Opposition leader Anthony Albanese has previously promised that Labor would provide 24/7 nurses in aged-care homes and emergency Medicare clinics, but he has conceded that labour shortages will make that commitment hard to achieve in the short-term.
Albanese now says that Labor will look at bringing in migrant workers as a ‘stop-gap’ measure while more local health workers are trained.
Meanwhile, the Australian Nursing & Midwifery Federation’s federal secretary Annie Butler says many nurses who have left the aged-care sector have indicated that they would be happy to return if there were better wages and conditions.
