Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

At the request of Senator Walsh, I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) more than 102,000 older Australians are waiting for their approved home care package,

(ii) 41,221 and 15,873 older Australians are waiting for their approved level three and level four packages respectively, the highest levels of home care, and

(iii) only 2,000 level four packages were allocated in the 2020-21 Budget;

(b) recognises that:

(i) the majority of older Australians waiting for level three and level four packages have high care needs,

(ii) some older Australians, many in their 90s or with terminal illnesses, have been waiting more than two years for their approved package, and

(iii) more than 60,000 older Australians have either died waiting, or entered residential aged care prematurely, because they could not access their approved home care package;

(c) condemns the Morrison Government for failing to stop the wait list growing and drip-feeding home care packages into the system, despite the Aged Care Royal Commission recommending in October 2019 it take urgent action in relation to the home care waitlist, which it described as cruel, unfair and discriminatory; and

(d) calls on the Morrison Government to take urgent action now to fix the home care packages waitlist now and properly address this national crisis.