Ken Wyatt (Hasluck, Liberal Party, Minister for Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

That is occurring at the moment, Member for Franklin. That requires a visit to each state and territory, and I have asked the department to meet with the ACAT assessors on the ground to find out the reasons that we have delays. Colleagues from both sides of the House have raised with me the substantial delays. When I am made aware of them, like the issues you raised this morning, I deal with them. I would appreciate having the details of the ones that you raised, because I will attend to them and make sure that we do not have these delays of 700, 500 or 300 days. They are totally unacceptable, and I concur with you in that regard.

But once we analysed the reforms, with the use of ACFI for complex care needs, suddenly we found a pattern of inexplicable spikes in expenditure and service provision, instead of the normal trajectory. Therefore in that review the department spoke with agency providers and remedied the pattern. The government could not afford to continue with the high level of expenditure, so we capped the instrument. It was not a cut; it was a capping. People had to operate within the framework of the fiscal requirements at the time. What we saw was some of them shift to using the behavioural component of ACFI to again spike in an unacceptable way. The Wollongong report is currently out for consultation. We have worked, as we have done on both sides of the House, and continue to do so, with the aged care sector to co-design responses. That process will culminate within the next couple of months, and then it is my intention to talk with the sector and move to a funding combination that will better serve the aged care sector. If ACFI does not provide the level of guarantee in long-term planning for the provision of places and facilities then I want a better model, and I suspect that you would want the same.

I will make public those other reports that you refer to, when it is appropriate. It is again my intention to make sure that the advisory committees within the aged care sector have access to that information and are briefed. David Tune's Aged Care Legislated Review will also enable input from the recommendations that he is proposing to continue from the aged care sector, because it is incumbent upon us to get this right. We owe it to the seniors in our nation, who built this nation, to have the best possible care. But I would welcome all members of this House to provide me with details where there are unnecessary and inappropriate delays in accessing aged care packages and services.

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