Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) acknowledges the significant contribution of the previous Labor Government's Living Longer Living Better reforms that were designed to deliver:

(a) more support and care at home;

(b) additional home and residential care places;

(c) a focus on greater consumer choice and control; and

(d) greater recognition of diversity and support to carers;

(2) notes:

(a) the growing number of:

(i) older Australians who would like to remain living in their own home for as long as possible; and

(ii) carers who work hard to ensure their loved one is able to remain at home for as long as possible;

(b) that older Australians need adequate, flexible and responsive care options to ensure that they remain safe and healthy; and

(c) that many older Australians are experiencing long delays in accessing the necessary care they need, and are having to make do with lower levels of care than they were assessed for; and

(3) calls on the Government to:

(a) ensure that older Australians receive home care assistance when they need it and at a level they need in order to allow them to remain living in their own home safely and independently for as long as possible; and

(b) release the number of people waiting for each level of the package.

As I've already raised in this place and as we've heard on multiple occasions, constituents of mine and others around the country are waiting up to 12 months and more for home-care packages. These are elderly people that require assistance to remain in their homes. When I visit many people in my electorate of Hindmarsh or when they come to see me in Adelaide's west, I hear directly from people waiting for packages for their loved ones or for themselves in order to be able to stay at home and receive the care that they require. I hear complaints from constituents and their families about waiting periods for these packages.

As my electorate has one of the oldest constituencies in the country, I've made this an absolute priority issue for me. The uncertainty around this clearly isn't good enough. This is all about priorities. It's about prioritising, as governments, what is important to the nation. I certainly feel that, for people who have worked all their lives and who have paid their taxes—some have fought in wars—this is an absolute priority for us to ensure that those people live out the remainder of their lives with dignity. Unfortunately, due to this government's lack of action in allocating more packages, some of these people are waiting far too long to access a package. I'm often asked, by people who have been waiting, 'How do we get action on this?' After countless letters, speeches in this place and media awareness about the government's shortcomings from this side of the House, the elderly and their families are coming to the same conclusion—that the only way to get this fixed is under a Labor government.

We on this side are still waiting to hear from this government about how many people, according to the government, are waiting for packages across the country. If the government doesn't have those lists and if it doesn't know how many people are waiting for packages, how can it plan and prepare for the future or know what is around the corner in terms of care that's required for these elderly people? We saw the date for the announcement of how many people are waiting for packages pushed forward to August at one stage, and here we are now in September, still without any figures. So we need the minister and the government to come out with these figures; otherwise people are just going to assume that they're hiding something.

The hardest thing for aged-care advocates to swallow is that this is a crisis that has been wholly manufactured by the government. If adequate resources were made available to the sector, the problem wouldn't exist. Despite protests from this side of the chamber, the waiting list keeps on getting longer, we suspect. Consumers are not able to tell how long their wait will be or where they are in a queue. It is really important to know exactly where you stand in the queue and how long you're going to be waiting for, to make adequate adjustments and arrangements. It's unacceptable that many older Australians are being forced to wait many months to access any support after they have been approved for care. This is why, as the member for Hindmarsh, I will not stop fighting for my constituents, as well as for others around the country. The pressure will remain on this government to improve the allocation of packages and reduce those waiting times for people who have been waiting for ages to get the care that's required.

Through this motion, I want to highlight that a growing number of older Australians would like to remain in their homes. We know that they wish to remain in their homes. A growing number of carers work hard to ensure that their loved ones are able to remain in their homes for as long as possible. We know that that is the best outcome for someone. We also know that carers need adequate, flexible and responsive care options to ensure that they remain safe and healthy in a good environment.

We need to highlight, also, that many Australians are experiencing long delays—far too long—in accessing the necessary care they need, and are having to make do with lower levels of care. We know that people who have been listed for level 4 packages are receiving, perhaps, level 2 packages and being told there are no level 4 packages for them. The level 2 package is a start, but it's not good enough if they require level 4 packages. I call on the government to ensure that older Australians are receiving home care assistance when they need it, and in an adequate and timely manner that ensures their dignity and allows them to remain safely independent for as long as possible. We know that, when people have the care that's required, they can stay in their own environment, which gives them a better lifestyle and ensures they're closer to their community. I call on the government to do these things.

