel good,"
and so we married.

Mum asked, "Where you gonna live?"

And Mario said,
"But I do have a house,"

and he brought me to this house.

I said, "Fancy that!
I feel really good in it."

And that was it.

And we have been here
ever since, 59 years.

I always wanted to study,

but Mario said,
"But I think I'm old enough

to start a family,"

but I was only 19.

Oh, he won.

All right, here we go. Afternoon tea.

And then I wanted
very much to start working

and I qualified a social diploma
in community development.

I worked at a community health center.

At the time, I was studying,
working, family

and looking after
Mum and Dad as well.

Let's see, Theresa.

Oh, we still have to wait.

Lovely.

Afternoon tea.

My father passed away July 2002.

- Do you want some?
- Yeah.

Then Mum was alone for five years

and then she was diagnosed
with pancreatic cancer.

There was not even a thought

of Mum going into a nursing home.

The idea of a nursing home
was waiting for death.

I've never known Mum to be selfish

until the last two months.

She said...

"If I had my mother here,

I would spend all my time with her."

And I said, "Mum, I'm 60.

Who would employ me?"

I find my job terribly rewarding.

You depend on your children,

but children do have their own family.

They have their own problems.

They've got their own issues,
their own work issues as well.

Often I am on a deadline

or I will be travelling somewhere
and I just feel like at any moment,

I have to go back to Australia
and sort Mum out.

If you want to put your parent
into an aged care facility

and you live overseas,

to navigate the myGov
or the Aged Care website

is really, really hard.

To get on the phone to anyone
is really, really hard.

I found that
when I was even getting her

up the levels of aged care,

because there's the four levels,

I really needed to be there to do that.

I don't think I could have
done it from here.

My Aged Care is the system

of government-funded support

for older people as they're ageing,

which starts
at really sort of low-level,

entry-level support around the home

and goes all the way
through to residential care.

But actually the majority of the system

is geared towards supporting people
in their own homes.

I've spoken to so many older people

who find it completely bamboozling.

And not just older people,

their carers and their families.

Just prior to this interview,
I went and looked up

the Aged Care
and the categories there

didn't really suit me at this point
in time of my life and my career,

and so I clicked on "Early Retirement"

and it dropped down into all these boxes
and I went, "Oh, my God!

This is going to take forever to read."

And I've got a PhD,

and I just looked at the first paragraph

and I went, "Oh, I'll look at that later."

And I was thinking about
how I would talk about this

to other Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander people

that struggle with myGov.

Accessing a lot
of the services like myGov

would be near impossible
in remote communities

because the Telstra services
are non-existent,

and if they do exist
in remote communities,

it's intermittent.

Like during the wet season,

you might as well say
there's no Telstra communication.

They're talking to you, but it
sounds like they're under water

and you can hardly understand
what they're saying.

Clearly, I'm on
the other side of the world.

It's a real worry to think
that she could fall,

something could happen to her.

I'm so far away.
I am her main point of contact.

She has her aged care provider
and they're brilliant,

but it's not like if anything happens,
she can, you know, call me.

Mum has to battle with loneliness.

She watches a lot of television.

She has some friends
who are quite loyal, which is great.

And she does kind of maybe
sometimes overthink things

and I think being on her own
too much is not great.

She's very youthful in her
outlook and in her mind

and I love her to bits,

but that also means
that she might rush at things.

And, you know,
lately we've got her a walker,

a red walker, which we call
the "Mean Machine."

So I have had to encourage her
to use that.

I've set up various
contingency plans, as it were,

but at any moment,

I have to go back to Australia
and sort Mum out.

It's a constant source of stress.

What did you do today?

Uh... not a lot.

No? Did you go for a walk?

Yes, I went 'round the block.

Did you take the Mean Machine?

Yes. Yeah.

Oh, by the way,
I went to the doctor yesterday

and she's given me
a clean bill of health.

Yeah, well, you're a force of nature, Mum.
That's amazing.

Who are those two men
in your house, darling?

Can you see them?
Look. Here they are. Look.

