Q+A host Hamish Macdonald and Liberal MP Katie Allen were brought to tears on the show as a discussion took place about Australia's failing aged care system and the fears of Australians who will one day have to enter it.
Ms Allen ended the show in tears as she spoke about her father's battle with dementia in response to a question about assisted dying laws.
"He couldn't speak for the last year of his life, he couldn't walk, his only words that were left were 'thank you'," Ms Allen said through tears.
"It's a terrible disease, so I think people [need to be] able to have the choice, and the control, and the laws in Victoria have been, I think, I have to say well handled and I think that we need to have this sort of conversation, particularly for dementia."
It was the same topic, albeit in a much younger man than Ms Allen's father, that saw Macdonald's facade crack earlier in the show.
The Q+A host was interviewing 56-year-old audience member Timothy Granger and his daughter Prudence-Rose.
Mr Granger had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease five years ago at age 51 and revealed his fears about what the future held for him should he need to spend much of the rest of his life in palliative care.
"How are you doing?" Macdonald asked.
"Going well," Mr Granger responded before adding: "Sorry, I have a little bit of problem with speech, sorry, what was your question?
"I wanted to know how you're doing," Macdonald said.
"You're living at home with your beautiful wife, your wonderful daughter. How do you feel about the prospect of one day going into an aged care facility?"
Mr Granger's responded before his daughter Prudence-Rose stepped in and shared her fears.
"I think what makes it scary is he's so much younger," she said.
"He's going to be potentially going in there in his 60s or sooner, which we really want to avoid but if that occurs, how can he live his best life in these facilities that aren't really set up for him at his age?
"There are more people getting diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's."
Macdonald then asked how Mr Granger felt when it comes to possibly entering a home sooner rather than later and having that conversation with his family.
"That's going to be difficult and probably it's going to be hard for them as well," Mr Granger said.
"I'm scared. I think it's not something you think is going to happen so soon," Ms Granger added
"We would like to be able to support him for as long as we can, the reality is we probably can't.
"We also have financial concerns. We'd like to be able to put him in a facility that will support him and his needs but I don't know if he could afford that or if we would get in.
"And I'm just witnessing that, especially tonight, listening to everything that everybody is saying and it's really scary."
It was then that tears rolled down the host's face.
Macdonald said after the show that the tears came in part because he had met Mr Granger previously and that it was the situation that Mr Granger finds himself in that sparked the emotion.
"I've met Tim previously, so I was already somewhat familiar with the situation he is in," Macdonald told the ABC.
"He has a beautiful warmth and a great sense of humour, I was really looking forward to catching up tonight.
"In truth, we can spend hours talking about the statistics and the data and the sad history of aged care in Australia, but stories like Tim bring the realities home to us all.
"When Tim speaks, you can imagine this was you, you can imagine this was your partner or your father. It is impossible not to be moved by Tim's story.
"He's a father, a husband and a lovely human, faced with some extraordinarily difficult circumstances. I'm really pleased there's a space for Tim and people like him to have a voice in such an important national conversation around aged care."
Another man with early-onset dementia, 62-year-old Trevor Crosby, said he would do anything to avoid aged care.
"I'd avoid it like a plague for starters, after that I'd continue to find an alternative," Mr Crosby said.
Mr Crosby then asked if the government after the royal commission might move swiftly to implement fixes, similar to how they did for the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Does the future hold any hope for me and my dementia mates, all 472,000 of them?" He asked.
His question was met with a negative answer by Professor Joseph Ibrahim of Monash University's Department of Forensic Medicine.
"Will there be the speed of action that we saw with COVID? No, there won't be, " Professor Ibrahim said before laying blame at the feet of both government and the Opposition.
"There's no track record demonstrating government's willingness to do that. There's no demonstrated action from the Opposition to hold them to account.
"There was a Senate inquiry in 2005 about the plight of young people in nursing homes.
"A promise was made that young people, those under 65, wouldn't be in nursing homes and it remains a problem 15 years later."
Dik, Brian and Vera's families paid top dollar for them to live at a "lovely" nursing home, but damning reports from the aged care regulator and allegations by a group of trainee nurses tell another story.
Asked by Macdonald if those with dementia's fears were justified, Mr Ibrahim responded in the affirmative.
"Yes. For the average patient that I see, the person in low socio-economic group that has no money, that's a pensioner, they're terrified," he said.
