Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Polley. I will now talk about the aged-care bed shortages. Under the Howard government, there was a national aged-care bed shortage. In 1996, there were 92 beds for every 1,000 aged 70 years and over. Under John Howard, in June 2007, there were only 86.6 beds for every 1,000 people aged 70 years and over. In June 2007, there was a shortfall of more than 2,000 beds in Australia.

The Labor Party has responded to the challenges in the aged-care sector. Here are some of the things that we have done. The Rudd government has committed $293.2 million to provide up to 2,000 transition-care beds and up to 2,500 aged-care beds. So far we have delivered 499 operational places. In addition, we have set up $300 million in zero real interest loans for aged-care providers to construct and extend residential aged-care beds in areas of need. Of this, $150 million has already been allocated and is expected to produce 1,455 additional places in areas of need.

I would like to touch on the shortage of high-care beds under the coalition. In the 12 long years of the Howard government, they continued to fail frail older Australians needing high-level aged care. An Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report showed that, in June 2006, 69 per cent of residents required high care. The Howard government’s bed allocation system did not reflect the needs of increasingly frail older Australians. Since the Rudd Labor government has— (Time expired)