How refreshing to see the national president of a union write such a revelatory piece on aged care "Dignity Denied: Long term care and Canada's elderly" in Aged Care Crisis News and Media. A beautifully written article.

In Australia, the Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union, for one, has considerable experience in the problems that arise in aged care (and was very effective when trouble arose in our aged care home). It could be doing a lot for aged care in Australia - if it chose.

Aged care isn't the only area in which the Canadian experience mirrors our own. The shortage of doctors, especially in its rural areas, is just as acute as Australia's.

Yet, when the SA Government prepared its 25-year plan for health a couple of years ago, it chose the Canadian model as its chief reference. You can barely credit it, can you. You'd have to say whatever ends the SA Government hopes to achieve by following the Canadians, it isn't to better serve the sick or the aged.

I'd add only one thing to James Clancy's article. It isn't all corporate greed. Someone needs to plug the leakage of aged care funds into consultancies, pseudo-educators, industry associations and too many others who are feeding off the 'system'.