"They can't stand up for themselves. They do not get listened to and don't know where to go and they're scared to prosecute a complaint."
Throughout the episode, other harrowing stories of neglect in aged care homes were shared, including that of an audience member's friend being left to sit in what she described as a "urine-soaked chair".
And Lea Hammond appeared from Perth to share the details that led up to her father, Brian Hunter's, death late last year, when he was left with severe sunburn after aged care staff left him on the roof of a building.
"I just feel it's criminal that these actions have actually injured and taken my father's life from him," Ms Hammond said.
Those two tales were just the tip of the iceberg as Mr Ibrahim spoke of his disgust at the amount of sexual abuse that takes place in aged care and his hope the royal commission would lead to change.
"Since 2007, the serious incident reporting has been reported through to the Department of Health [about] incidents of sexual violence that have been occurring," he said.
"And these now number in the thousands.
"There has not been a single report from either government or Parliament or the Department about what action has been taken and what's been learnt from all of those assaults.
"Myself and my team made a submission to the royal commission on two separate occasions and we get absolute silence as if older women don't matter.
"I think that is really outrageous. And an abomination in our society that we ignore older women, our mothers and grandparents."
While sexual assault is an issue in the aged care sector, it has also been amplified nationally in the last fortnight due to the allegations brought forward by former Coalition staffer Brittany Higgins that she was raped at Parliament House.
Ms Higgins's allegations led to a fiery debate between Ms Allen and Labor MP and Opposition spokeswoman for senior Australians and aged care, Clare O'Neill.
Ms Allen said a "wind of change" was "like a howl going down the halls of Parliament" in relation to culture in Canberra changing but staunchly defended Defence Minister Linda Reynolds, who was Ms Higgins's boss at the time, when asked if the response at the time was correct.
"In my heart of hearts, no," Ms Allen said.
"I think Linda Reynolds, who is a great advocate for women, did everything she thought was appropriate at the time."
The response left the door open for Ms O'Neill to fire back at the Coalition and she did so with gusto.
"I don't think we're going to get any change until we get accountability," Ms O'Neill said.
"We need some answers here.
"We're talking about an alleged rape that was committed in our workplace, in a ministerial office, literally metres from where the Prime Minister goes to work every day.
"The way this was handled is nothing short of despicable. That's my honest feeling about it.
"We have also got the fact we know many people around the Prime Minister at the time knew about this, and he claims that he didn't know, which I think is frankly pretty implausible.
"The alleged perpetrator of this crime left the Parliament, not in handcuffs, but with references from people who worked for the government, and went on to commit another alleged sexual assault.
"What we need to keep doing is pursuing the Prime Minister until these questions are answered."
While the two MPS targeted each other, it was an interjection from former NSW premier Mike Baird that caused surprise as he laid bare a surprising admission about his time as a state leader that sexual assault complaints were not limited to Federal Parliament.
"It's not just the Commonwealth Parliament. I reflect personally on it," Mr Baird said.
"Being in the New South Wales Parliament, and a leader of a party and a government, I had a chance to do something significant here and I didn't.
"And that onus is on me. And I think, that I hope, that what Brittany has done has said to the nation we must do more."
The ABC is not making any suggestions and it was unclear who Mr Baird was speaking about but former NSW Liberal Party staffer Dhanya Mani told 7.30 earlier this week that she reached out to the Prime Minister's Office for help over an incident in 2014 where she alleged being subjected to "abusive conduct by a senior staffer in NSW Parliament".