- Lovely. Waving.
- Hey!

Yes, they look rather nice.
What are they doing?

They're filming me.

They're just doing a little film thing.

- Look. There they are.
- Lovely!

All right, off you go.

Okay, darling.

- All right, bye, Mum.
- See you later.

- Waving. Bye!
- Bye, darling.

See you soon.

I get lonely
here on my own now.

Last year, five of my friends died.

One I'd known since I was 16.

I spend at least four hours
watching television.

Most of the time, I can't
work the television properly.

Okay, is that too tight
or not tight enough?

No.

It seems to be all right.

Do you ever get
frightened at night, Mum?

- Mm-hmm.
- Tell me about that.

Well, it's all very quiet.

And I just have to tell myself
that I'm all right

because if I... if I, um...

talked about how I was feeling,
it would make me even more frightened.

See, all this is exhausting for me...

unfortunately.

Is your granny...

John, does your granny
manage, like, on her own?

- Yeah.
- Yeah?

- How old is she?
- She's 90.

- Really?
- But, uh...

Is she in a care place?

No, not at the moment.

- She's still at home?
- Still at home.

She's got a lot of neighbors...

uh, who visit her every day.

- Wow. That's...
- But she's a very able woman.

- Isn't that wonderful?
- She's very healthy.

Ooh, it's very dark.

Across the country,
nursing home residents

account for almost 60%,
of coronavirus deaths,

amongst the worst in the world.

The pandemic
taught us a lot.

Above all else, I think, that
privatized services don't work.

Particularly when
they're essential services

because in the end,
the government needs to intervene

to make sure we continue getting them.

This is a gig economy,
it's a casualized workforce.

We get paid a pittance

and I need to work at five
different homes in a week,

otherwise I cannot feed my family.

The skill involved in caring

is just not recognized,

completely undervalued.

You don't usually
remember all the machines

and the stethoscopes and the fancy thing,

but you will remember the touch

of the nurse or the care worker

and the kindness, the compassion.

We just don't have
enough of the right people

with the right skills across the system.

I'll just get the bubbles out.

Well done.

Oh, look at this girl.
She's got a pirate ship.

Oh, so she has.

I wonder
if she's going to sail it.

I don't think she'll ever see it again
if she lets it out now.

So, Mum, if you were in
aged care, I could pick you up

and we could sneak out
and do this maybe.

Well, I'll keep that in mind

because, you know, it's nerve-racking

that you're going to go into this place

where you're not alone,

which is one of the reasons
I'd like to do it.

Yeah, 'cause you're not alone.

Do you think you could
ring and book yourself

into an aged care place?

- No, I don't want to do that.
- Why?

But why couldn't you do it
rather than me?

I don't...

I don't want to do many of
the things that you insist on.

- For instance...
- No, but I would like you...

Why do I have to do it?

Now, that's a nice little dog.

Look at that one.

That's cute, like Jerry.

Yeah, a bit like Jerry.

Can you do all the phone calls?

I used to, always. I did everything.

But I don't know.
I've lost the... the will.

But do you think
you could do it without me?

No.

What if I went somewhere
and lived overseas?

- How would you do it?
- Well, you did.

- You went away on holiday.
- Yeah, for two weeks.

I'm talking about,
what if I went for two years?

Well, I'd just turn up my toes and...

It's been such a great thing,

what you've done for me,

because I couldn't have done

many of the things that you've taken over.

And you've done it well.

Come in.

Hello, my dear.

Let me just...

- Whoops-a-daisy!
- Hello!

- Heya.
- Hey.

Now that I have
moved away from your area,

I would like to introduce

another care finder in this area.

And they will assist me, like...

- What I do.
- Going shopping?

That's something that
I am going to find out today

with My Aged Care.

Good afternoon.

Welcome to the Online Services
Support Hotline.

This help desk provides customer support
for your myGov account

or Services Australia online accounts.

If you haven't received your security code

to sign into your myGov account,

go to my.gov.au and search
'tips for troubleshooting'...

