Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Tyrrell for the question. I think it's your first question, Senator Tyrrell, so congratulations on that. I appreciate the heads-up you gave on this as well.

You raised the issue of support for home care and community care services and the indexation rate. This is an issue that has been raised with me in my role as the Minister for Finance, not just from an aged-care point of view but for the majority of those working in the non-government sector at the moment, so this is something that I am looking at closely. There are a range of different ways that indexation applies across payments and programs, and there are even differences between particular programs getting indexed differently, so I am having a close look at that. My understanding is that the Department of Health and Aged Care is aware of the issue. They're working with the sector and looking at a range of approaches to manage some of these impacts on service provision. I would say that there has been significant investment into the service system over the last couple of years, but the government accepts that, with inflation running as high as it is, that is having costs on services. It's a matter I'm looking at as the Minister for Finance.