View original post here:
- Liberal | Define Liberal at Dictionary.com [Last Updated On: June 10th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 10th, 2016]
- Liberal | Define Liberal at Dictionary.com [Last Updated On: June 12th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 12th, 2016]
- Neoliberalism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [Last Updated On: June 16th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 16th, 2016]
- Liberal Conspiracy [Last Updated On: June 16th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 16th, 2016]
- Urban Dictionary: liberal [Last Updated On: June 19th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 19th, 2016]
- Liberal - RationalWiki [Last Updated On: June 21st, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 21st, 2016]
- What Is a Liberal - What Is Liberal Bias [Last Updated On: June 21st, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 21st, 2016]
- Liberal, Kansas - City-Data.com [Last Updated On: June 21st, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 21st, 2016]
- Liberal Synonyms, Liberal Antonyms - Merriam-Webster [Last Updated On: June 21st, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 21st, 2016]
- Conservative vs Liberal - Difference and Comparison | Diffen [Last Updated On: June 21st, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 21st, 2016]
- What's a Conservative Ideology and What's a Liberal Ideology? [Last Updated On: June 24th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 24th, 2016]
- Our MPs | Liberal Party of Canada [Last Updated On: June 24th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 24th, 2016]
- Liberal Party of Canada [Last Updated On: June 24th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 24th, 2016]
- What's a Conservative Ideology and What's a Liberal Ideology? [Last Updated On: June 25th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 25th, 2016]
- Our MPs | Liberal Party of Canada [Last Updated On: June 25th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 25th, 2016]
- liberal - Dictionary Definition : Vocabulary.com [Last Updated On: June 28th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 28th, 2016]
- Real Change - Liberal Party of Canada [Last Updated On: June 28th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 28th, 2016]
- Liberal, Kansas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [Last Updated On: July 3rd, 2016] [Originally Added On: July 3rd, 2016]
- Delaware Liberal [Last Updated On: July 14th, 2016] [Originally Added On: July 14th, 2016]
- Liberal Democrat Voice [Last Updated On: July 14th, 2016] [Originally Added On: July 14th, 2016]
- liberal - Wiktionary [Last Updated On: August 10th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 10th, 2016]
- Liberal Party of Australia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [Last Updated On: September 8th, 2016] [Originally Added On: September 8th, 2016]
- Liberal Party of Canada - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [Last Updated On: September 8th, 2016] [Originally Added On: September 8th, 2016]
- Paul Krugman - The New York Times [Last Updated On: October 4th, 2016] [Originally Added On: October 4th, 2016]
- liberal - definition of liberal in English | Oxford Dictionaries [Last Updated On: October 15th, 2016] [Originally Added On: October 15th, 2016]
- What does Liberal mean? - Definitions.net [Last Updated On: October 25th, 2016] [Originally Added On: October 25th, 2016]
- Liberal Warren throws down gauntlet to President-elect ... [Last Updated On: November 12th, 2016] [Originally Added On: November 12th, 2016]
- Paul Krugman - The Conscience of a Liberal [Last Updated On: November 27th, 2016] [Originally Added On: November 27th, 2016]
- Main Street Liberal [Last Updated On: November 27th, 2016] [Originally Added On: November 27th, 2016]
- Liberal Studies - Interdisciplinary Studies - Clayton ... [Last Updated On: November 30th, 2016] [Originally Added On: November 30th, 2016]
- Quotes About Liberal (122 quotes) [Last Updated On: December 29th, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 29th, 2016]
- Neoliberalism - Wikipedia [Last Updated On: January 31st, 2017] [Originally Added On: January 31st, 2017]
- Liberal Party of Australia - Wikipedia [Last Updated On: February 2nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 2nd, 2017]
- Mona Fortier wins Liberal nomination for Ottawa-Vanier byelection - Ottawa Sun [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2017]
- Pro-DeVos ads air, saying 'liberal' critics are full of 'rage and hate,' as anti-DeVos protests are held - Washington Post [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2017]
- Goodbye to the liberal era - New Statesman [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2017]
- The 7 Most Outrageously Liberal Super Bowl Ad Campaigns of 2017 - NewsBusters (blog) [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2017]
- Liberal Orthodox rabbis oppose OU ban on female religious leadership - Jerusalem Post Israel News [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2017]
- I'm A Liberal, And I Want Milo Yiannopoulos On My Campus - Huffington Post [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2017]
- Cory Bernardi to quit Liberals to form own conservative party - The Guardian [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2017]
- Fake news for liberals: misinformation starts to lean left under Trump - The Guardian [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2017]
- Liberal Judicial Activism Borders On Insurrection - Daily Caller [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2017]
- House Science Chairman Sees Liberal Cover-Up on Warming Pause - Scientific American [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2017]
