Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response) Bill 2022. It's a pleasure to speak about a matter that's important to every single member and senator in this place. The stories we have brought to this parliament from our own electorates, from our own families and from the communities over many years were reflected in much that was presented to the royal commission which was instigated by the previous government.

The opposition supports the Albanese government in continuing our work on the fundamental and generational reform of the aged-care system to ensure that it meets the needs of senior Australians both now and into the future. And, of course, the opposition will support this bill because it mirrors the royal commission response bill that we introduced in the last parliament. And, of course, it delivers the second stage of critical aged-care reform that was commenced by our government in response to the royal commission's final report.

It is a shame that Mr Albanese and Labor have played politics with older Australians for the last six months by not facilitating the passage of these significant reforms when our bill was before the 46th Parliament. Effectively, the Labor Party are bringing back a previous bill which they appear to have held up in the previous parliament for political reasons. Delaying this significant and time-critical legislation solely for political gain is incredibly disrespectful to older Australians and their families who will benefit from these reforms. I need to point that out, because this is not new legislation; this is legislation that in effect was parked by the opposition in the previous parliament. The government's treatment of older Australians since the election has, therefore, in our view not been up to scratch. They've ceased the availability of free rapid antigen tests for aged-care homes that are experiencing an outbreak. They've backflipped on their decision not to extend critical COVID support provided by the Australian Defence Force.

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