The minister was questioned about the government's backing of the facility during a tour of the region yesterday.
Mr McCormack said he had spoken with Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck yesterday morning regarding the future of the centre.
“Obviously this is very worrying, not only for residents but for their families and loved ones and the community,” Mr McCormack said.
“We will get the right response.
“I know the Prime Minister’s office is also well aware of the situation, I commend (Member for Nicholls) Damian (Drum) for the work and advocacy and the campaigning he has done, as a very immediate and urgent response to what is an unfortunate situation.”
Further questions were directed to Mr Drum, who said the situation had thrown the Federal Government “under the bus”.
“There’s a whole raft of mismanagement that has gone on with this facility and all of a sudden the administrators have been called in and the Federal Government has been asked to come and fix up this mess,” Mr Drum said.
“We understand first and foremost that Murchison needs an aged care facility, so we are looking to do everything we possibly can to make the existing facility attractive for another aged care accredited provider to come on board and pick that up.
“Some of those aged care providers have looked at it and said, well, we want a brand new facility built for us so that we can move in and it will be fit for purpose for the next 70 years,” he said.
Mr Drum said he was continuing to work with administrators to find a solution.
“We have a commitment from this government to do everything we possibly can to keep DP Jones open and to keep the Murchison facility offering the services it does for that community into the future,” he said.
However, Mr Drum said increasing funding into the aged care industry was a choice to be made by all Australians.
“Ultimately it’s a bigger question, it’s a question that all of Australia has to answer,” Mr Drum said.
“Are Australians prepared to forgo somewhere else's finances so we can put more money into aged care?”
An interim report from the Aged Care Royal Commission was released yesterday, which gave a hint of what the final report will propose when it is released in November next year.
Mr McCormack said the royal commission was “very, very necessary”.
“They were people right through Australia who weren’t being treated in the right way in their twilight years and we want people who are in aged care facilities to have the very best care, support and indeed love,” Mr McCormack said.
“We want them to have the very best services available in those golden years where they deserve to be treated with the most respect.”
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