Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about the Turnbull government's cuts to aged care as set out in the MYEFO released in December, only a couple of months ago. Today, Alzheimer's Australia Vic released its latest dementia prevalence research, commissioned from NATSEM at the University of Canberra. NATSEM's modelling shows that my electorate of McEwen is expected to be rated No. 2 for dementia prevalence out of the top 10 federal electorates, from 2050. That is a 754 per cent increase in the prevalence of dementia in my electorate.

Without even glimpsing the real world, the Turnbull government wants to cut aged-care provider and workforce funding by hundreds of millions of dollars. Obviously, my Liberal colleagues have not kept up with the data. Perhaps they do not know that many of them will need the support of the aged-care sector in the future. As we are all well aware, health care tends to be more complex as we age. The impacts of long-term chronic disease and illness become more apparent.

Apparently, half of all Australians believe that dementia is a normal part of ageing and do not know that it is the second leading cause of death in Australia, after heart disease. Looking at the characteristics of our population, most Australians, and almost everyone in my electorate, will be impacted either by a diagnosis or by caring for a loved one or knowing someone who has dementia.

In thinking about the dementia prevalence data released today, it is little wonder that the original dementia and severe behaviour supplement that Labor introduced in 2013 was oversubscribed. But in 2014 the short-sighted response of the Abbott-Turnbull government, instead of recognising and addressing the growing prevalence of dementia in our community, was to immediately cut the supplement and replace it with Severe Behaviour Response Teams at a cost equal to the amount spent under Labor. Unfortunately, as evidence shows, these teams are not responding properly or quickly enough to severe cases of dementia. Within 12 months, the budget estimates for aged care were once again exceeded.

And what has been this government's response? There might be a different leader, but let us be clear: all the policies are the same. It is all about cuts. The Turnbull government's response has been to announce cuts of $472 million to aged-care providers and $595 million to aged-care workforce funding in the first year of economic review. These cuts not only cause great uncertainty for aged-care providers but can jeopardise—

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 11:40 to 11:53