Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing and Mental Health) Share this | Hansard source

We heard a lot prior to the budget about how this budget was going to be a great thing for older Australians and how wonderful it would be for those requiring access to the aged-care system. We heard all this rhetoric again on budget night in the Treasurer's speech. But the reality is, as we now know, something quite different: there is not one new extra dollar for aged care over the forward estimates than there was already going to be in the forward estimates.

We heard a lot about how the government was going to respond to the growing waiting list for home care packages. According to the government's own website, as at December last year over 100,000 Australians are waiting for a home care package so that they can get the services that they have been approved for and assessed for in their own home. They are waiting for level 3 and 4 packages for over 12 months, according to the government's own website. We know that; it's on the government website.

In this budget, the government claimed that it was funding 20,000 new home care packages. The reality is there are only 14,000 new packages in the budget over four years. That averages out at 3½ thousand new packages a year. That is, of course, not going to keep up with demand. As I've said many times in this place, the home care package waiting list grew by 20,000 in the last six months of last year—20,000 in six months. So 14,000 new packages over four years is hardly going to cut it.

The Minister for Health, who's here—and I would be interested in his views—actually went on Sky News post budget and said, 'It will be the status quo for a short period of time, and then we'll start to look at a range of other interventions that will reduce that list.' So I'd be pleased to hear from the minister exactly what other interventions he has and how they are going to reduce that list, because I'm sure that he is, like I am, getting many of the thousands of calls from around the country to electorate offices, to people's offices, asking for support for people who are currently waiting at home for home care packages who can't get them. I'm getting calls from the desperate children of older parents, saying, 'I need to get my mum,'—or dad—'a home care package; we're sick of cobbling together the support.' I know the minister is getting them; we're all getting them. I'm getting so much feedback from people saying this is a growing problem.

We know that the government actually has the data for the March quarter. Indeed, in estimates, the department officials weren't really sure and wouldn't put on the record whether or not that data was already in the minister's office. Bearing in mind that estimates were some time ago and the government made a commitment that the quarterly data would be released two months after every quarter, that data is now significantly overdue—significantly overdue.

The minister should come clean today, while he is here, about where that data is. What is the number of older Australians waiting for a home care package today? How many older Australians are currently sitting waiting for their packages at each level—level 1, level 2, level 3 and level 4 packages? We know the number continues to grow. It's not okay to sit on the data. The government should be up-front and honest with older Australians about how long it's going to take for those older Australians to get their package. It says on the website that it's going to take more than a year. What exactly does that mean? I'm getting instances still of some people who have been waiting much, much longer than a year for their package. It's not okay. We know what happens to these people: family members have to fill the void; they end up in emergency departments; and they end up in residential care when the don't want to go or before they want to go. It's just not good enough, Minister.

I know that you care about this, so would you explain to the chamber exactly what you are going to do. How is the government going to fix this? It knew that this waiting list would happen. It knew that it would continue to grow. It said it would address it in the budget, and it clearly has not. It has not done anywhere near enough for older Australians, their carers and their loved ones. It is playing a cruel hoax on older Australians, trying to pretend that, somehow, this budget is going to provide care faster for them, when we know that the response is completely inadequate, that those older Australians are going to continue to wait for considerable periods of time and that the government is not planning any further investment when it comes to home care packages. Those older Australians, their loved ones and their carers deserve much better than what they got in this budget. The minister should respond to my questions.

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