Ken Wyatt (Hasluck, Liberal Party, Minister for Indigenous Health) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Grey for his ongoing interest in aged care and the way in which we look after senior Australians. The royal commission is an important step forward in looking at the total structure of the reforms that are needed in aged care. There will be numerous avenues available for people to provide feedback to the terms of reference for the royal commission. A dedicated website has been established by the Department of Health at consultations.health.gov.au. I would encourage Australians to think about the broad areas that we want to cover—that is, the quality of care provided to senior Australians and the extent of substandard care; the challenge of providing care to Australians with disabilities living in residential aged care, particularly young people with disabilities; the challenge of supporting the increasing number of Australians suffering dementia and addressing their care as they age; the future challenge and opportunities for delivering aged-care services in the context of changing demographics, including remote, rural and regional Australia; and any other matters that the royal commission wishes to consider.

In recognising the diverse needs of the community impacted by the aged-care sector, I am committed to holding and ensuring a round of consultations on the royal commission and to hearing the views of people. Consultation for the terms of reference is now open and will remain open until 25 September. In the next few days we will be working hard to get input on the terms of reference that the commissioners will turn their minds to. I encourage members from both sides of the House to encourage their constituencies to communicate with that website and provide their thoughts. I'll be talking to a range of groups—mainly consumers, families, relatives and providers—in the days ahead. Just yesterday, the Prime Minister and I met with leadership from the Aged Care Sector Committee to seek their views.

Those who just want to register their interest for information about the commission can do that by leaving an email address for more information at https://agedcare.govcms.gov.au/announcement-of-royal-commission-into-aged-care-quality-and-safety. We are still committed to the existing reforms, and we will not be stopping the pipeline of work that is continuing and that will remain the focus of this government and our government in ensuring the quality and safety of services provided to people, both in residential care and in home care.

I would encourage every member in this chamber to encourage their constituents, organisations, providers, culturally and linguistically diverse groups, and all the diverse groups that we work with on a daily basis to make submissions, because this is a significant path forward to providing aged care to all senior Australians. That is important for both home and residential care.

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