House debates

Thursday, 22 October 2020

Matters of Public Importance

Aged Care

3:37 pm

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

I want to thank the royal commissioners for their work, and there's more to be done. I know that today's report was not the report of the commission but a report to the commission. So far, the commissioners have made two reports. The government has accepted all of the recommendations from the first report and accepted all of the recommendations from the second report. Indeed, we responded on the afternoon of 1 October, when the most recent report was related, and accepted all six elements, for the record of the House. It is very important.

The first recommendation of the commission, that the government would provide a final report by 1 December, we've accepted. That's underway. On the second recommendation, the government has announced two packages to provide additional funding for staffing, with regard to visitation for aged care, and we're actually implementing $245 million of funding to support providers with COVID-19 related costs—full acceptance of the second recommendation is already underway, which the opposition unfortunately is not aware of or didn't acknowledge today. In addition to that, the government accepts the third recommendation, in relation to the mental health of residents of aged-care facilities, and we will be implementing that. I've already been engaged deeply in the planning of that with the Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians and with the department. We are within 19 days of the recommendations being made. The recommendations have been accepted, with four out of the six already having been significantly implemented and all six to be implemented.

Ms Collins interjecting

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