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

The portfolio budget statements show the increase in budget expenditure by our government, unlike what the shadow minister says. We will take the construct and build it into a very simple process of providing the authority of the parliament to move provisionally allocated places to areas of need that are important, because, at the moment, we can't do that. This enables it. Constructing aged-care homes is a difficult, time-consuming and expensive exercise. It's not uncommon for providers to finish their aged-care homes with fewer rooms than originally intended, due to either planning or construction issues. Where this is the case, the Aged Care Act needs to be flexible enough to allow these leftover places to be moved to another suitable location.

Similarly, a provider may find a more suitable or affordable location for an aged-care home a few minutes drive away from the planning region to which the places were originally allocated. Again, the act needs to be flexible enough to allow this. The amendments within this bill add to the flexibility to act by allowing provisionally allocated residential aged-care places to be moved from one region to another where a provider can demonstrate that the movement is in the interests of aged-care consumers, that there is a clear need for places in the new region and that it is not detrimental to the region to which the provisionally allocated places are currently allocated. This change is in the best interests of all older Australians and the broader community. It will remove a potential barrier to the community accessing residential aged care, thereby aligning with the government's commitment to ensuring delivery of high-quality aged-care services when and where they're needed. I thank the members and senators for their contributions to the debate on this bill.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

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