Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Seselja for his question, as always.

The government is very firmly of the view that proper support for Australians with dementia is part of the core business of aged care. Indeed, the government's commitment to Australians with dementia was outlined very well by Minister Nash yesterday in relation to the $200 million that this government is going to dedicate to dementia research. I think colleagues of all sides will remember the sad-and-sorry saga of the previous government's design of the dementia and severe behaviours supplement, which of course saw very significant cost blow-outs. Rather than $11.7 million as allocated last financial year by the previous government, that expenditure was indeed $110 million., and rather than supporting 2,000 people, as the previous government designed, it went to 29,000 people and it was unsustainable. So, we had to take a difficult decision to conclude that supplement.

Nevertheless, the government is committed to designing a replacement for Labor's flawed design. In fact, the government has been meeting with stakeholders, including providers and consumer representatives, to determine the best way to proceed. Indeed, on 11 September the first Ministerial Dementia Forum met in Melbourne. It was tasked by Minister Dutton and me to consider the provision of best-practice dementia care in residential and home settings. There were 70 stakeholders, including consumers, service providers and clinicians, who came together. The forum was specifically asked to provide advice on what the replacement might be for the supplement for those providers who support the small number of people in residential care who exhibit severe behaviours.