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

Let me try to deal with this a bit more comprehensively than I have been able to do to date. One bit of important information is there is an extra supplement for people with individual needs—like First Nations individuals, care leavers, veterans and people who may be homeless. The work that I am advised the department has done on this is, rather than looking at it as a percentage or a set figure, in relation to what hours are needed to do that care-planning and package-planning properly.

If you look at the 10 per cent that allows for between one and six hours for someone who isn't getting that extra supplement per month in that planning, for the people who are getting the extra supplement in those other categories it equates to between two and seven hours per month. Providers' advice to government was that they needed between two and four hours. That's right in the middle. It means for someone on a very low-level plan, or with low-level needs, that that would be one hour, but if you have a person who requires a much higher level it that would be up to six hours a month in care-planning. Perhaps it is more useful to look at it in those terms, and in that way it fits within what providers are saying they needed, and maximises the care hours.