David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I move the amendment on Sheet 3142:

(1) Page 173 (after line 23), at the end of Division 1, add:

Subdivision J — Condition relating to residential care homes

165A Residential care homes

(1) It is a condition of registration that a registered provider in the residential care category must ensure that at least 20% of the beds in each residential care home covered by the provider's registration are reserved for supported residents.

(2) In this section:

supported resident means an individual:

(a) in respect of whom a registered provider is eligible to receive an accommodation supplement; or

(b) who may be charged an accommodation contribution.

Minister, within every region of Australia there is a minimum requirement for providers in each of those regions to preserve a percentage of those beds for Australians who may not have the means to pay a $750,000 refundable deposit or pay the $172-a-day accommodation payment. It's 16 per cent in Brisbane and North Queensland, it's 40 per cent across the regional Northern Territory and it's 19 per cent here in the ACT. That's today's law—that there must be beds set aside for those who may not be able to afford them. It protects against people who live in an area being priced out of that area. We all know this too well; we have areas where people have lived there their entire lives but they have now become very expensive and we're seeing people priced out of their neighbourhoods.

My amendment here would add back a minimum thresholding mandating that 20 per cent of beds in each facility must be for supported residents. It is far below the current national average of 40 per cent, but it will send a signal to the sector that they may not build an aged-care home exclusively for people with the means to pay high fees. We don't want this two-tiered system to develop. While I recognise that the rules may incentivise those who choose to accept supported residents with a higher accommodation supplementation amount, the lack of a clear floor means that future aged-care providers can build nursing homes that most financially disadvantaged people would be locked out of.

Minister, I am keen to ask a few questions. I know everyone is keen to get on with things. How many residential aged-care facilities currently do not have even a single supported resident? If possible, how many facilities have fewer than 20 per cent of beds filled by supported residents?