Santo Santoro (Queensland, Liberal Party, Minister for Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

Of course, if Senator Evans is patient, he will get all the facts and all the statistics that Senator McLucas has asked for. As I was saying, in 2006, 170 services have provided evidence of meeting the 1997 certification fire safety standards, which represents 91 per cent of services. As at 20 October 2006, 244 services had not met the higher fire standards of the 1997 certification instruments. Of these, all but three have confirmed the time frames for building works planned or in progress to meet the 1997 standard. That is a very specific answer to Senator McLucas’s question. All 244 of those aged-care facilities have submitted plans and have given a very clear indication of remedial work that is underway to the satisfaction of the agency and the department. We are very happy to have had those commitments, and the department will continue to monitor the performance against those commitments.

There are 110 homes that have been identified for potential review under section 39-4 of the Aged Care Act 1997, 59 of which have been assessed and provided with a detailed report of the required improvement for fire safety. All homes that have not met the 1997 instrument were referred to the Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency and, as I have informed the Senate previously, continue to be monitored to ensure the safety and wellbeing of residents is being maintained. This is an ongoing issue and it is under very active consideration by the department and the agency. We take our responsibilities far more seriously than the Labor Party did when it was in government.