Premier Peter Gutwein has poured cold water on concerns from Equal Opportunity Tasmania that banning visitors from aged care homes was putting residents at risk.
Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Sarah Bolt had argued that family, friends and volunteers had provided a level of oversight.
“The Royal Commission has confirmed that there are pockets within the aged care industry with a grim history of breaching trust even when the doors are wide open,” she said.
But the Premier shut down the criticism, saying he did not think aged care homes would use the lockdown as an opportunity to mistreat their residents.
“We have just been through a Royal Commission. I would think that most aged care homes are pretty much on notice at the moment to do the right thing by the person they are caring for,” Mr Gutwein said.
The Premier added that the Government’s restrictions on aged care visits – which he extended to all public aged care homes last week – have been in the interest of protecting residents and would stay in place for a while yet.
