Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Regional Communications) Share this | Hansard source

The figures referred to on page 139 of the PBS about supporting people in residential aged care do have an increase year on year, and they're labelled 'places'. But, when you actually unpack that, they're about the forecasts over the forwards of the beds that are going to be occupied at that time. So there is a difference between the forecast at the last budget on the residential beds being occupied as opposed to the forecasts for these forwards. And do you know why? Because they weren't being filled. Australians, as they age, want to stay at home for longer. And so, to meet those demands, we've invested in an additional 14,000 high-quality care packages. We've added another component to the aged-care level of care so that those Australians who do not want to go into residential aged care and take up one of these forecasted places will have high-quality care, often on a daily basis over a longer period of time, to support them to stay independent and in their homes longer.