Gary Humphries (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I know you want answers, Senator McLucas; we all want answers. Nobody anywhere in this chamber or anywhere in Australia is pleased to hear about these cases. Four cases—albeit out of 100,000 residential placements in Australia—are still, as the minister himself said, four too many. I am disturbed about that and you are disturbed about that. Let us find what the facts are before we jump to conclusions. The minister said, ‘I’m investigating these matters.’ I heard him say that; I am sorry if you did not hear it. Let us see what the investigation reveals before we jump to our feet with sound and fury, signifying nothing. I want to find out what is going on in Australia’s nursing homes. I certainly understand that these problems indicate that a serious examination of our complaints mechanism needs to be made. The minister has indicated that he has a review on his table of Australia’s complaints mechanism and is examining that.

If members opposite think that, after four weeks as Minister for Ageing in Australia, somehow we should have a whole set of answers laid out in front of the Senate on those questions they are being, with great respect, grossly unreasonable. This minister has inherited these issues. None of these issues that were raised in the Senate in the last few days occurred while the minister was Minister for Ageing. They occurred long before his tenure began. He is attempting to ascertain what occurred and to find the facts as the first step in dealing with a problem. Who has a better solution than that, to a problem that might present itself? He is attempting to put in place an appropriate, measured response to those issues. I know members opposite would love to dive in straightaway and believe that they have got all the answers. I remind members that what is being said in most of the cases that have been raised in the media are still allegations. Members opposite are treating these things as proven facts. They are not facts; they are allegations, for the most part, and they need to be examined. In one case, I understand, they were examined by the police at one stage and no charges arose out of that, so we need to be very wary about jumping to conclusions.

The minister inherits a system, however, which is a strong system. This is a system which has had an enormous investment in it by the Australian government over the last 10 years. Spending on aged care in this country has more than doubled in the time since this government came to office. I remind members that the aged population of Australia has nowhere near doubled in that time. In other words, we have made up for a lack of appropriate investment by our predecessors in this sector, and that investment continues to this day. Just last year’s budget provided $320.6 million over four years in new initiatives to support people with dementia and their carers. That is the kind of measure which is going to make a tangible difference to those cases like the one where an elderly person with brain injury was alleged to have been abused and was then not taken seriously. They are the sorts of initiatives that are going to make a difference. That is money that is on the table and is now being spent to deal with those problems. We are spending an additional $207.6 million to increase the availability of respite care for a further 1.3 million days over four years, and there is $152 million for a $1,000 per resident one-off payment to aged-care providers, to lift the quality available in Australia’s nursing homes.

Members opposite can make a great-sounding case that this should all have been fixed in the first 28 days of this minister’s tenure. I think most Australians are a bit more realistic than that. They acknowledge that these problems are real but are prepared to work with the government and with these kinds of commitments to see these problems solved. That is a mature and appropriate approach. Nobody underplays the importance of these issues, but they are receiving the attention they deserve. Members opposite should stop playing politics with these incredibly sensitive issues and acknowledge that they are ones that deserve calm and considered responses. (Time expired)