Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Smith for his question and for his long interest in aged care, which we have discussed many times. This government is committed to improving the aged-care sector in Australia, and we have delivered unprecedented investment into aged care. This year, 2019-20, our investment will be $21.4 million into the aged-care sector—funding that goes towards some of this government's most important priorities. We have provided 44,000 additional home care packages in the last two years alone. That's an additional investment of $2.7 billion. We can do that, because we've managed the budget well and we have the capacity to make these investments. When we came to government there were just over 60,000 home-care packages in the market. That will go to 158,000 in 2022-23, an increase of over 160 per cent. Our government is supporting 1.3 million Australians in some form of aged care across the system.

Our determination to ensure that we have the best aged-care system possible is demonstrated by our calling of the royal commission—one of Prime Minister Morrison's first acts when coming to government—so that we could have the best overview of the system. We've put in place the new Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission. We appreciate the opposition supporting the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission legislation that went through the parliament just prior to Christmas.