Beyond 2000, how far has Australia really come? Cabinet papers suggest not far at all

Twenty years has not been long enough for Australia to resolve the unrelenting problems of aged care, Indigenous reconciliation or emissions trading.

Previously secret federal cabinet papers from 2000 show John Howard’s government faced questions over the quality of the aged care sector in the wake of the kerosene baths scandal in Melbourne.

Vision of family members shaking in shock and weeping outside the Riverside nursing home, as news broke of residents being subjected to kerosene baths to cure an outbreak of scabies, was broadcast across the nation in early 2000.

Fast forward to 2020, and the Federal Government is waiting for the final report from its royal commission into the aged care sector, called in the wake of sickening…