Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Australia's aged-care system is broken. There is not one part of the system that isn't impacted by crisis. The crisis has many numbers, but what we all need to remember is that they are people and they are people with families, grandchildren and children. One hundred and twenty thousand older Australians are waiting for care, with periods in excess of two years for those who need it most. Eight months ago the department provided advice to the Prime Minister about how to fund more home care packages to fix this exact problem. Today he has announced 10,000, but 10,000 is barely a drop in the ocean when there are 120,000 still waiting.

The true disgrace is that 16,000 older Australians are dying each year waiting for the government to do something. They're our grandparents. They must be scared and terribly upset when they're at home waiting for that help. Even when thousands of Australians have died, there is still nothing being done. Although they called for a royal commission, it still hasn't been acted on. There have been so many different reports. They need to be acted on and we need to do something about it. It is time for this government to take action, correct the mistakes and fix our aged-care system.

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