Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

The government well and truly has people who are engaged with the health system and aged-care system in its sights. The couple of days ago the Prime Minister was asked by the Leader of the Opposition on 9 November, if he would rule out a GST on rent and on nursing home payments. He flick-passed the ball to the Treasurer and the Treasurer told this place, 'The government is considering all options.' Aged-care services are critical to those older Australians who have saved hard for their retirement and who have contributed to the economy, the community and society which we call Australia. It is important that they have certainty. They have had no certainty from this government because in their first budget they tried to change the indexation in relation to pensions to effectively reduce the value of pensions and the capacity for older Australians to provide their housing, their food, their groceries, their health services, and their dignity and certainty in retirement. Fortunately, this place and the other place saw a bit of sense and stopped the government from undertaking that. But as I travelled around the country, attending pensioner forums and forums for older Australians, I saw the umbrage that was taken by older Australians. You saw that on the faces of those opposite and the Treasury benches, because they knew very well that older Australians were very unhappy. And they will be if the government proceeds with any plan to put 15 per cent GST on aged-care services and health services, because the government did not tell the public about any such plan when they travelled around with the blue book before the last election.

When it came to their costings, on the fiscal implications on coalition policies before the last election, released only a couple of days before the election, they said nothing at all about a 15 per cent GST. In fact, the then Leader of the Opposition, the member for Warringah, actually made the point that there would be no cuts to health and no cuts to education. He made it crystal clear that the GST rate would not change at all under him. So they get in, and what do they do in their first budget? They attack pensioners and attack our older Australians. And what have they done with respect to health services in this country to make it harder to increase the cost on older Australians and families across the country? We have seen more than $60 billion cut from Australia's public hospitals, and we have seen attempts to increase the cost of medicine for every Australian. We have seen $370 million cut from preventative health programs, thereby increasing the cost of health services to all Australians. The government's ongoing GP tax through its MBS freeze has been implemented.

They are trying to get this in a position where Australians pay more when they go to see the doctor. We know that when the former Prime Minister was minister for health the bulk-billing rates were only 67 per cent. When Labor left office the bulk-billing rates were 82 per cent. We are very proud of the fact that Labor has always supported Medicare. We always have. We have always supported the universality of Medicare, but those opposite opposed it year, after year, after year. When John Howard was the Leader of the Opposition he had a Damascus road conversion experience before 1996, but they have always set about trying to undermine the universality of Medicare, so a person's credit card was more important than their Medicare card. That is what they have always tried to do. Now the cuts are well and truly at every level of the health system.

In relation to aged care, you can imagine the costs to our older Australians and the impact on older Australians, because aged services come in a variety of different ways. They happen in residential aged-care facilities where a person has to consider paying what they call a RAD—a refundable accommodation deposit—or a daily accommodation payment, or indeed a combination of either to get into a residential aged-care facility. Then they have to pay for the care in the aged-care facility. Or when they are in their home they have to pay home care in relation to that. Imagine the cost with the GST in relation to that. Imagine the cost if you were in your home and you had to pay a GST on the services that you get to help you stay in your home. It would be a tragedy for those people. You are talking about services of transport, palliative care, dementia services, re-ablement and wellness programs, all of which help older Australians to stay fit, healthy and in their homes. But if there is a 15 per cent GST, imagine the cost to older Australians. Imagine the cost in vulnerable areas.

Think about those Australians living in remote and regional areas, because the costs will be even more because the access to services and the market is more limited. For a start, you might only have one provider in a country town who provides that. But there is another kind of service that millions of Australians have access to and many Australians really appreciate: the aged-care services of the Commonwealth Home Support Program: Meals on Wheels and what we used to call HACC. Imagine the cost of that if the government decides to put 15 per cent GST in relation to that.

The government has got to answer this because when they were in opposition they kept on asking us to rule things in or out all the time, but all of a sudden they are not prepared to do this. Older Australians need certainty, stability and they need to know that they can live their lives without this uncertainty hanging over them. I call on the Prime Minister. The minister there at the table, she should rule this in or out today so that we know exactly what is happening with respect to health and aged-care services in this country.

Members of the government and the backbenchers on marginal seats either put up with the arguments and the troubles and the travails they had to sell an unpopular policy when the government was trying to change the pension down to CPI increases only, instead of a percentage of male total average weekly earnings, or the Pensioner and Beneficiary Living Cost Index—whichever is the greater. They would have seen a massive reduction, if the government had got that through, in terms of the pension.

Imagine going to those forums they have—and we all do it—before elections and trying to justify a 15 per cent GST tax on aged-care services or in health services. Imagine the impact it is going to have on the residential aged-care sector. We have seen cuts and we have seen the government make it harder in terms of the aged-care sector. There is no aged-care workforce strategy in place. We know how hard it is in terms of residential aged care. We know how difficult it is. And the government has made it more difficult because of their complete lack of making sure that the My Aged Care website and the hotline operates properly, so there have been delays and confusion.

Whether I have gone to the Metro North Brisbane PHN meeting or have been in Bendigo or I have been in Adelaide or in my own electorate, in Ipswich, every single time, wherever I have gone to meet with aged-care providers, to meet with pensioners and seniors groups, there has been criticism. There has been criticism from seniors. The National Seniors have not been happy with it. COTA has not been happy with it. We know that doctors have not been happy with it.

The government have made it more difficult for older Australians because of their failure in aged care. In the last budget, they cut funding with respect to aged-care workforce development. How are we going to get older Australians the service they need? How are we going to get that residential aged care or home care or Commonwealth Home Support Program if we cannot get the workers to work in that area? It is going to make it more costly for older Australians.

The government have a stock take that they have had for over 500 days. They promised the stock take of the workforce issues in aged care in the country, but they have not released it. This is a stock take of their own Commonwealth government funded programs. They still have not released it. That is a shame. They should be doing the right thing. They should be doing an aged-care workforce strategy and working with the unions, working with the sector. They should be working with LASA, ACSA and COTA. They should be working with the guild. All of this should be undertaken because the cost in the aged-care sector if they do not do this will adversely impact older Australians, even without a GST.

They should also be looking to restore the funding for dementia that they cut. We know that in the last budget they changed the terminology from ACSIHAG to 'dementia and aged-care services' and cut $20 million out of the funding in discretionary grants. That makes it more difficult to get the services that people need.

The government generally have had a fairly bipartisan approach to aged care. We did the heavy lifting and the hard yards on Living Longer Living Better when we were in government. But the government have really made it more difficult because they have taken their eye off the ball in aged care, and the decisions they have made have made it more difficult in the sector. Health has been the same.

The government have a lot to answer for. They can rule this in or they can rule this out. In the aged-care sector, the Commonwealth contribution to aged care in this country is about $15.8 billion annually. It is a massive part of the portfolio and the expenditure of government. Imagine the cost in the sector if the government brings in a GST. Imagine the cost and the loss of jobs. Imagine the loss of care. Australians deserve better in health and aged care.

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