Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the MPI, and it's great to be able to be in the chamber to support the member for Hasluck, who's also the Minister for Aged Care, who has carriage of this particular area. I also recognise the member for Hindmarsh; we both served on the health committee for many years, and he will know that, during his time as chair of that committee, under the Labor government, issues with aged-care and home-care packages existed as well. So it is not just isolated, as per their perception, to the coalition government. The beauty of having the member for Hasluck as the Minister for Aged Care is that I know how dedicated and how thoughtful he is and how much empathy he has for people, particularly coming from the background that he's come from to this place and having the focus that he has on aged care for all Australians. His experience is greatly recognised by many people, particularly in Western Australia where he's homegrown, as are the efforts he's made during the 18 months he has been the minister.

I will also go to the fact that this is a bit of a scare campaign by Labor. With the broad, sweeping statements they come up with each sitting day, they're hoping for a bit of political pointscoring. As I mentioned, the member for Franklin had the opportunity when Labor were in government to fight for the increases she now talks about. The member for Hasluck has been the minister for 18 months. We come into this chamber every day to hear questions from those on the other side. You wouldn't believe it that but, in the 18 months that the minister's been the minister, he hasn't had one question from the member for Franklin on this issue—not one question. But now she brings it up in an MPI. This is the question that's the highlight of the day, and there has been not one question in 18 months. What sort of shadow minister is that? She has not even questioned the minister for any details about his portfolio, but is quite happy to bring spurious claims in here that are designed to scare the elderly and the vulnerable in our nation.

It seems like a good opportunity to remind those opposite of their failure to address the crisis in home care for older Australians that they sparked. Under Labor's Living Longer Living Better reforms, the ratios set for care packages were inadequate and severely underestimated the real demand. The introduction of the new national prioritisation queue has uncovered the extent of the problem left by the former Labor government, which this coalition government under this minister is working very hard to fix.

When we were elected to government, we inherited a home care system with predetermined ratios that were inadequate and a supply of packages that were vastly insufficient for real demand. Our 2017 aged-care reforms and commitment to transparency exposed the extent of the home care mess left by Labor, and we are working to fix it. I'm proud to be part of the Turnbull government that has achieved this. Now there are more consumers than ever receiving home care packages, and we're adding more and more every week under this minister.

The increasing choice in home care reforms took effect from 27 February last year, and the reforms made changes in three key areas. Funding for home care packages now follows the consumer. There is a consistent national approach to assigning home care packages to consumers through My Aged Care, which allows for a more equitable and flexible distribution of home care packages. Consumers seeking care are placed on a national prioritisation queue, with their position based on their priority for home care services and the time they have been waiting for the care regardless of where they live. Also, item 3 is a streamlined process for organisations seeking to become approved providers under the Aged Care Act 1997. I'm sure the member for Hindmarsh and the minister will also remember in Western Australia the amount of home care packages that used to get handed back under the Labor government because they were unworkable.

These reforms have ensured a home care system that is consumer-centric, market based and streamlined, which means older people are in control of their package. Service providers are driven by quality and innovation, and we're actively encouraging new providers to support greater choice for consumers. This new system allows us to better understand the extent of demand for home care packages nationally. As such, we have now released two data reports since the transition to the new home care system. The data shows the number of consumers in care increased by 1.2 per cent from 70,000 in March 2017 to 71,000 in June 2017.

With the short time I have left, I would encourage the shadow minister, the member for Franklin, to take advantage of asking the minister questions in question time.

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