Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

Last sitting week, the Albanese Labor government introduced its new Aged Care Bill 2024 to the parliament. We, as the coalition opposition, think that the bill ought to go to the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee for inquiry. As you can see, there are a lot of pages to it. There is a lot of work that needs to be done. It is an improvement, but there is still a long, long way to go.

Late last year, I held a roundtable with aged-care providers throughout the Riverina and the central west. They expressed to me their deep concerns about the aged-care sector. They are at the forefront of what is seen by them, by residents and by many in society as a failing system. It's become a whole lot worse under this Labor government.

The roundtable that I had originally came about after discussions with John Knight, the chair of Uralba Hostel in Gundagai. Gundagai, like many communities in my electorate, has an ageing population. Indeed, in many places in rural and regional Australia there are ageing populations, and people are desperately worried that when they reach that time of life when they can no longer look after themselves that there won't be a bed, a place, for them in the community in which they've lived for most, if not all, of their lives. It is simply not right, not fair, not equitable and not economical that they just get shipped away hundreds of kilometres, in many cases, from loved ones, family and friends and away from the communities that they love and cherish. They're left to spend their twilight years, which should be their golden years, in communities that are foreign to them. This is of particular concern in rural and regional Australia.

I was interested to hear the member for Wentworth express the same view, and she is in the largest city in Australia. If it's an issue in Sydney, then it's certainly going to be an issue in rural and regional Australia. In remote Australia it's going to be even worse. To that end, I was particularly aggrieved by the fact that Labor initially did not intend to have funding for rural and regional Australia committed as part of this act. The coalition secured $300 million in additional capital funding through the Aged Care Capital Assistance Program for regional, rural and remote aged-care providers to upgrade facilities. This was in addition to additional care funding, particularly for aged-care homes throughout country Australia. This is important, necessary and vital. Targeted support for rural, regional and remote aged care homes was not included in the government's initial proposal. And—

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