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his contribution. Is there a seconder for the motion?

Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Hindmarsh for proposing this motion and for giving us the opportunity to debate this very important policy area. I don't doubt that the intentions behind the last government's reforms were good. I know that members on both sides of the House have earnestly sought solutions to the growing challenge of an ageing population. However, the approach behind that policy—that is, the policy of the previous government, the Labor government—was flawed and failed to reflect the real change in the lifestyles and expectations of contemporary Australians.

Australians retiring now have worked to create the information age, and they've come to expect products and services that are tailored to them as individuals. They expect to make their own decisions about their aged care, just as they have made their own choices about the services they receive throughout their adult lives. The coalition government listened to older Australians, respected those expectations, and has responded with policies to increase choice. The government created increased choice in home care reforms, which allows older Australians to direct funding to the aged-care provider of their choice. We've ensured that a person's home care package moves with them, and allows users to change providers if they are unhappy. We developed the My Aged Care online portal to provide a real marketplace, where providers advertise and consumers can find the providers that they're looking for.

However, I know that the rollout of this policy has not been without challenges. I know that in my own electorate of Fisher there are individuals who are waiting too long to get access to the packages that they need. I'm actively engaged in pursuing the cases of 10 constituents who've contacted me to ask for my help. One of these, Mrs Julie Penlington, has done a great deal in our local community to highlight the importance of this issue and to help others to come forward and get in touch with me. I take this opportunity to thank Julie for her determined efforts in this area. To the constituents and their families who've contacted me, I assure you I am working closely with the government and doing all I can to assist you. I've asked the minister here in the House about their cases and I've met with the minister on several occasions. I thank the minister for the time that he has made to meet with me and to follow up on behalf of those constituents.

I recognise that the minister is working hard to bed down a new system in a challenging fiscal environment. I understand that ACAT assessment waiting times are unusually long in my home state of Queensland. The assessments are conducted by Queensland Health, and unfortunately it appears that in this policy area, as in so many others, the Queensland state Labor government are dragging their feet. There are challenges with ACAT assessments across the country, but it should come as no surprise to anyone that, faced with an obligation shared by all state and territory governments, the Queensland state Labor government perform particularly poorly in this respect. It is unfortunately the case in aged-care-package assessment, just as it is in infrastructure, job creation, tackling high energy prices and so much more. Once again: for my constituents suffering the consequences of the Labor state government's failures in this area, please know that the federal Minister for Aged Care is actively discussing this problem with the Queensland health minister, Cameron Dick, and trying to find ways to improve the situation.

I want to take this opportunity to pass on, again, to my constituents in Fisher two important facts to bear in mind. I want to reassure my constituents that, if their condition worsens and they are hospitalised while awaiting assessment, in hospital they can be assessed within 24 to 48 hours. Secondly, I want to reiterate that while awaiting the delivery of their packages, if offered, people should accept the offer of a lesser interim package to help them during this transition period. These smaller packages are there to help, and accepting them will not extend the time an individual has to wait for their higher-needs package in any way.

There are undoubtedly challenges to overcome in the execution of the government's new aged-care policy—a policy on which this government is spending in excess of $90 billion over the forward estimates. But, whenever a government seeks to introduce a radical reform and to update a universal system, there will always be a number of teething issues.

Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I, too, would acknowledge the member for Hindmarsh's putting forward of this motion today and the important debate that we're having. And I acknowledge the contribution by the member for Fisher, a government member, today. But I would take note of a few things that were included in the member for Fisher's contribution. One of those was the notion that this is a question of the states slowing down this system.

We all know that aged care, or looking after our seniors and our elderly, is critically important. It's a test of who we are as a society: how we create policies that will support people. When Labor was in government, the Living Longer Living Better reforms were designed to deliver choice. They were designed to deliver packages that would allow people to stay independently in their homes for longer. There are lots of reasons for that, not least of which is the dignity, of course, of all of our seniors and about them having control of their lives and independence. That was a critical element.

