AGED Care nurses are angry they have been excluded from an "expert" taskforce to develop an industry workforce strategy, describing it a "a major insult".
The taskforce was announced by Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt who said everything would be on the table, "but there are only two things that matter, safety and quality".
The taskforce membership includes academics, government officials, industry representatives and a seniors' advocate. It will be chaired by Professor John Pollaers.
"The taskforce will explore short, medium and longer term options to boost supply, address demand and improve productivity for the aged care workforce," said the Minister.
"With Australia's current aged care staffing need predicted to grow from around 360,000 currently to almost one million by 2050, workforce issues are vital to the quality ongoing care of older Australians.
He said Professor Pollaers brought a strong combination of business leadership skills and international experience to the table.
However, the country's largest union, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation has questioned why frontline nurses and care staff have been excluded from the taskforce.
"It's inconceivable that the Government has set-up a taskforce to investigate workforce issues and plan a future workforce strategy without nurses and carers," Ms Butler said.
"A wide range of stakeholders from providers, consumer and interest groups, through to academics have been invited to sit on the taskforce, but the ANMF or other representatives of the aged care workforce have been ignored.
"Nurses and carers working on the frontline in aged care are best placed to advise on what is required to ensure proper, safe care is provided to elderly nursing home residents.
"They are the ones that fully understand the complex conditions of the frail aged, the skills that are required to attend to these conditions and how many staff that takes."
