We are currently witnessing another aged care disaster, but does anyone care? It is astounding that there has been so little public outcry about the failure of a Victorian aged care facility to provide for its vulnerable, frail residents. What an enormous breach of trust...

An administrator has been appointed to clean up the mess. Residents (98 of them) and 158 staff have had their lives turned upside down. $8 million worth of bond money is missing. The administrator hopes that a buyer will be found so that the residents can stay in their facility, their home. But who, in their right mind, would buy a set-up with that amount of debt? Most likely the tax payer will eventually have to pay the bill. And most likely the residents will be moved to other facilities. But where?

As the place crumbled, TV viewers saw visuals of family members taking food in to loved ones because the meals were so scanty. And now residents are left waiting to see if someone will ‘buy’ them. Wonderful!

Where is the outrage about those who are experiencing the end of life being treated as commodities for sale? Where are the probity checks to ensure that those who put their hands up to provide care for those who can’t look after themselves, are actually competent to do so? After all, this place was sold by one company to another for a dollar just last November. Didn’t anyone think that there was anything strange about that?

Then there is the little matter of the involvement of the investment arm of the Sydney Diocese of the Anglican Church in all of this. Why are they investing in private-for-profit aged care? Once upon a time the churches thought it was their job to look after the frail, the old and the poor themselves.

So many questions and so few answers. It is not only the residents of this particular home who require some answers. Every time there is another scandal about aged care, we all lose more trust in the system. That’s bad for everyone.