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

I thank the senator for the question. The government has allocated the packages to the areas where they will most quickly reduce waiting lists—where the demand is and where they will most quickly reduce waiting lists. That's the whole point. The allocation of the packages, the 30,000 packages, over this financial year has been to reduce waiting lists so that people don't have to wait as long as they have been for the care that they want through a home-care package.

Can I also make the point that the inference that people are left without care is an incorrect one. All of these people have access to Australia's excellent health system to support them. All of them have access to Australia's excellent health system, and 98 per cent of them have an interim package, have access to an interim—