Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. The aged-care minister has boasted he has responded 'incredibly well', and that Australia is in a 'good position' and that we are extremely fortunate to have hit—I kid you not—a 'high-water mark' on aged care. Why is the government congratulating itself on a job well done when over 400 aged-care residents have died?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Every single one of those deaths is a great heartbreak for every single one of those families, and for the member to suggest that the government doesn't feel that way I don't think is an honest reflection of the government's position or the minister's position. That is not the minister's view, it is not my view and it is not the view of the members of the government.

What I can say, though, is that when we came to government the annual expenditure on aged care was $14.2 billion. In the recent budget it was $21.4 billion. The number of in-home aged-care places has increased from 60,000 to more than 150,000 places, with 97 per cent of those who are waiting for an in-home aged-care place already receiving at least some form of support for their aged-care condition. So, whether it's the increase in funding for in-home aged care, whether it's the overall increase in funding for residential aged care, whether it's the establishment of the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, whether it's the instigation of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety by our government and the extension of its inquiries into issues directly related to COVID, this government will continue to invest more in aged care every single year. In the next budget, we will invest more. There has been some $3 billion of investment in additional in-home aged-care places in just the last three years.

I do note this, particularly, in relation to in-home aged care. We took to the last election a policy, which was set out in our budget, of 10,000 additional aged-care places. That's what we set out, about 18 months ago, and we took that to the Australian people. Those opposite, at the same election, agreed with that plan. They thought the 10,000 figure was exactly the right plan, because they did not offer one additional place as part of their election plan, despite raising some $387 billion in additional revenue that could have provided for additional places. What did our government do? We not only committed to those 10,000 places; we provided an additional 10,000 beyond that, in the MYEFO that followed, and an additional more than 6,000 beyond that, bringing the total to more than 26,000. So those who come into this place and want to make recommendations about aged care need to look at what they put to the people at the last election. They supported the government's plan at the last election, before the COVID crisis. I'll leave others to conclude as to why they're raising these issues in this context now.