Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Financial Services) Share this | Hansard source

Our elderly citizens are among society's most vulnerable populations. They depend on others for care. Yet this government continues to leave too many older Australians waiting in vain. More than 129,000 seniors are now without an approved home care package. This includes more than 96,000 older Australians waiting with high needs, many with dementia. It's a crisis that shows no signs of being contained by this coalition government. In December last year I spoke in this place about the dismal job that the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government had done in reducing waiting lists for home care packages. Since that time even more Australians are now on a waiting list. The numbers are increasing, when they should actually be going down. It's part of a broader trend since 2017 that's seen the waiting list for home care packages blow out from 88,000 to more than 129,000 older Australians waiting for packages. That's too many waiting for what should be their right in modern-day Australia—the right to an adequate care package after a life time of hard work and service.

These really have been lost years for too many Australians waiting for care at home. As the list grows longer, fresh stories emerge daily of older Australians struggling because of this government's neglect. Bad government translates into worse outcomes for our vulnerable older Australians, their families and their carers. Some older Australians have been waiting for more than two years for their approved package. Over 75,000 older Australians on the waiting list have no home care package at all. Recently I took a call from a member of our community that was 92 years old and had been waiting two years to get some form of aged care package from this government. It's simply not good enough. The majority of older Australians are waiting for level 3 and 4 packages. They have high care needs. Older Australians are entering residential aged care or even emergency departments instead of receiving their approved home care packages.

How did it get to this, that some of our most vulnerable Australians are being treated in this way by the Australian government? Government is about priorities. We saw a couple of weeks ago what this government's priorities are when the entrepreneur Dick Smith, one of Australia's wealthiest Australians, uncovered that he's receiving half a million dollars each year in cash refunds from this government, simply for owning shares in Australian companies. That is his cash refunds from dividend imputation. He is getting half a million dollars worth. That's one individual, yet this government has 129,000 Australians waiting for aged care packages.

Reforms to aged care were meant to give older Australians the choice to age at home. But the latest figures confirm that the Liberals' policy chaos has failed older Australians. Aged care has again been locked out as a cabinet position since the federal election. It's had four different ministers since the Liberals were first elected in 2013. There's been no consistency in this portfolio from this government in terms of ministerial representation, but also no consistency of approach when it comes to policy.

The crisis in home aged care is unacceptable. Labor condemn this government for failing to stop the waiting list for aged-care packages growing. We call on the government to immediately fix the home care packages waiting list and properly address this escalating crisis. The coalition needs to act to find solutions, to pass legislation and to implement a plan to continue driving long-term reform. When we have some of the wealthiest Australians receiving half a million dollars in cash payments from the government for owning shares and we have 129,000 elderly Australians on a waiting list for home care packages, something is wrong in this country. What is wrong in this country is that we have a coalition government that does not care about the needs of elderly people in terms of providing home aged-care packages so that they can age with dignity and get the support and respect they deserve. The coalition needs to act. It needs to find solutions, pass legislation and implement a plan to continue driving long-term reform and to reduce the aged-care waiting list. Older Australians can't afford any more lost years and any more lost opportunities waiting for their aged-care packages at home.

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