Amongst the chaos of COVID there has been some big news for aged care.

The first is the government’s piecemeal attempt to pretend they are taking aged care workers seriously – the bonus payment of up to $800.

While more money is always nice, it’s a drop in the ocean compared to what’s needed. It’s all taxed, and home care get paid less. While we are pleased that our lobbying to extend the payment beyond ECAs and nurses has seen some changes, they have still drawn the line at food and cleaning services only.

Yet again, this is an attempt at a band-aid solution when what we need is real change.

In more positive news, Labor this week lent their support to our Fair Work Commission wage case for a 25% pay rise.

While the Prime Minister has explicitly refused to support the case, despite the strong recommendations of the Royal Commission, Labor have said they’d do just that.

Given our case is progressing fast, and an election is just around the corner, this is big news and vindicates the hard work that many of you have been putting in to support the claim.

Of course, nothing is set in stone until we see money in your bank balance, but this is much-needed good news at an otherwise difficult time.