Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Where's your care, dignity and respect for people who are receiving aged care? There isn't any. When Labor's report came out and they said, 'The wealthy will pay more,' we thought: 'Yes, fair enough. Those that can afford to pay more should pay more. That's a reasonable thing to say.' But what they didn't tell you was that everyone's paying more. The rhetoric was, 'The wealthy will pay more.' We heard that every time the report was talked about. What's happened at the end of the day is that everyone will be paying more, particularly those of low means, and they'll wait longer for their home-care package. With the design of this system, instead of the 30 days that the coalition got the waiting time to, the ambition in the aged-care legislation is 90 days. It's three months to wait for a home-care package under Labor's proposed reforms. It's simply not acceptable.

Mr Albanese promised that he'd put the care back into aged care. That's what he promised a number of times before the election. What he has put back are the waiting lists and he's put up the price. Labor should be ashamed of their efforts to date on this legislation instead of talking a big game. The fact is that they are two years behind with this reform. They're all running out there as though this is a great achievement for them.