Thank you, Anne – Rosalind and Daniel- and thank you Dr Graeme Blackman AO, for your opening address and recognise your commitment to this sector and his work as Chairman of the Aged and Community Care Providers Association.

I acknowledge the traditional owners of this land, the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains.

Together, Australians stand on the shoulders of 1600 generations of First Nations people and that is our shared history.

As Minister for Aged Care, alongside my parliamentary colleagues here Senator Ruston and Senator Rice … and as representatives of Australia’s Aged Care providers, it must sit with us all collectively to do better for First Nations people.

We need aged care, particularly residential aged care, to be accessible and a welcoming place for all Australians… no matter their circumstances.

And the Albanese Government is working to deliver a First Nations reform agenda for First Nations Elders, led by in-depth consultation with Elders, their families and carers, providers and workers, and relevant community organisations.

We do this in genuine partnership, under the Closing the Gap National Agreement.

The group gathered here today is important.

We need your input, solutions, and efforts to reform aged care.

We need to do this once and do it well.

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Address to the Aged and Community Care Providers Association Conference – 12 October 2022