Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, when asked about how many nurses would be required in aged care to meet your election commitment, your aged-care minister said there would be 869 nurses required. Can the Prime Minister please confirm that, to meet your election commitment in full, only 869 nurses will be required in aged-care homes?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm quite happy to take a question from the Deputy Leader of the Opposition about aged care, because we went to the election with a comprehensive plan to fix aged care. It included putting the nurses back into nursing homes 24 hours a day, because we know that that's one of the issues that are having an impact on emergency departments. If you don't have a nurse in a nursing home, when an elderly person gets sick they can often end up getting an acute health condition because there isn't someone on site to help them. That's what the royal commission said. That's what we're responding to.

I find it just beyond comprehension that—after nine years of neglect from those opposite on aged care, after having an aged-care royal commission which made very clear recommendations—the response of the opposition is to come in here and to ask questions like this, not to ask questions—

Hon. Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'll ask the Prime Minister to pause briefly. The Prime Minister is being relevant, so I'll call the Deputy Leader of the Opposition on a point of order.

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On relevance, Mr Speaker, and it was a simple question: can the Prime Minister—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Resume your seat. Resume your seat. The Prime Minister—

Honourable members interjectin g—

No. Resume your seat. I want to remind all members of the House that simply raising points of order about relevance to disrupt question time will not be tolerated, and I will simply not take the point of order if this continues.

Honou rable members interjecting—

Order! I call the Prime Minister.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thanks very much, Mr Speaker. I'm asked a question about nurses in nursing homes, and what those opposite are saying is that it's not relevant, the consequences of not having a nurse in a nursing home 24/7. That's what they are saying. We had a very clear plan about nurses in nursing homes. We had a very clear plan about 215 minutes of care. We had a very clear plan about more accountability for the operators of nursing homes. We had a very clear plan about better nutrition in nursing homes for aged-care residents, because we know that, according to the royal commission, over half of aged-care residents were not getting the nutrition that they need. They're literally starving. This is the issue before Australians.

I say to the opposition: think seriously about the impact on those people watching this at home who have mum or dad or grandpa or grandma or their sister or brother in an aged-care home, worried about the impact which is there, worried about the deficiencies that have been identified by the aged-care royal commission. And you know what they're saying around the country? They're saying, 'We want a nurse in a nursing home.' They're saying, 'We want 215 minutes of care.' They're saying, 'We want better nutrition.' They're saying they want better accountability. Those opposite just show, with this line of questioning, just how completely out of touch they are.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I call the Leader of the Opposition on indulgence.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

on indulgence—I want to join with the Prime Minister's sentiment in terms of doing the best by those in aged-care facilities. That is absolutely the desire and the approach of this coalition. We will support measures by the government which will go to providing support to those in aged-care facilities. This question was about how many nurses are needed—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Resume your seat. The leader will resume his seat for a moment. I gave the indulgence to the Leader of the Opposition because of the position that he holds. I will not have the use of indulgence used for political pointscoring. We will move on to the next question.