Jenny Ware (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am very happy to rise to support this motion brought by the member for Casey, and I thank him for bringing the importance of home-care packages and the current significant underfunding in home-care packages to this place.

I commend a lot of the words of the member for Robertson. He said that this government is committed to ambitious reforms. I am sure that this government is committed to ambitious reforms, but a commitment to ambitious reforms has to date not resulted in nearly enough home-care packages for Australians who desperately need them. The member also said that these reforms were intended to commence in July 2025. We're currently in June 2024, so I'm not sure if that was some sort of error or whether it does mean that these reforms will not commence for at least another 12 months.

I am sure that most members of this place go around and see aged-care facilities. One of the nicer parts of the job is going out and giving flowers to people who have turned 100, for example, and things of that nature. It is good that there is an aged-care sector that has changed significantly over the years and that now we are moving a lot more towards wanting to accommodate the many older Australians who want to stay in their own homes for as long as possible. This is particularly important as we age. Older Australians must have the right to age in place for as long as possible with as much dignity as possible, and any assistance that can be given should be given.

We have a package in place. We have home-care packages in place. But I must say that it is one of the most asked-about issues, if I can put it that way, that come into my office. Trying to navigate the My Aged Care system is extraordinarily clunky and very, very difficult at the moment. Frequently we find, whether it is the aged person themselves or their family members trying to navigate that system, they often require some additional assistance. What we have seen is waiting lists for home-care packages blow out. We know that this next generation of older Australians do want to stay in their own homes for longer but Labor's budget has only provided an additional 24,100 home-care packages. It also follows a revelation that there have so far only been 9½ thousand additional home-care packages released by this government. This compares to the 50,000 older Australians who we know are on the waitlist right now. A child in infants school can do that maths and know there is a considerable shortage in our current home-care packages. Over the last few years of the former coalition government, there were an additional 80,000 home-care packages provided, so this Labor government's budget has failed to even deal with the current demand for home care, let alone to prepare for the next generation.

Recent data has shown some of the most vulnerable older Australians are waiting as long as an entire year to get access to a home-care package. We heard specific examples from the member for Casey that he has heard about from people within his own electorate. What we have seen nationally is wait times for level 3 packages have now blown out to between nine and 12 months. Wait times for level 4 packages have now risen to between six and nine months. This is clearly unacceptable.

It is really disappointing to see the Albanese Labor government that has spoken quite a lot about aged care is still leaving some of the most vulnerable older Australians waiting for up to a year to get access to home-care package. This is not good enough. The wait times need to come down. There needs to be action to help our most vulnerable older Australians to stay in place for as long as they can to give them the dignity they all deserve in their old age.

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