Peter Dutton says if troops are needed to staff aged care homes ‘that’s what we will do’

Peter Dutton has said there is an “enormous amount” more the government wants to do to relieve the workforce crisis in the aged care sector – including possibly sending in the Australian defence force.

The defence minister said on Friday “of course” the government had to consider that option: “If that’s what’s required, that’s what we will do.”

Scott Morrison has never ruled out using the ADF in aged care but he poured cold water on the idea in mid-January.

Mike Baird, a former New South Wales premier and now chief executive of the aged care provider HammondCare, has said troops were required because the sector was facing a “perfect storm” of rising infections and staff shortages triggered by isolation requirements.

On 13 January, the prime minister told reporters in Canberra that while he didn’t rule the idea out he wanted to “dispel this notion that the defence forces can come in and replace workforces all across the country, whether it be in aged care” or other sectors.

Morrison said the ADF could “provide very important support” including “specialist knowledge and skills” but warned: “That of itself is not going to solve that issue.

“What’s going to solve that issue, increasingly, is a pushing through, ensuring that we can get as many of those staff not isolated and back working in aged care facilities as quickly as possible, and to ensure that we manage all the other demands in aged care facilities as best as we possibly can, with rapid antigen testing and so on.”

Aged care providers estimate about a quarter of all shifts – or the equivalent of 140,000 shifts a week – are going unfilled, while the disability sector has reported roster vacancies of up to 30% during the peak of Omicron.

On Friday Dutton said aged and disability care were “obviously the most difficult” sectors because Covid-19 “deliberately targets older people” and those with underlying medical conditions.

“The government has provided support with the industry,” the minister said. “We’re already in an agreement with the private hospitals to supplement, so far, 78,000 shifts within aged care, and JJ Frewen, the general who has orchestrated the rollout of the vaccine across the country, is intimately involved in the logistics and the rollout of the vaccine within the facilities. So, yes, there’s an enormous amount more we want to do.”

Dutton said the problem of Omicron in aged care was a “witches brew” because “people feel isolated and you want to allow loved ones in” but the government had to be “realistic about the fact that then introduces more of the virus into an aged care setting”.

Asked if use of the ADF was something that needed to be considered, and quickly, Dutton replied: “Of course it is … If that’s what’s required, that’s what we will do.”

He said the best thing the government could do was “provide those nurses and those additional shifts to be covered where people are sick” – an ambiguous reference either to the surge workforce or the ADF.

The government has offered two payments of up to $400 to workers in the sector to help with staff retention, but unions and providers have blasted the Coalition for failing to make a submission in a work value case seeking pay rises of up to 25%, a more permanent solution to understaffing.

Anthony Albanese said on Friday the government “should put in a submission supporting a wage increase”.

“If we don’t deal with the issue of wages, then we won’t be able to retain a workforce in the aged care sector,” the Labor leader told ABC TV.

“The other thing we need, of course, is we need more workers and more carers. But we need a nurse in every nursing home, 24/7. It’s extraordinary that we have these aged care facilities that can go for considerable periods of time without having a nurse right there when they’re needed.”

Albanese repeated his call for the aged care services minister, Richard Colbeck, to resign, saying he had “failed before” and “continues to fail”.

Guardian Australia last week revealed that Colbeck attended the Hobart Test from 14 to 16 January after declining to attend the Covid committee on Friday 14 January – citing the workload of officials battling the Omicron wave.

On Wednesday Colbeck defended the decision and said the aged care sector was performing “extremely well”, despite coming under “genuine stress” due to coronavirus.

Australian defence force staff helped at aged care facilities in Melbourne in mid-2020 during Victoria’s Covid wave.