Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Aged Care. How will the Albanese Labor government's historic aged-care investment make the industry better as a whole?

Anika Wells (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

LS (—) (): I thank the member for Hasluck for her question, and I know the member is passionate about aged care and about ensuring that older people in her electorate receive a higher standard of care thanks to the historic reforms that the Albanese Labor government is making. I'm pleased to say that this Labor budget delivers $36 billion worth of funding for the aged-care sector—a historic injection of funds into a much-needed sector—and we will give $11.3 billion to aged-care workers to increase their pay 15 per cent above the award from 1 July. This money will change lives. It will ease cost-of-living pressures for staff, it will improve the care that some of our most vulnerable Australians receive and, because we are fully funding this pay rise, including the on-costs, it will help providers continue on the road of financial improvement after nine years of being left to rot by the coalition.

On top of the $11.3 billion worth of wages, we are delivering a total funding uplift, including indexation, of $14.1 billion in residential care. This package includes the new AN-ACC price of $243.10 plus $10.80 hotelling supplement per resident per day, up from $216. This represents a more than 17 per cent increase to annual funding. Compare that to the coalition's 1.7 per cent increase to annual funding, which is what they left the sector with. They left the sector with a 1.7 per cent indexation increase and then spent 12 months feigning great concern—a thin, recently applied veneer of concern—about the viability of the sector when it was the opposition who left it with a 1.7 per cent indexation increase. That was so pitiful that we have had to add a correction in this budget to atone for their sins. We are putting a 17 per cent indexation increase in this budget to clean up their mess. Talk about the arsonist complaining about the price of water. They left the industry with 1.7 per cent and spent 12 months feigning concern about the viability of the sector. Now we're sweeping in with a 17 per cent increase, and they can't even lift their heads to listen to the good news.

In the 18 months after the royal commission handed down their final report into the neglect in the sector, the opposition addressed only nine of 148 recommendations. We're three weeks out from our one-year anniversary, and in our one year in government we will have addressed 69 of 148 recommendations. That is reforming aged care. That is taking care seriously. This side of the House is returning optimism to aged care. This side of the House is returning viability and confidence to the sector. (Time expired)

Zoe McKenzie (Flinders, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Labor's budget provides no funding for new infrastructure investment in our capital cities, so what additional level of congestion does the government expect that the extra 1.5 million people who will come to Australia over five years will cause?

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

NESE (—) (): I thank the member for Flinders for her question.

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

Order! The member for Deakin is on a warning.

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

What we did when we were last in government will be reflected over our period in government as well. The commitments that we put into the budget include, of course, in Victoria, the Suburban Rail Loop, a project that will make an enormous difference in Victoria. What we didn't do is what happened after our period in office. Compared with the rail funding under the Howard government, which is a really easy number to remember—zero; not a single dollar went into public transport over 12 years—what we did was transform projects, with rail projects like the Regional Rail Link in Victoria. We actually had, as well, in Victoria the Melbourne metro project. The member would be aware of the Melbourne metro project because it is the key to unclogging congestion in the network to enable the entire network across the city of Melbourne to be expanded.

We had $3 billion in the budget and we even had a joint board with Commonwealth representatives. What happened when the Liberal Party came to office was they ripped that $3 billion out and pulled the Commonwealth from the board because they didn't believe in funding projects like that—nation-building projects. So they ripped the money out of that, and that led to a delay in that project, which, of course, is now funded thanks to the Andrews government, which is in its third or fourth or fifth term—I've lost count.

Now in Brisbane, of course, we have the Cross River Rail project, which will be so important for the Olympics. Of course, there as well, we had $715 million in the budget, as well as an availability payment model of $2.4 billion. Again, they ripped the money out of the Cross River Rail. They ripped it out of that project and said it wasn't good enough. Tony Abbott, when he was prime minister, didn't believe in funding public transport. That's the sort of loss that we saw.

What our government has done is not rip out fully funded projects. What we have done, though, is identify the range of projects that are underfunded and can't possibly ever be delivered. It is dishonest to say, as they did for the Rockhampton Ring Road, that you can build a ring road for half of the money that it will actually cost for construction.

Honourable members interjecting—

I won't go too far into Rockhampton, because it gets him upset about Rockhampton and Yeppoon and Yeppen, as you well remember, in the past. (Time Expired)