Anika Wells (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member Dunkley for her question and for her advocacy for older people in her beautiful part of the world. Since the election of the Albanese government, we have worked relentlessly to fulfil the mandate required by the royal commission to restore dignity and quality to aged care. There is now a registered nurse on site in aged care 99 per cent of the time. Older Australians are receiving an additional 3.9 million minutes of care every single day. So far, 136 of the 148 recommendations of the royal commission have been directly addressed.

Today marks the passage of the most impactful aged-care reforms in 30 years. Today our rights based Aged Care Bill passed the parliament, creating a law that puts older people, and not providers, back at the heart of aged care. Older Australians will receive compassionate and person-centred care delivered by skilled workers who are respected and fairly paid. The aged-care system will be sustainable, with those who can afford it making contributions towards the cost of their own care.

I want to share with this chamber a story about a duo, Joan and Michelle, who exemplify exactly what these reforms are about. Michelle is a personal care worker on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. She is one of the 250,000 aged-care workers who received a pay rise and a tax cut from the Albanese Labor government. Through our fee-free TAFE, Michelle is now doing a diploma of nursing to further her career and become an enrolled nurse. Michelle supports Joan, a 96-year-old pensioner and home-care recipient.

Joan and her husband John lived and worked in Avondale, raising their family of 10. After her kids left the nest to have families of their own and her husband, John, passed away, Joan moved to a retirement village in Nambour. Like a growing number of Australians, Joan wants to live in her own home for the rest of our life. Under Support at Home, that will now be possible.

Support at Home will ensure Joan has faster access to assistive technology like walkers or wheelchairs, and it will increase the maximum level of support from $61,000 to $78,000. Support at Home will offer a temporary boost in funding that will be available to Joan if she has an accident or needs restorative and allied health support. This is how the Albanese Labor government's once-in-a-generation aged-care reforms are improving the lives of older Australians and the people who care for them.

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