Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This is a very important issue. The number of our senior Territorians is increasing. The number of senior Territorians in Darwin and Palmerston, in my electorate, continues to rise. That's why I rise to put on the record my support for the motion moved by the member for Franklin. Constituents—not just senior Territorians—their children, their friends and their grandchildren, Australians across the nation, are concerned about this issue. Their loved ones, their elders, are languishing in limbo waiting for approved home-care packages from this government, a government that seems to have different priorities.

The Turnbull government's budget in relation to this issue was a cruel hoax. It was a cruel hoax for older Australians, with not a single extra cent for Australia's aged-care system in this year's budget. I know that members from regional areas in Australia will be getting the same feedback as I am. How on earth could a federal government have a tax policy that would give $17 billion for banks but cut the take-home pay of Australians? Pensioners, our seniors, get $14 a fortnight. More than that, how can the government allocate in their budgeting $17 billion for the banks but not put a single extra cent in Australia's aged-care system? That is unconscionable to me and, I think, to most reasonable Australians who respect their senior Australians.

The fine print of the budget has revealed trickery at the centre of its aged-care plan. It's slashing residential care and funding for nursing homes to try to fix the home-care crisis. The Prime Minister is simply giving with one hand and taking away with the other. What's worse, the government's con won't even come close to solving the crisis in home care. There are 100,000 senior Australians—or, as we heard the member for Mayo quote the minister responsible, 102,000 older Australians—still waiting for care. The Turnbull government has locked in a big-bank tax handout of $17 billion. It must hurt, if you live in a community like mine, to be a member of the government benches and continue to hear that reality.

This same government wants our tradies and nurses to work until they're 70. Forgive me for pointing out what's incredibly obvious, but this government is completely out of touch when it comes to senior Australians. I agree with the earlier speaker: this government needs to apologise for, once again, over-promising to senior Australians and then absolutely under-delivering. One constituent in my electorate, Rita Fisher, is currently on level 3 care. Rita has been approved for level 4 care but has been on the waiting list for two years, and counting. Rita has told me that she must pay out of her own pocket for level 4 services—that she has been approved for—as she waits. So she is paying as she waits, even though she's been approved for those services. This is completely unacceptable. We heard just before from the member for Mayo that the minister responsible, the member for Hasluck, says that the government doesn't have the money to do more. So the obvious question is: why does the government have the funds to allocate to tax cuts for the big banks when it can't look after our senior Australians?

See this speech in context