Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

It was neglect, Senator Ludwig. Let me take you back to August 2007, when then opposition leader Kevin Rudd was criticising the coalition by saying that the then government had not been providing enough aged-care beds and people were becoming bed-blockers in acute hospital beds. I can tell you that they have now had a long time to rectify what Mr Rudd was then saying was deficient with the system. Do you know what—the system has gone backwards. In 2007 we saw Kevin Rudd promise new directions for frail and older Australians, which was going to make the transition from hospital to aged care a priority area. But today, as Catholic Health Australia will tell you, on any given night in Australia there are 3,000 people who are in a hospital because there are not sufficient beds. They are in hospital when they should be better cared for in residential aged care.

So let us look at what this government has spent its time doing. We have seen review after review. That is nothing new with the Rudd and Gillard governments. It has been a feature of their time in government. We have seen over 20 reviews and inquiries into ageing and aged-care issues. One provider in Tasmania told me that he had provided no fewer than 21 submissions to no fewer than 21 reviews, all to no avail. And each one of these reviews has been ignored by the government and not responded to. No decisions have been made. And many of these reports have been highly critical of the government and its failure to act.

Despite the commitments, we have had broken promises in terms of the number of aged-care nurses and the number of training places. And we have had the debacle of the zero-interest loans. So much for additional transition care places! The care places that were promised have not been filled.

When you look at the Rudd and Gillard governments' so-called health reforms, aged care and my other portfolio responsibility of mental health were missing. One only has to look at the scathing evidence that was given to the Senate inquiries into the COAG alleged reforms to see just how bad the situation is with aged care and with mental health.

Let us look at the 2010 election promises which were, of course, light on ageing and aged care. The only mention of ageing and aged care at the last federal election was the one line that Prime Minister Gillard made that, yes, ageing and aged-care reform would be a second-term priority. But let me take the Senate to 2010 election when Ms Gillard had to defend herself against the serial leaker who claimed that she had not supported big increases in the age pension 'because older people never vote for us'. She denied it, but of course the serial leaker had told us what happened. The bottom line is that you asked for the Productivity Commission report. It has now been delivered. We need a response.