But another critical element around this policy area is that we know that if people are supported appropriately at home then there will be less time spent in hospitals. That's important for the individuals because, of course, hospital stays can be traumatic. I know from speaking to constituents and family friends that a hospital stay can leave some of our elderly citizens disoriented on their return to home. It can be quite disruptive and can put them back in terms of the way they live their lives. So it was really important that we came up with a model that would support people in staying at home. Most importantly, the member for Fisher referenced constrained fiscal environments. Well, these are preventative measures that were designed specifically to make sure people had dignity but also created less cost on the health system in terms of people spending time in hospital. That was a really important issue.

The system works so that the assessments are done by the states. But what we have seen is that this government, since February, has refused to release the data around how long people are waiting after that assessment has been done. That is the critical point here. People are getting their assessments done, and then they are being told, 'We don't know how long you will be waiting to access your aged-care package,' particularly the level 3 and level 4, which of course are the higher end of the higher end packages. That is the issue here today. We can't live in this policy void where we don't know what those waiting lists are, and we certainly can't have elderly citizens and their families and carers in this space of uncertainty for elongated times. What we know from our electorates is that those times are, it seems, getting longer and longer.

In my electorate this weekend, on social media last night, a call went out from some concerned locals about an elderly person who is looking to be released from hospital after some very serious events. The family desperately want this person to come home, and a call has gone out in the community to raise funds to support that person going home. I know that, in my office today, somebody could well be, by now, responding to the families by trying to look at this case and sort out what the options are and where we're going. We just heard from the member for Fisher that he has 10 such people in his electorate who he is talking to the minister about.

This is not the way to run a system. We were promised in July that these figures would be released. We were promised in August that these figures would be released. It is now September, and it is past time that we were given access and transparency around this data so that we can get a good look at how this system is working. If it is the case that it needs to be rejigged then it will need to be rejigged. But, in that process, I cannot stand here and accept notions that we can't afford to look after people properly, and I certainly can't listen to those arguments when we know that these preventative measures are a cost-saving measure on top of creating dignity for older Australians and allowing them independence and a way to control all of their lives and stay at home longer.

David Littleproud (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today with great pleasure to speak on this private member's motion, particularly considering I spent a lot of my childhood in an aged-care facility, having been brought up in one in the little town of Chinchilla, the Illoura aged-care facility. The people who ran that—Col and Daph Taylor—gave more than 25 years of service to the community in establishing and running the Illoura aged-care facility. So I come with some authority, having spent a lot of my time, when my mum and dad were away, staying in that facility and being brought up by Col and Daph Taylor and seeing what important institutions aged-care facilities are in regional and remote areas—particularly those parts that I represent—because a lot of people in rural and regional Australia don't want to move away from their family and friends. They want to be able to have the dignity and respect of being able to spend their twilight years in their home towns, where they have friends and family close to them.

So these types of institutions are quite important, but it's also important to provide choice to those people living in rural and remote as well as metropolitan areas, to allow them to make that dignified choice about whether they want to stay at home as long as they can. That is what we are trying to do. The legislation and the investment that we are making as a federal government into aged care are providing that dignity and respect to those in their twilight years, giving them the opportunity to stay at home and to stay in regional and rural communities. It is important. It's not just a social aspect that we're providing to these people in rural and regional areas as they get into their twilight years; it's also a significant industry and an economic driver within the economies of these small communities. So there is a two-pronged benefit to the rural and regional areas.

Only in February, the government announced the Increasing Choice in Home Care reforms. An important piece of that was that we are giving consumers the choice, not the providers. That's the important thing: we are empowering those that need to make the decision, not empowering those providers to make more money at the expense of the Australian taxpayer and those people that need to make that choice. That's a proud investment that this federal government has made, and it's hitting the ground—60,000 packages since February. That's 1,000 or 2,000 per week that we are rolling out, providing flexibility and allowing those elderly people to make the choice of whether, if they want to move, they can transfer with that package to another state. That's an important initiative. As our societies become more fluid and as our families move around the nation, it's important that we're able to give those elderly people the opportunity to do that.

But we've coupled that with a pragmatic approach around short-term restorative care. Around 475 places were announced in the last budget to ensure that those who are elderly, and particularly those who have been hit by illness or injury, are able to have the flexibility to stay in their own homes and not enter long-term aged-care facilities. That's an important measure to allow people to, again, have that choice. We're continuing to work to provide that flexibility, whether it be in metropolitan Australia or in rural and regional Australia.

