Fiona Martin (Reid, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I have spoken previously in this place about the government and how it's made improvements to the aged-care system for senior Australians. Over 1.3 million Australians are using some form of aged care, including two-thirds who have access to basic in-home supports. As of June 2019, there were over 220,000 places in Australia's aged-care system, across 873 residential providers, 929 home-care providers, and 1,458 organisations funded to deliver Commonwealth home-support programs. The government is delivering a record amount of funding for the aged-care system. It is up from $13.3 billion in 2012 to $21.4 billion this year.

One of the Prime Minister's first actions when he took office was to call for a royal commission into aged care, and I commend the Prime Minister on his leadership. The findings of the interim report of this royal commission were distressing for everybody. Because of this, we are taking action to improve the quality of care for older Australians and to provide older Australians with the support services they want and need.

Our response to the interim report was swift and substantial. We provided $25.5 million to improve medication management to reduce the use of chemical and physical restraints. We provided $10 million for better support for dementia behaviour management. We provided $4.7 million to help young people move from residential aged care to more age-appropriate support and to stop new younger Australians from entering aged care by the end of 2022.

Like my grandmother, more and more older Australians are choosing to stay in their homes, and the Morrison government is committed to providing the support for older Australians who make this choice. Since the 2018-19 budget, the government has invested in providing 44,000 new home-care packages at a cost of $2.7 billion. Home-care packages have increased from 60,308 under Labor in 2012-13 to a projected 158,030 in 2022-23—an increase of over 160 per cent. And for higher level packages funding will increase by 249 per cent over the same period.

In January, we announced support for struggling aged-care providers with the Business Improvement Fund providing grants, particularly for aged-care providers in regional, remote and rural communities. Every year, under us, home-care packages are up, residential-care places are up and, every year, aged-care funding is up.

Beyond providing funding for the aged-care sector, the government has introduced the new Aged Care Quality Standards and Charter of Aged Care Rights, which commenced last year and apply to all aged-care services. The standards focus on quality outcomes for consumers rather than on provider processes. The new charter of rights provides the same rights to all consumers, regardless of the type of aged-care funding or the services they receive. As our population ages, the government will continue to provide funding and support for the aged-care sector.

Reforming the aged-care sector in this country is a serious matter, which will not be solved overnight and which does not benefit from a knee-jerk reaction. Despite Labor's plans for $387 billion in new taxes, Labor, at the election, provided no additional funding in their costings for home-care places or any additional funding for aged-care quality, workforce or residential aged care.

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