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

I move amendment (3) on sheet 3075:

(3) The transitional rules may provide that this Act, or any instrument (legislative or otherwise) made under this Act, has effect with any modifications prescribed by the transitional rules.

The effect of this amendment is to put in place transitional arrangements that would allow for the continuation of services provided under the current act that had been not given a service category within the proposed legislation at no additional cost to the consumer to maintain the no-worse-off provision. It allows homecare providers to deliver services at cost rather than at the national efficient price, which remains unknown, and to mitigate the legitimate risk of exit from the sector as a result of the change to Support at Home from Home Care Packages. So I would certainly recommend that the government consider supporting this to be able to provide that guarantee of the no-worse-off principle, which I know that we all want to have embedded into the legislation because we want older Australians to feel comfortable that there will be a no-worse-off provision. These transition arrangements require the government to make sure that there are transitional rules in place to make sure that is effected.