Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Deputy Leader of the Nationals in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank senators for their contributions.

This Aged Care Amendment (Red Tape Reduction in Places Management) Bill 2015 is an important component of the government's deregulation agenda. Australia has an ageing population, with the life expectancy of older people increasing. With this demographic comes the need for governance to support older people with their increasing care needs and to make the process of delivering care less burdensome administratively.

This bill makes the business of delivering aged care easier for service providers and removes unnecessary red tape so that the focus of care delivery can be at the forefront of a service provider's attention. This bill aligns with the action areas in the Red Tape Reduction Action Plan by reviewing current practice and assessing the case for enhanced policy settings, streamlining administrative requirements and ensuring fit-for-purpose regulation.

The amendments proposed in this bill remove the need for approved providers to seek approval to transfer their places to another provider. They simply notify the Department of Health of the transfer and wait for the transfer to be processed. The Department of Health will retain the ability to veto transfers where they are not appropriate, and must still consider the matters critical to ensuring that aged-care consumers are protected.

The amendments proposed in this bill also reduce the number of times that approved providers who have been provisionally allocated places must apply to extend the period of provisional allocation. The bill amends the act to give approved providers four years, with the possibility of two 12-month extensions and further extensions in exceptional circumstances.

Both measures are founded on three key concepts: (1)—most importantly—upholding quality aged-care service delivery and other consumer protections; (2) only seeking additional information from the aged-care sector that is necessary to provide an informed risk-managed perspective of the proposed transfer; and (3) reduced involvement in business transactions of approved providers of residential care.

This bill is a positive step forward in reducing red tape for aged-care providers. I thank senators for their contributions to the debate on this bill. These measures have been supported by those we consulted within the aged-care sector. I welcome your support for the bill, those in the chamber, in reducing red tape in the management of aged-care places.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.