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

The member for Flinders. He said that it was going to be a very good budget this year for health, and for aged care in particular, and he said that on 6 May. But what we saw on budget night, as I said, was not one new single dollar for aged care over the forward estimates—not one. That is not good enough and it's not sustainable when you talk about the growing demographic and when you talk about the ageing population in this country. We should see the ageing population in this country as a positive. Yes, there are challenges with it, but, as I said, we should be open and honest with the Australian people about what those challenges are. We should have a grown-up discussion from both sides of parliament about how we're going to fix this and how we're going to deal with it in the future. We cannot afford, and older Australians cannot afford, for this government to play silly games or for this government to come in and try to pretend it's done something and try to score political points. We need to be serious. This is a big deal for older Australians, their families and their loved ones, and this cannot be allowed to go on.

The sector has talked to us about the government's budget cuts and its disappointment with the budget. The sector also came out after the Prime Minister's comments yesterday. To say that this sector is concerned about the way this government is managing aged care would be an understatement. This is a sector that doesn't usually say very much, because it knows it has to work with governments of both persuasions and it knows that government is a major funder of aged care in this country. Indeed, there is $100 billion over the forwards for aged care. This area does cost a lot of money, because the primary service deliverers of aged care are people. These are hardworking people. They deserve our respect and they should be valued by this country.

We really need to make sure that this government actually takes seriously these issues. I cannot believe that we've got to a position where the aged-care sector is concerned about the government and has been brave enough to come out on some occasions to tell the government that what it's doing is not good enough. This government should be ashamed of where it's got to with aged-care reform.

Having said that, we are supporting this bill. We are supporting the change to the standards. But this government is going to have to be put on notice about delivering on these standards and ensuring that the aged-care sector has the resources it needs and the respect it needs to actually be able to deliver on these standards. I am concerned about some of the FOI changes and I am concerned about making sure that people at home get the same protections and the same quality of care that people in residential care should be entitled to. In the most part they are getting that, but we also know that, in some cases, they aren't. These standards need to protect them both at home and in residential care.

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