Late last night, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced 2 payments of up to $400 pro rata for aged care workers, the first payment to come in late February and the second in early May.

The details are slim. We have read through the media that the payment will extend to direct care, cleaning and catering employees, but we still don’t know whether all workers are covered, including those employed by contractors. Once we have these details, we will send them through to members.

Any additional money that makes its way into workers’ pockets is important, but I need to call this out for what it is. It’s an insult.

Aged care workers have been thrown trinkets when you deserve diamonds.

If we are going to retain and attract good workers, we need a permanent fix to aged care wages and conditions – not political spin in the lead up to a federal election. We need the Prime Minister to publicly support our HSU Work Value Case to permanently increase wages by 25%.

If the Prime Minister thinks that the experience of the aged care workforce over the last two years can be forgotten, or simply bought off with trinkets, he is sorely mistaken.

This tokenism has only made me more determined to fight.

All HSU members are invited to a campaign meeting next Tuesday afternoon 8 February @ 4.30pm AEDT.

Join online at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89291983753, or you can dial in on 02 8015 6011 with Meeting ID: 892 9198 3753.

Finally, I want to acknowledge the incredible work of every aged care worker. In our third year of the pandemic, your efforts are beyond heroic.