- Conservatives reject liberal humor in Trump era: Dave Berg - USA TODAY [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- Cory Bernardi says he resents being used in Liberal party 'proxy war' - The Guardian [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- All liberals are hypocrites. I know because I am one - Quartz [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- Scholars: 'Liberal' Reputation of 9th Circuit Overblown - ABC News [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- Dear Readers: Letter From an Anonymous Liberal Pastor in Trump Country - Religion Dispatches [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- LePage uses State of State to rip 'liberal' attack on Maine way of life - Bangor Daily News [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- 'What took you so long to man up?': Cory Bernardi unable to explain why he's quit the Liberals - The Sydney Morning Herald [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- Liberal Hashtag #NotMySuperBowlChamps Protests Patriots' Support of Trump - Fox News Insider [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- Supreme Court Nominee Gorsuch Reportedly Goes To a Very Liberal Church - Mediaite [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- Liberal Men Lash Out Against 'Unqualified' Woman Betsy DeVos - Daily Caller [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- How 'liberal' reputation of 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is overblown, scholars say - The Mercury News [Last Updated On: February 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 9th, 2017]
- NDP wants Liberal government to apologize for dropping electoral reform - CBC.ca [Last Updated On: February 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 9th, 2017]
- Strategies for Saving the Liberal Arts - Inside Higher Ed (blog) [Last Updated On: February 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 9th, 2017]
- 'Angry Malcolm' channels John Howard to impress the Liberal tribes - The Sydney Morning Herald [Last Updated On: February 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 9th, 2017]
- Liberal groups file lawsuit to block Trump's deregulation order - Washington Examiner [Last Updated On: February 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 9th, 2017]
- Liberal land - Richfield Reaper [Last Updated On: February 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 9th, 2017]
- Is Gorsuch a secret liberal? Trump, GOP have reason to wonder. - The Hill (blog) [Last Updated On: February 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 9th, 2017]
- Wisconsin governor Scott Walker proposes surprisingly liberal budget - Chicago Tribune [Last Updated On: February 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 9th, 2017]
- 10 Most Liberal Companies In The US - Insider Monkey [Last Updated On: February 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 9th, 2017]
- Tim Scott reads racist tweets by 'liberal left' over support for Jeff Sessions - Washington Times [Last Updated On: February 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 10th, 2017]
- BC Liberal staffer hired by government, but still did work for party - Vancouver Sun [Last Updated On: February 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 10th, 2017]
- Trevor Bauer Takes Issue With 'Liberal-Slanted' Anti-Donald Trump Articles - NESN.com [Last Updated On: February 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 10th, 2017]
- Why the liberal world order is worth saving - Irish Times [Last Updated On: February 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 10th, 2017]
- Trevor Bauer goes on long rant defending tweet about liberal bias - Yahoo Sports [Last Updated On: February 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 11th, 2017]
- Networks Swoon Over GOP 'Feeling the Wrath' of Liberal Town Hall Protesters - NewsBusters (blog) [Last Updated On: February 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 11th, 2017]
- Liberal Tolerance: Sen. Tim Scott Reads His Hate Mail On Senate Floor For Supporting Sessions As AG - Townhall [Last Updated On: February 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 11th, 2017]
- The Claws Out For Ivanka Trump Show Liberal Love For Women Is A Sham - The Federalist [Last Updated On: February 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 11th, 2017]
- Trump Takes a Running Whack at the Liberal Interventionists - The Nation. [Last Updated On: February 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 11th, 2017]
- Indians swept by Liberal in WAC action - Hays Daily News [Last Updated On: February 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 11th, 2017]
- Electoral reform 'not dead,' Liberal MP says at St. John's rally - CBC.ca [Last Updated On: February 12th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 12th, 2017]
- This liberal Brooklynite is on the hunt for conservative friends - New York Post [Last Updated On: February 12th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 12th, 2017]
- Here's why we report on liberals - Newnan Times-Herald [Last Updated On: February 12th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 12th, 2017]
- The Paranoid Style of Anti-Trump Politics - National Review [Last Updated On: February 12th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 12th, 2017]
- Liberal president Kent Johns blasts Ross Cameron as 'nothing more than a circus act' - The Sydney Morning Herald [Last Updated On: February 12th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 12th, 2017]
- Finley: Left bites Ivanka's liberal hand - The Detroit News [Last Updated On: February 12th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 12th, 2017]
- What the Liberal-One Nation preference deal could mean at the ballot box - ABC Online [Last Updated On: February 12th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 12th, 2017]
- A new, liberal tea party is forming. Can it last without turning against Democrats? - Washington Post [Last Updated On: February 12th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 12th, 2017]