Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Hansard source

The government has not made a decision to privatise aged-care assessments. It's disappointing that claims to that effect are misleading the community and parliament. The government made a commitment in the 2018-19 budget to streamline the assessment process of aged care in line with the 2017 Tune review recommendation, which goes as follows: 'That the government integrate regional assessment services with aged-care assessment teams.'

The royal commission in the interim report stated:

The Government has announced that it will implement this recommendation and will integrate the two assessment workforces from 2020. The Royal Commission considers that this integration needs to be progressed urgently.

The government is committed to creating a better experience for senior Australians entering aged care, and our position remains unchanged: we're committed to ensuring that Australians seeking to enter aged care receive timely, consistent, high-quality needs assessments.