Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, you are correct—there were no alternatives. On that front, in terms of the safety and quality—very important reforms that we have enacted—with regard to the commission: obviously, $496 million for the 10,000 home care packages. Importantly though, as well, $25.5 million to improve medication management and safety for older Australians living in residential aged care, as well as the $10 million for workforce training and support, particularly in dementia, and $4.7 million to improve the implementation of younger people in residential care. In addition do that, what may have been lost by the opposition is that on 1 July, thanks to the work of the now Minister for Indigenous Affairs, new quality and safety standards for aged care came into being. And on 1 January we also had the legislated Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner, Janet Anderson, who, with her legislative powers, has now been pursuing these issues. These standards of safety and care, whether in relation to wound management or falls or any other form of abuse or treatment, have never been legislated to this effect before, have never been taken to this level before, have never been elevated to the level of scrutiny that we have put in place on our watch, in our time, precisely because, as the Prime Minister said, when he set out the need for a royal commission, we want to expose all of the challenges, wherever they exist, whenever they occur, and in whatever form that may be.

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