Keeping up with technology.

I'm not frightened of it,
I just can't keep up with it,

you know, at the present moment.

Your whole system sort of goes into
a bit of a rut and a grind.

For assistance

with a myGov linking code, press 2.

When they do that thing
where they give you a little...

code, a special code,

I say, "Don't do that!"

Because my eyesight

and the rest of me
just can't cope with it.

To hear these options again,

please press 9.

When you can't hear,

sounds come in at different levels.

It can be very disconcerting.

And when they play that music...

Oh, it can play havoc
with your hearing aids.

You know,

sometimes they make funny noises

and then you're trying to listen
to people on the telephone.

It's a challenge.

I would simplify things,
you know?

Like, I would put a person, a human being

to answer the phone

and I would not go, like,
from option A to option C,

then to option B
and then to option C again

and then by the time you reach someone,

it's, like, an hour.

One last thing
that I also found out...

I don't know if you're interested at all.

Knox City Council, around here
they have a talking cafe.

- They have which?
- A talking cafe.

It's, like, for people who are over 65

who are feeling a bit isolated.

Oh, they might have a book club too.

They do! They do meet, like, a lot of...

I love my independence.

I'll do the best I can to maintain it.

I am grateful for all those
who made it happen.

That little lass, she's...

she's just absolutely wonderful.

- Thank you, sweetheart.
- All right.

Okay, I will see you soon.

You'd think, as a care finder,

you'd do, like, only linking
someone in My Aged Care,

but I do more than that.

- Bye.
- Bye, darling.

There's a lot of loneliness.

You rely on some worker
to come to your home

and to give you that
community connection.

Which one
was the house you were born?

- This one.
- And where did you ski?

Here, there, everywhere,
cross-country.

And how old were you
when you started skiing?

12.

And he's got also...
He won a prize skiing.

Cross-country championship. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, at 12.

I think at home

you would have a better quality of life
with support services.

So your plan
is for you and Mario to stay here?

I keep on telling him,
"Mate, we've got to keep healthy.

We've got to keep healthy."

So Mario might want to go up the ladder.

I say, "No, no, no, no, no.

We've got to keep healthy

because the alternative is much worse."

We're a proud lot.
We want to be independent as much.

So we ask for help
when it's almost too late.

Yes, there is some isolation,

but I think I feel confident

that we could stay at home a long time.

I go to the University of the Third Age.

I love it because not only
do I practice my Italian,

but the knowledge is great.

Mario loves his garden,

can fix anything
you put in front of him,

but he doesn't want to read,

he doesn't want to learn anything else.

So take that away,
and that would be real trouble.

There would be depression
setting in and all that.

"No, no, no, no. I don't need
anyone to do the garden."

And Mario helps me to clean.

He does the kitchen every night.

I cook and he does
the dishes, cleaning...

He's the perfect husband.

- Hey, hang on.
- Oh, dear!

Hang on a second!

There's no such thing.

You... you could say 98%.

- All right.
- Leave 2%.

We can't stay up
until 12 o'clock anymore,

but we dance together.

The first time I sat with him

when we went
to that blessed Boathouse,

I felt good.

I just felt good.

And that's it.

But you need
to want to grow old together.

I'm not perfect. He's not perfect.

But you have to make a decision
whether you want that relationship

and, therefore,
you work towards that.

If your idea is to grow old together,

then it can happen.

Older people need proper care.

They need things like
strong communication.

- Touch.
- Empathy.

- Love.
- Dignity.

- Respect.
- And care.

So if we keep cutting corners,

it's not just Grandma who's in trouble.

We're all in trouble.

When people arrive
at our dementia cafes,

they're welcomed
by our volunteer team,

by our facilitator.

Everybody has a name tag.

It just has their name on it.

There's no other labels

or anything that highlights

that they might be living
with dementia themselves.

And the beauty of that is,
is that nobody feels

different to anybody else.

That everybody is equal
in our cafes.

Oh, we can't win.
We don't remember the game!

Yeah, coffee.

