Gary Humphries (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Santoro, the Minister for Ageing. Will the minister inform the Senate what steps the government has taken to address the shortfall in aged care places that existed in this country when the government assumed office in 1996; and is the minister aware of any alternative policy approaches?

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

In thanking Senator Humphries for his question, could I also acknowledge his very strong advocacy on behalf of the aged and the frail in the ACT—an advocacy that has been so effective it has even been recognised by the current Chief Minister of the ACT, Mr Stanhope. Mr President, I have been waiting; I waited yesterday for a follow-up question to those asked of me on Tuesday, and I provided the opposition with some quite specific information relating to Queensland—but alas. I am thankful to Senator Humphries for at least having the interest to provide me with some further opportunity to elaborate on the performance of the Howard government in its provision of aged care places.

When the Howard government was elected in 1996 it inherited a national deficit of 10,000 aged care places. It was not the incoming Howard government that said that; in fact it was said in the latest report of the Auditor-General. After years of Labor Party neglect, Australia had an operational ratio of—listen to this, Mr President—just 93 aged care places per 1,000 people aged over 70. Thanks to 10 years of strong investment in aged care, the Howard government has increased that ratio from 93 to 106 places per 1,000 people over 70 years of age. We are on track to achieve the target we committed to in 1996—that is, 108 aged care operational places per 1,000 people over the age of 70 by the end of next year.

Mr President, to assist the opposition, I have presented the information in the form of a table. In case they do not understand the figures, the red arrow represents the Labor Party’s performance—

Paul Calvert (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Santoro, are you seeking to table this document?

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

Through you, Mr President, I am seeking permission to table this very simple document.

Paul Calvert (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You do not need permission to table it; just table it.

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

Thank you very much. Mr President, the opposition will be able to understand it if they just follow the colours: red is the Labor Party performance; blue is the Howard government’s performance. Labor’s spokesperson for aged care continues to fixate on bed numbers. Labor remains fixated on bed numbers rather on the total number of packages for aged care.

This year the Howard government has delivered on its promise of 200,000 operational aged care places. Almost 9,000 new aged care places are available for 2006-07, with a further 20,000 places to come on line in the following two years.

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Chris Evans interjecting—

Paul Calvert (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Evans, come to order!

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

What Senator McLucas and her colleagues over there do not understand is that aged care is much more than simply residential places. You should stop being fixated simply on bed places. Labor is stuck in the centuries-old fixation on bed places.

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

Paul Calvert (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! There is too much noise on my left.

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

By contrast the Howard government is committed to providing a full range of choices for the elderly. This means residential care; it means community care and an expanded range of HACC programs. As a result of this commitment, there are now 56,000 more aged care places in Australia than there were when the Howard government took office in 1996.

Senator Humphries also asked me about alternative policies. I have to report to the Senate today that, unfortunately for democracy, the opposition does not have any alternative policies. Despite being Labor’s aged care spokesperson since December 2004, almost two years— (Time expired)

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Housing and Urban Development) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Carr interjecting—

Paul Calvert (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Carr, when you stop shouting across the chamber we will continue with question time.

Gary Humphries (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Did I hear the minister say that there were another 56,000 places available to aged Australians today than there were in 1996? Can the minister also explain why the government will not be adopting the alternative policies of which he spoke?

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

The reason we will not be adopting any alternative policies is very simple: there are none, even if we did want to consider them. What Senator McLucas and her colleagues over there are concerned about is running down the reputation of aged care homes and their staff and frightening residents and their families.

Under the Hawke-Keating governments, and this is very instructional, there was no system of accreditation for nursing homes, there was no policy on building certification, there was no policy on fire safety in nursing homes and there was no increase—I repeat: no increase—in aged care places for the elderly and the frail. On 3 July, Barry Jones, the President of the Australian Labor Party, committed to having an aged care policy by the Labor Party within a few weeks. A few weeks after 3 July, we are still waiting, and I suspect we will continue to wait.