SUBJECT/S: Nutrition in aged care, Maggie Beer Foundation.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Can I just say that it is awesome to be here with an icon in Maggie Beer. The fact that we've been having discussions with Maggie about how we how we fix - one of the big issues, one of the five points in my Budget Reply about aged care was about food and nutrition. It shouldn't be beyond the wit of us to work out plans, so that people get decent nutrition. The Aged Care Royal Commission was shocking in that it found that over half of our aged care residents aren't getting the nutrition that they need. They're literally starving, and when you have stories of food, the excess food being scraped off plates, put into a blender and pureed, and served up to older Australians the next day, we can do much better than that. But when you think about food in Australia, there is one name that comes to mind, and it's Maggie Beer. And we’ll provide $5 million for the Maggie Beer Foundation to work out standards, protocol and training to get it right. And I can think of nothing better than the Maggie Beer Foundation to deliver this change to improve the quality of life of older Australians who built this country, who deserve dignity and respect. So this is - I'm really excited.

SENATOR PENNY WONG, LEADER OF THE LABOR PARTY IN THE SENATE: He has been talking about it.

ALBANESE: I have. It’s amazing it hasn't leaked since the Budget Reply. I've been waiting for today, to come here. Because this is a great example of my commitment as well, to come up with practical plans that just make a difference to people's lives. So thank you, Maggie, to you and your Foundation.

MAGGIE BEER, THE MAGGIE BEER FOUNDATION: Thank you. Well, you know, nutrition is so important, but so is pleasure. And the pleasure that leads to wellbeing comes from beautiful food. And we can do it. And there are people doing great things, and we should celebrate them and we should fix up everything else. And it's possible. It truly is possible.

ALBANESE: Fantastic, and we look forward to working with you.

BEER: Thank you, I do too.

ALBANESE: It will be great.

JOURNALIST: Maggie, what do you think about the platform policies on aged care?

BEER: Well, it's wonderful that it does give us a huge responsibility as well. And we have to work with everyone, this can't be done alone. This is all about pulling everyone together. That is part of it. Part of the whole aged care because you have to bring people along with you. And everyone wants to do better if they have the how. And I think that's the most important thing.

JOURNALIST: What would five million dollars do?

BEER: Well, we've got a strategy day on Sunday and we'll tell you after that. This is an amazing surprise for us. And we've been working towards something. But the ideas have got to all come together. And we have to bring other experts into our alliance as well.

ALBANESE: I’ve got to say, I was at an aged care facility on, in the Central Coast last Saturday, where the only complaints from the residents was they were getting too much food, and they were putting on weight. So, a whole lot of aged care facilities are doing absolutely the right thing. We need to lift up best practice so that people can have confidence and if your loved one is in an aged care residence, they get a nurse, they get 215 minutes of care. They get proper nutrition. They get aged care workers being paid decently so that they're not completely exhausted. We can do so much better. And a key component of it is food. Because so much of food, too, revolves around the interaction. It's how we, it's how we meet and how we engage in discussion. It's not just about the food.

BEER: It's the dining experience as well. It's everything. But it is training, it’s education and the understanding that this is a very complex arena. This isn't straightforward. It needs real thinking and raising the bar. And we're excited to be part of that.

ALBANESE: That is awesome. Thank you.
 
ENDS