- Coffee? Milk? Milk?
- Yeah.

You've got the flat white?

No, it's a good atmosphere here.

Oh, and the people
are interesting as well.

One story I hear
time and time again

from new enquiries is,

"My partner has been
diagnosed with dementia

and, as a result, they have
withdrawn from society.

They're too scared to go out.

They're embarrassed,
they're ashamed and so they withdraw."

So to have a social outlet to come to

where everybody's going
through similar experiences,

the best feedback I can
receive is when people say,

"I can't tell who are the ones
living with dementia and who aren't,"

because everybody's interacting,
everybody's enjoying themselves

and everybody has a connection.

It's Judy and Roy's 65th
wedding anniversary tomorrow.

And she said, "Don't tell anyone!"

And it looks
like our guests are here!

Today we invited
some of the Kinder children

from the early learning center

to come and join us
preparing for Christmas.

So we generally like to do some
sort of craft activity

or something that we can then display
at our Christmas party.

They're part of a community,
they get to speak with younger people,

they don't feel like they're locked away
and I think that's the sort of...

That's the first thing that
we get wrong in Australia.

Our aged care homes
are pretty much completely segregated

from the rest of the community.

I think models that allow older people
some presence in the general community

rather than being
entirely kind of locked away,

seem like a really good starting place.

Every one
of us is going to get older.

It's the one sector,
more than any other,

where we can start involving community.

Bring them back into taking control

of their lives, of their communities,

instead of being controlled.

And I think it's government's job
to build community

so that community takes over
these roles and local...

These things are managed locally

and supported by central government.

He's got a blue shirt, has he?

As soon as babies
can understand language

in the mother's tummy, in the womb,

through their growing years,

they should be hearing about aged care...

and the sorts of issues
that elderly people face.

It would often be very difficult

if the person was solely on their own,

but if they're in a community

and they're loved by their community,

um, the community will step up
and come and help.

Until our community are engaged

as citizens and participants

who care about creating
a better future of ageing,

no structural reform...

will get us there.

Once again,
governments come and go.

A guy named Anthony
promised to fix it all.

Good afternoon.

Today, we are putting
the care back into aged care.

We're announcing
the greatest improvement

in aged care in 30 years.

This sounds good.

Will he make Grandma's life better?

In October 2022,

they passed a bill that was an amendment
to the Aged Care Act.

"You must have a registered nurse
in every nursing home."

But the aged care industry

didn't like this idea at all.

Once again, they cried poor.

The families of
almost 200 aged care residents

are in a state of disbelief tonight,

with the shock closure
of three Wesley Mission nursing homes.

Joining me now is the CEO

and Superintendent of Wesley Mission,
Reverend Stu Cameron.

People who are watching,
should they be worried

the home that their parents
are in could be next?

I think... Leila,
I think there's a lot of change

that has happened
and will continue to happen...

- So yes?
- Yes.

I think there will be more.

So they're very worried about
threats that come from nursing homes.

"Oh, we have to...
We're gonna have to shut down.

If we don't get this,
we're gonna have to shut down."

And so they basically hold
the government hostage.

I think the profit motive

is very damaging to health and aged care.

They're very uncomfortable bedfellows.

What was that?

There's the phone.

Do I put this out tomorrow?

Friday.

How long have you been
doing exercise classes for?

Oh, this is my second year.

- And do you like it?
- Yes, I do.

- Very much.
- Why?

Why do you like it?

I like it because it's...

I'm able to do
or try to do all of them.

It's not that difficult.

And they're very nice people.

But do you do it for a reason?

Well, I keep hearing that exercises

are terribly important.

I should do some
on other days as well,

but there is no-one
that will pick me up.

Last year, my legs felt stronger

so I'm hoping
the same thing will happen

'cause I've had no exercises
over the Christmas period.

So doing it, surely,
is partly trying to keep you

out of a nursing home maybe.

'Cause if you couldn't walk,
what would happen?

Oh, I'd have to go in...

or you'd have to come
and live with me.

We don't want that.
Where would I sleep?

