“Ms LE (Fowler) (18:20): I rise to speak on this Aged Care Bill 2024. In July this year, I had the Lansdowne Aged Care Facility organise some of its residents to visit our parliament. It was the first time ever that Lansdowne Aged Care Facility have brought their residents here. They wanted to expose the seniors to Canberra and to the workings of parliament. It was organised by their manager, Nam Pham. She reached out and said, ‘Do you think you can make it happen?’ I did. I brought four elderly ladies—a couple with their walking sticks and walking frames—up to the members’ dining room and hosted them to a nice lunch. It took them three hours to drive from Cabramatta to parliament. We were hoping to get them into question time but that three-hour drive and the whole experience in parliament was just so overwhelming that, after lunch, they drove back home. But it was a great experience for them and a great experience for Lansdowne Aged Care Facility to really see Canberra and Parliament House.

Lansdowne Aged Care Facility caters to our culturally and linguistically diverse community, in particular, Southeast Asian residents who have cultural needs in their food and care, particularly their language. I engaged with the Lansdowne Aged Care Facility when the draft of this bill was released. I reached out to them and other community providers, workers, as well as nurses in the system to get their feedback on what is working and not working.”

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