Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Ageing, Senator Santoro. Will the minister outline to the Senate the progress on the renegotiation of the Home and Community Care agreement with the states and territories? Further, will the minister inform the Senate of reaction to proposed improvements in the delivery of community care to those who are frail aged or have disabilities?

Santo Santoro (Queensland, Liberal Party, Minister for Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Payne for her question. I wish to acknowledge the valuable work that the senator does in her role as co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Dementia group, a policy area that is a vital concern to my portfolio. Today I want to continue in the grand tradition that I have established this week of telling the Senate how well I get on with my interstate Labor ministers. On 26 July in a meeting with my state ministerial colleagues I was pleased to announce that I had secured cabinet approval for up to $30 million of new HACC money to be made available nationwide.

This new HACC money will provide additional funding to those states and territories that implement the reforms outlined in a new strategy for community care, The Way Forward, a strategy which was put forward in August of last year by my predecessor, the Hon. Julie Bishop. These reforms are very significant because they will make it easier for clients to access services and information, improve national consistency in eligibility and assessment of services and reduce overlap and duplication in the administration that is sometimes involved in HACC.

Senators, of course, would know that HACC is the largest of the community care programs, providing services to over 750,000 Australians who need that sort of care within the community. It also assists people with disabilities. The HACC program has total funding of around $1.5 billion in 2006-07, with the Commonwealth contributing 60 per cent of that, close to $900 million, and the states contributing the rest. I wish to stress that this extra $30 million in new money, outside of the budget, is not required to be matched by the states—something that they appreciated very much. However, the additional funding will only be made available to those states and territories who achieve certain milestones in the implementation of The Way Forward. Also, the additional funding recognises the one-off cost associated with implementing the reforms. I am happy to say that my ministerial colleagues in state Labor governments welcomed my announcement and recognised it as yet another example of cooperation between the states and the federal government, cooperation which was amply demonstrated at the recent COAG agreement meeting and the meeting before that.

Senator Payne asked me: what was the reaction to that announcement? As I have mentioned, the reaction was strong and very favourable. I will just quote one. I was pleased to read comments on 27 July from Carers Australia, who welcomed the increase in HACC funding by saying:

This is good news. We congratulate the Minister on an encouraging outcome for the 750,000 Australians who receive services as part of this program—

that being the HACC program.

In 1995-96 the Commonwealth provided $423.2 million for HACC services, and over the last 10 years the Howard government has more than doubled that amount to a total of $928.4 million in 2006-07. What this increase in funding clearly shows is the Commonwealth government’s commitment to providing increasing community care for our aged, our frail and our people with disabilities, particularly in their homes and in their communities.