In one of the bedrooms.
I've got two.

I'll come and
visit you at the nursing home.

Yeah.

- Take your time.
- Yes.

- Yeah, just push my back.
- Oh, push your back. All right.

A bit of a shove.

You right?

- All righty.
- Yes, good.

- You comfortable? Sorry.
- Thank you. Thank you.

- That's good.
- No worries.

I've travelled all around the world.

How lucky are you, Margaret?

- I don't know about that.
- Yeah.

Some of it was terrific,

but we had a year
in the Philippines...

Oh, wow. For your
husband's work, was it?

Yes, he was at the
University of the Philippines.

And I've been to the Chinese Wall.

- I nearly forgot that.
- Oh!

Yeah, I went with a friend years ago.

Yep.

That's my daughter,
by the way,

that's doing the film,
and that's my granddaughter.

Oh, right, okay. Oh, hey.

- Hello.
- How are you?

She's making
one about old age.

- Oh, yeah?
- And I'm in it.

I thought I was going to fall.

That's always my terror.

Three more each.

Two.

And one.
All right, legs out straight.

Let's just raise them
up and down 10 times.

Yep, and get them arms going!

Up and down, sideways.

Six, seven...

...eight...

So it'll be right, left, right.

Right up, left side, right straight.

Oh, my God!

- So, up, hook, right.
- Side...

Right, hook, right.

All right, guys, I reckon
you've done very well today.

No-one really talks about
aged care until they're old.

Yeah, we should be talking
about it a lot earlier.

We'll never fix
our aged care system

unless we realize
we're all in this together.

Maybe governments could work for us

instead of whoever
pays them the most.

But surely our governments
care more about people than money.

Yeah, you'd hope so.

But the lobby is very powerful.

If they continue to drive policy,

aged care won't work for us.

We're involved
in a seniors Italian group

of 70 people.

There are 10 males.

The rest, they're all female,

and they all live at home.

Most of our members
have had a pretty hard life,

like all... all migrants

of the '50s, '60s and '70s.

You reach a certain age,
you've had enough.

Not that once they stop working,

they've got nothing to do.

They raise all
the grandchildren first.

But once you arrive at this age,
you've had enough.

# Let's dance in style
Let's dance for a while #

# Heaven can wait #

# We're only watching the skies #

# Hoping for the best #

# But expecting the worst #

# Are you gonna drop the bomb or not? #

# Let us die young
Or let us live forever #

# We don't have the power
But we never say never #

# Sitting in a sandpit #

# Life is a short trip #

# The music's for the sad man #

# Can you imagine when this race is won? #

# Turn our golden faces into the sun #

# Praising our leaders #

# We're getting in tune #

# The music's played by the #

# The mad man #

# Forever young #

# I want to be forever young #

# Do you really want to live forever? #

# Forever #

# And ever #

# Forever young #

# I want to be forever young... #

So you want to do a cheers?

Mmm.

So, Mum, why are
you doing this film?

Because I thought it would help you

because I wasn't as helpful
when you were doing the others.

You must understand, I don't...

You're comfortable with all these things.
I'm not.

- But we're finished now.
- Nearly finished.

But it's a nice opportunity
to spend time together.

Would you suggest that?

And Lola and Claudie
and Ben and Jeremy and...

Well, I don't know
so much about them,

but I'm sure if I got to know
them more intimately,

I would find they were
absolutely charming.

- I think that's enough now.
- Okay, no worries.

- Good.
- Well done.

- Thank you.
- Nothing else you want to add?

- No.
- You sure?

Absolutely certain.

Thank you so much, Mum, for doing it.

- Okay.
- I really... You can relax.

- Yes, good, good.
- Yeah.

Goodbye!

Oh, dear. Goodbye.

- Well done, Granny.
- Oh, thank you, darling.

Thank you.

Oh, she's beautiful, isn't she?

Look how skinny she is.

All righty, well done.

And that's a wrap!

# And ever #

# Forever young #

# I want to be forever young #

# Do you really want to live forever? #

# Forever young #