Paul Neville (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am calling on the government to urgently respond to the Productivity Commission's report Caring for older Australians so that this nation and its citizens can have some peace of mind when it comes to just how we are going to manage our ageing population and its aged care needs. We have already gone through 20-plus reviews and inquiries related to ageing and aged-care issues, including three by the Productivity Commission since 2007. It is now more than seven months since the commission released that last report. The Wide Bay area, which includes my seat of Hinkler, has the highest age profile in the nation, yet it is missing 429 aged-care beds and has Queensland's poorest ratio of beds to people over 70 years of age. Nationally, the bed ratio for the region is ranked the third worst.

According to information provided by the Department of Health and Ageing, the missing beds—beds allocated but not yet delivered by service providers in the region—comprise 234 high care and 195 low care. Their specific location is not freely available. With this in mind, can you guess just how many aged-care beds the region received in the last round of aged-care allocation, in which 180 funded beds were up for grabs? It was zero—not one. It is utterly incomprehensible to me how a region, and thus my electorate, would not receive a single aged-care bed in the last round. It is highly distressing to older residents and their families. So, in all, we are down 600 places in the last four years.

I have never been officially informed as to why no beds we allocated. Departmental officers say that there were no applications. Potential providers tell me that the capital cost of facilities and the government's per capita emoluments for clients make profitability uncertain. But, whatever the reason, the government must urgently address the care needs of the ageing population. We simply cannot wait any longer. To wait another four years would be an outrage.

There needs to be a seismic shift in thinking when it comes to aged care in Australia. We need to change our whole mindset when it comes to funding and to the structured management of the aged-care system. Some have put it to me that we do not rely on profit based charity organisations to run defence and the health system and they ask why aged care should be any different. We value both our defence and our aged-care needs. We should not look to profit but should look to the care of Australians who have made a contribution over their lifetimes.

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