Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Hansard source

I give notice that, on the next day of sitting, I shall move:

That the provisions of paragraphs (5) to (8) of standing order 111 not apply to the Aged Care Amendment (Residential Care) Bill 2007, allowing it to be considered during this period of sittings.

I also table a statement of reasons justifying the need for this bill to be considered during these sittings and seek leave to have the statement incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The statement read as follows—

Purpose of the Bill

The Bill amends the Aged Care Act 1997 to replace the Resident Classification Scale (RCS) with the Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI) as the means of allocating Australian Government subsidy to approved providers of residential aged care.  These changes are required to implement the  Government’s commitment to reduce the number of funding categories for basic care and introduce new payments to target residents with complex nursing or behavioural needs.

Reasons for Urgency

Software providers to the sector require approximately six months lead time to develop new products and incorporate changes into the computer systems used by aged care homes. These changes are complex and highly interrelated.  Passage of the Bill in the Winter sitting period and timely subsequent amendments to the Aged Care Principles (the Principles) will enable software providers to commence product development. An earlier commencement date was deferred at the request of the aged care industry because software providers would have been unable to deliver ACFI products on time.

The ACFI legislative changes are a discrete component of the Securing the future of aged care for Australians package announced by the Prime Minister.  Delays in the passage of this Bill create the risk that the commitment for these amendments to commence on 20 March 2008 will not be met. Other components of the Securing the future package require amendments to the Act to be introduced later in the year. 

The Principles detail the rules which form the basis of national aged care industry training prepared for approximately 3,000 aged care staff in September and October 2007 and a further 7,000 in February and March 2008.  There is a potential risk that any delayed amendments to the aged care legislation would result in incorrect information being provided at this training.