Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

I'm keen to understand what the process was. One of the recommendations of the royal commission was that we move to a system where people are actually getting access to the care they need when they are identified as needing it. I think they referred to it as a demand-driven system. We had 24,100 home-care packages released in the most recent budget, in May, for the period of 2024-25, yet, on the national priority list as we're standing here today, we've got 79,000 people on the national priority list. We've got 800,000 people, as we're standing here today, that are receiving their aged-care services via the Commonwealth Home Support Program, and yet the minister has made an announcement that, from 2025, for a period of 10 years, there will be 300,000 home-care packages, which means that there'll be an additional 30,000 home packages per year over a period of 10 years.

I'm interested to understand what the government's calculations are in relation to what that is likely to do to the national priority list. What are your projections in terms of how long people will have to wait and how many people will be waiting for a period in excess of what has been established? I think everyone was seeking that people would get their packages within 30 days of being assessed. That's the goal that everyone's been trying to strive for. So I'm keen to understand: what are your projections, on the basis of determinations you've made in relation to the 24,100 packages and the 30,000 packages a year, for the wait times and waitlists for people waiting to receive home care going forward?