Senior Counsel Assisting Peter Gray QC’s opening address revealed just than 900 of the 2,000 providers asked to detail cases of substandard care to the Commissioners have so far responded.

Of the largest 100 providers, 79 have submitted their responses even though their deadline was 7 January – and Mr Gray has delivered a blunt message to those who have not, saying they are planning to follow up to ensure the request is “receiving proper attention”.

“As Commissioner Briggs noted previously providers who do not engage with our requests draw attention to themselves and their practices. They will be subject to careful scrutiny,” he stated.

Only 800 public submissions have been made so far to the Commission. However, submissions are open until at least July and past 5,000 submissions provided to the Department of Health have also been added to the list. We were told at the Commission that every one of the submissions is being read.

The message? If you are an operator, don’t think that you can hide.

As COTA CEO Ian Yates also pointed out in his discussion, such ambivalence is not new. 40% of home care providers have failed to publish their pricing on the Government’s MyAgedCare website by its mandated 30 November 2018 deadline, he said.

There was no other way to read it but as an implied threat by the Counsel Assisting towards noncooperative operators.