Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to condemn the Turnbull government for the crisis in home care which they have created by slashing funding for this very important service. These harsh cuts mean that older Australians often have to wait months and months to access desperately needed home-care packages. These packages provide vital assistance that enable our seniors to remain in their homes longer with effective support. There are currently more than 100,000 older Australians waiting for a home-care package for which they have already been approved. In my region, locals are constantly telling me they have to wait months and months to access these much needed packages, and they often just end up going without these services.

Despite this alarming figure, the Turnbull government continues with its inaction in the aged-care sector. It is truly extraordinary that, in the face of such a growing aged-care crisis, the government has failed to act. In an even crueller hoax, the Turnbull government has actually stripped funds from residential aged care in order to fund a very minimal number of aged-care packages—only 14,000 packages. That is a paltry number, considering the very dire need. These 14,000 new packages won't even come close to fixing the aged-care crisis. Taking money from one portion of the aged-care budget and then simply putting it in a different section doesn't actually address the problem. This reveals the dangerous and irrational approach this government has when it comes to the care of our older Australians.

In the last six months of 2017, the waitlist for home-care packages grew by 20,000 people. The fact is: older Australians deserve better. They deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, and they deserve to be able to access services when they need them. Margot, a constituent in my electorate, still lives in her home and quite rightly wants to remain in her home with home-care help. Margot turned 99 in June this year and she is totally blind. She is currently receiving a care package at level 2. This funding provides her with two carers for three hours each per week to assist with her shopping, house cleaning and personal care. This level is clearly insufficient for her needs. Approximately eight months ago, Margot was assessed by ACAT, the Aged Care Assessment Team, as level 4, and she was placed on high priority, and she is still waiting today. After repeated requests for her to access level 4, she's been advised she's still high priority on the waiting list, but it could be six to 12 months before she actually receives it. So here is a woman in her 100th year who is blind and finds it hard to walk, and she's just told to wait. This wait is unacceptable. This situation is unacceptable. I call on the minister and the Turnbull government to address this desperate situation immediately and deliver those level 4 home-care packages now.

The crisis in home care shows how this government is out of touch and how fundamentally wrong all of their priorities actually are. Government is all about choices and priorities. In this instance, the Turnbull government has abandoned our older Australians and instead they've chosen to give the banks a $17 billion tax handout. They've put the banks above aged care. They've put the banks above health care. They've put the banks above our older Australians. In the regions, it's the National Party that puts the banks above local, regional and rural communities. How about this as a solution: instead of giving tax cuts to the banks, fund more home-care packages—fairly straightforward.

Australians know that the Turnbull government has abandoned so many people who have high aged-care needs. They can see that the government has left almost 300 older Australians on waiting lists for over two years. A further 636 older Australians have waited more than a year for care, and they currently have no care at all. There are thousands more getting less care than they actually need. As Ian Yates, the CEO of Council on the Ageing Australia, said:

It's absolutely clear the Government will have to bite the bullet and put extra resources into home care.

So I call on the government to act. Home-care packages make it easier for older Australians to remain in their homes and to keep living there. It's clear what needs to be done, and it's shameful this government has abandoned our older Australians. In fact, the Turnbull government should apologise to our older Australians and their concerned family and friends, and they should apologise to people like Margot for their failure to deliver much-needed home-care packages.

On this side, the Labor Party condemns this failure on behalf of all Australians. We are committed to holding this government to account when it comes to providing aged-care services. We won't stop until there's real action taken on home care. We won't stop until there is more funding delivered so that our older Australians can get the care and full services that they deserve. So we say to the Turnbull government: no more cuts and no more excuses. It's now time for action. Fix the crisis in our aged-care sector.

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