Through the ACAR investment that we've made, in my electorate in the last couple of months we were able to announce 40 new beds in Warwick—20 were general, eight were set aside for disadvantaged older Australians, those disadvantaged Australians having trouble affording this type of care, and eight were set aside for dementia patients. As the son of a mother who has dementia and is coming to the pointy end, I am quite proudly able to say that the good people of Chinchilla will look after her at the Illoura aged-care facility. I know that the investment that we've made means that those high-care places will, importantly, be there to give her the dignity and respect that she deserves as she sees this insidious disease affect her significantly. But we've also gone into the smaller communities. In Killarney we have provided eight new beds, four of which are for those disadvantaged people in rural and regional Australia. Their lives will be changed because of the investment we're making in rural and regional Australia. Allora received 25 new beds—five for general access, 10 for rural and remote Australians, and 10 for disadvantaged Australians. That shows a considerate government that cares about its elderly and cares about giving them the dignity and respect they deserve after years of contribution to this nation. It gives people not only the opportunity but the choice to move forward and enjoy the end of their long and illustrious lives.

I commend the member for Hindmarsh for bringing this motion before the chamber. It gives us an opportunity as a federal government to proudly state what we have achieved for elderly Australians and also for regional and remote Australia.

Susan Lamb (Longman, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this issue and I commend the member for Hindmarsh for moving this motion. I'm incredibly proud to stand in the House and represent the people of my electorate, many of whom are transitioning from their homes into aged care and many of whom want to stay in their homes as long as they possibly can. But even more proudly do I stand in this House as a member of the Labor Party. I'm really proud of our history of reforms to make life better for people who helped build this country as they move out of their working lives into retirement and beyond. You can't deny the great work performed by Labor in crafting and delivering the Living Longer Living Better aged-care reforms. These reforms were driven by choice and independence, giving people those two really important parts of decision-making in their lives. They were landmark reforms which delivered the largest improvements to aged care and ageing policy in a generation. These policies delivered more support and care in the home. They delivered additional home and residential care places and they delivered greater recognition of diversity and support for carers as well as our seniors.

It's becoming more and more common for older Australians to want to remain living in their own homes—and who could blame them? There's a sense of comfort when you live in your own home. The effects of ageing can be quite stressful, let alone when you throw in a huge change like having to move from your home into an aged-care facility or retirement village. When you put that into the mix, it can be quite a stressful time. But I have to say that, unfortunately—and, more so, disappointingly—the government has failed to keep up with the increasing demand for in-home care, support and assistance for our older Australians. Despite the fact that aged-care services need to be timely and accessible, many of our seniors are experiencing long delays in accessing the services they need. Every day, through an email, through a phone call or through somebody walking into my office, I hear the frustration not just from seniors in our community but from their loved ones. They raise with me their anxiety about being able to have access to these services. Nobody should have to wait for care that they require. Nobody should have to miss out on the level of care that they need or that their health professionals have designated that they need.

Our seniors need and deserve to have a government that advocates for them to receive the in-home care assistance that they need, when they need it and at the level they need it. What we're finding is bureaucracy and political spin that's unacceptable. The question for this government really is: how many people are waiting? We talk about the number of packages that are delivered, and that is absolutely welcomed. But how many people are waiting? I'm a little perplexed why we can't find this data from the government. How many people are waiting? If we look at people anywhere from Burpengary to Bribie, how many people are waiting for their package to be delivered? And what anxiety are they and their carers feeling as a result?

The other point I would like to raise is that, when we're talking about seniors, it is also those people in their fifties who are starting to think about retirement and moving into those retirement years. It is this government's intent to raise the pension age to 70. Could you imagine a bricklayer having to work until they're 70 years old? Outrageous! If you work in the Queensland sun and you're laying bricks for an occupation, that's a pretty hard job. Over 22 per cent of people who live in Longman are over 60 years of age. That's higher than the national figure. That's higher than Queensland's figure. I don't think it's right that these people should be ignored by our government. I don't think it's right that people, whether they live in Morayfield, Woodford or Caboolture, aren't receiving the care they need. They're constantly worried about what sort of package they can get and how long they have to wait. They're living longer and living better with dignity in a community. They continue to contribute to that community—that is incredibly important. They deserve the very, very best.

