Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to talk about Thelma Burns, who was a wife and mother who was loved by her family. Earlier this year, Thelma was invoiced $25 for in-home assistance under a home care package. The invoice worried Thelma. She and her family had not been told beforehand of any charge and had understood the service to have been covered by the package. Now, $25 may not sound like too much to many in this chamber, but to Thelma, who was 79 of the time, frail and vulnerable and suffering from dementia, it weighed on her mind. She was adamant she should not have to pay. Thelma subsequently received a demand for payment from a debt collector organised by the Tasmanian health department. That compounded Thelma's distress, which is where I came in. My office wrote to the Tasmanian health minister, Sarah Courtney, on 30 July, asking her to waive the debt. We received a verbal reply that no further action would be taken, but, not unreasonably, Thelma wanted something in writing confirming the debt had been waived. My office wrote to Minister Courtney again on 18 September asking for this to occur, but we received no response. Today, 26 November, I wrote again to Minister Courtney to advise her that Thelma had died two weeks ago with the worry of the debt still hanging over her head and that Thelma's son Darren would still like confirmation that the debt no longer exists. I know correspondence can take time and that things can get missed, but it should not take five months to get a simple letter. We need to do better by the people that we represent.