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

I thank Senator Henderson for her question. Supporting senior Australians to live in their own homes has always been one of this government's key priorities. At every opportunity, we have provided additional home-care packages to help senior Australians with their household tasks, to get the equipment that they may need, and to access personal and clinical care as they age in their own homes.

Last night, the Morrison government announced $1.6 billion for an additional 23,000 packages, building on the $235.7 million for the 6,105 packages announced in July. This means that, over this financial year, around 30,000 new home-care packages will be available to senior Australians. This brings our overall investment to an additional $4.6 billion, for 73,105 packages, since the 2018-19 budget. And I recall that the opposition went to the last election with $387 billion worth of new taxes and not a single home-care package. So their crocodile tears fall on very, very deaf ears over here. By the end of this financial year, we will have tripled the number of home-care packages that were in place under Labor when we came to government in 2013. We will not stop until senior Australians have access to the package and care that they need.