Josh Wilson (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Hindmarsh for putting this motion up for debate, and all those who have contributed to it. It should be a matter of broad consensus that older Australians have the right to expect safe, secure, high-quality aged-care services, wherever those services are delivered—at home or in a residential facility. For quite a long time now, we've been talking in Australia about the future challenges of our ageing population. But when you speak with people who are directly involved in aged care they always press the point that that is not a prospective phenomenon, it is the reality here and now.

As a local member, I'm mindful of the changing composition of my own electorate. In the last 10 years, the percentage of people aged over 60 has continued to grow and now totals 18 per cent of the population—nearly one in five residents. Of course, it varies across my community. The proportion of residents over the age of 60 in suburbs like North Fremantle and Samson, for example, is 29 per cent. In Coogee, it's 26 per cent.

In 2016 there were 3.7 million people, or 15 per cent of all Australians, aged 65 and over. It's three times the number in 1976, which at the time was nine per cent of our population. We know that the number and proportion of older Australians is projected to keep growing. By 2056 it's estimated that it will be 22 per cent, or 8.7 million Australians. While it's wonderful that Australia's public health and safety measures are enabling people to live and stay active longer, we do need to adjust our economy and our social compact to meet those changes.

In May, I had the privilege of opening the new Hillcrest centre, by Regis, in North Fremantle. It's a beautiful facility that's won awards for its sensitive reuse of a precious heritage building. Previously, I attended a sod turning for a Regis facility under construction by the sea in the suburb of Coogee. I'm glad that additional residential capacity is being developed in this way, but I'm conscious of the need for a wide range of residential options and for better services for those who want to remain in their home as long as possible.

One of the challenges in my community is the provision of culturally appropriate aged care. Italian Village and Villa Dalmacia are examples of care facilities that ensure residents from southern European backgrounds can be supported in an environment that makes them feel at home. These centres have only been made possible with considerable leadership and funding support from the local community, which I applaud. I've also enjoyed visiting the Jean Willis Centre, in Hamilton Hill, which, in addition to its work supporting social inclusion and interaction for seniors in general, has a specific focus on cultural engagement with older Indigenous Australians.

Last week, the member for Port Adelaide was in Fremantle to launch his new book, Climate Wars, but it was as a result of his former ministerial role that he produced Advanced Australia: The Politics of Ageing. That book examines the ideas and analysis that underpinned Labor's push towards a fairer and more flexible aged-care program through the Living Longer Living Better reforms. Those reforms included the provision of tailored care packages to people receiving home care; new funding for dementia care; $1.2 billion to improve the aged-care workforce, through a workforce compact and a workforce supplement; and a two-thirds increase to the number of home-care packages, from 60,000 to 100,000 such packages. By contrast, the Abbott-Turnbull government has removed $2 billion from aged-care funding at a time when client-to-carer ratios and specific high-care conditions like dementia are increasing.

Shortly after the election last year, I was grateful to meet with United Voice aged-care workplace delegates to hear some of their stories of a system under stress. I heard stories of carers being so rushed by high client-to-carer ratios that there was no time to help people wash their hair properly and of aged-care staff having to pitch in their own money to buy basic toiletries or linen. Needless to say, that shouldn't happen. The United Voice submission to the 2016 legislated review opens with a quote from a care worker, who says:

I am proud & honoured to help others … I am proud of the level & quality of care we provide to the community. Skilled & committed workers are needed in this industry, it's not work if you love what you do.

We have to remember that our aged-care workforce is itself getting older and includes a majority of women. As with so many vocational sectors with high levels of female participation, there is no doubt that the incredible commitment of aged-care staff is too often taken for granted and too often used consciously or unconsciously to hold down wages and conditions. That's wrong. Like childhood education, aged care is a labour of love. The very young and the very old represent special and vulnerable groups in our community. Caring for them starts with caring for the people who work in those sectors.

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allocated for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made for the next sitting day.