Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

While the question may not suggest this, I think there has been a great deal of cooperation and support in the area of aged care—when the government was in opposition, and now that opposition is in government. While there may be issues of dispute, in relation to the matters that the member has raised today, more broadly, there is a healthy and positive consensus, which is allowing some important reforms to the aged-care sector to be realised. I thank the members opposite for their participation in the way we have handled those matters in government, in the same way that I believe they were able to benefit from the way we sought to do that in opposition.

In relation to this matter, the Australian government is redirecting more than $220 million over four years to establish the Aged Care Workforce Development Fund to support training of the aged-care workforce to better meet the needs of frail and older people. The fund will provide workforce initiatives targeting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The fund will replace the current Aged Care Workforce Fund. We understand that the workforce training-and-education role is a shared responsibility between the government and industry, with providers having obligations under the Aged Care Act to ensure there are adequate numbers of appropriately skilled staff to meet the individual care needs of residents. Support through the new Aged Care Workforce Development Fund represents part of the government's contribution to this shared—I stress 'shared'—responsibility.

It is expected that the aged-care workforce, as the member has noted, will nearly triple from around 350,000 people to more than 800,000 people in 2050. Priorities for the fund will be informed by a stock take of the Commonwealth funded aged-care workforce initiatives, scheduled to report in mid-2015. The stock take will identify areas of duplication or gaps in the delivery of government workforce initiatives undertaken over the next three years.

The government will provide prioritised funding for workforce initiatives that will have the greatest impact on building the capability of the aged-care sector. These priorities will be set out in the new guidelines for this fund, which will be available, I am advised, later this year. The guidelines will be developed taking into consideration the findings of the workforce stock take currently being undertaken. As part of the 2014-15 budget I note that the government redirected $1½ billion to aged-care providers. This funding was previously allocated for the workforce supplement. As a result, aged-care providers have increased flexibility in organised training and professional-development opportunities that are most appropriate for their staff's needs.

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