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

Senator McLucas would be very well aware that the process of allocating aged care places to any aged care provider within Australia is a process that is totally independent of the minister. It is a process, as all opposition senators should know if they do not know, that is judged against a set of criteria which is very extensive and which incorporates criteria way beyond bed readiness.

It is important that I confirm to the Senate what I confirmed when the media very erroneously suggested that the allocation process may have been influenced because he was a mate. I had nothing to do with that particular decision. In fact, I inform the senator that I was not aware until it was brought to my attention that the company that received those places was associated with any interest that Mr Egan was associated with. Any suggestion to the contrary is quite scandalous.

I also inform the Senate—as any astute shadow minister or indeed any astute senator would be aware—that places are allocated on a provisional basis to providers that have a proven track record on many criteria but in particular on their capacity to bring those places on line and to then provide quality aged care. Obviously I sought a briefing by my department as soon as the matter of that particular company being successful in the tendering process was brought to my attention via the newspapers, and I have been informed by my department that that particular provider has been in operation for a lengthy period of time, has provided exemplary aged care for a long period of time and, in the opinion of independent assessors and selectors, was judged to be capable of being allocated places and of bringing them on line within the expectations of the department.

So I do not know what Senator McLucas or anybody else who has made any comment in relation to this issue is trying to get at, because I again inform the Senate that it was not just that provider that was allocated provisional places; in fact, there are many providers right across Australia. I have not done a check of any known or indeed unknown party affiliations of other providers that were allocated places. There may even be Labor Party members who may have received provisional allocations, but I can say that there are many other providers that have received provisional places in the expectation that they will build and that they will provide aged care as soon as those places become operational.

This is nothing new. It has been happening since the current allocation process started, which, I again stress, is an independent process—independent of the minister. I could not understand Senator McLucas’s exhortation to me to reverse the decision or to somehow allocate places to the provider that missed out. Senator McLucas’s suggestion to me is something that the act prohibits me from doing—that is, becoming involved in the allocation process. That is one piece of advice from Senator McLucas that I will not be taking up. (Time expired)