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

My question is to the Minister for Ageing, Senator Santoro. Last month I asked the minister about alternative policies in aged care. I was disappointed to learn that there were no such policies. While ever the optimist, I now ask him: have any alternative policies come to light since then and, if so, does the government have any plans to implement those policies?

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

I thank Senator Humphries for his question. I understand why he has asked it. He probably heard the rumour that the ALP had released its long-awaited policy paper on ageing and aged care—the one that Barry Jones in fact promised in July this year. Naturally, I was very interested. I went to the ALP website. I noticed that that policy cupboard was empty as far as aged care was concerned, as has been the case now for many years. As far as Senator McLucas was concerned, there was no policy paper on aged care on the ALP website. But then I did find the paper by going to Senator McLucas’s website. I started to ask myself: why isn’t this paper on the official ALP website? Why is it that the Labor leader and the executive of the caucus do not have sufficient confidence in this paper for it to be on the ALP website? It is obvious: they do not have confidence in a policy paper that does not exist. Senator McLucas should not take this as a personal snub, because Senator Carr is also in the same position. His policy paper also does not make it onto the ALP website.

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

That’s just wrong; you’re wrong.

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

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

Order! Senator Carr, come to order. There is too much noise on my left and, Senator Carr, shouting across the chamber, as you are, is totally disorderly.

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

Having waited so many years for this policy paper that was going to reveal the ALP’s intentions on aged care, we have absolutely nothing. In fact, Senator McLucas’s paper does not contain one single new policy commitment, no firm indication of what Labor wants to do differently from the Howard government when it comes to caring for our elderly and our frail. In fact, what I did find upon examining Senator McLucas’s paper was a repetition of some policy suggestions that clearly reflect what the Howard government is already doing. Let me just go through a few examples. In terms of dementia, Senator McLucas suggests that the government should invest in dementia research and caring for those people with that condition. What Senator McLucas should do is go back to the 2005 federal budget, which allocated more than $320 million over five years to dementia research.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A very generous package!

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

As Senator Abetz says, a very generous package. Let’s go to community care. Senator McLucas suggests that we should allocate more resources to community care programs. She might like to know—and I would like to inform her and, through this question, the Senate—that, under the Howard government, the number of community aged care places increased from about 5,000 under Labor to 38,000—an 800 per cent increase. I am pleased that Senator McLucas has finally cottoned on to the importance of community care because, right up until now, she has blatantly ignored the government’s very serious involvement in and commitment to community care by engaging in her scare campaigns against the elderly and the aged. She rings journalists, trying to spin them stories about shortages in aged care places, but her figures certainly omit the tens of thousands of extra aged care places that we have provided in the community. You should be honest when you talk to people about that.

Let’s have a look at healthy ageing. Senator McLucas’s discussion paper calls for a healthy ageing program and for there to be a whole-of-government approach to it. What Senator McLucas should do is seek to familiarise herself with the Office for an Ageing Australia, which was established several years ago, which released a national strategy for an ageing Australia in 2002, and which has provided a very strong leadership in that area. (Time expired)

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

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I thank the minister for that answer, but are there any more examples of alternative policies that the government may adopt?

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

Senator Humphries, you cannot ask direct questions about alternative policies. That question is out of order.

Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Aged Care, Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Santoro, the Minister for Ageing. Can the minister confirm that in April 2004 Professor Warren Hogan presented his review on aged care funding, outlining a number of options for medium- and long-term reform of this sector? Didn’t the government commit to consult with the community over these reform options, allocating $1.3 million to a task force to draft a discussion paper in 2005? Why is it that 2½ years on there is no sign of the promised consultation process with the community, no sign of the discussion paper and no attempt by this government to address the reform options raised by Professor Hogan? Rather than taking cheap shots at others for putting forward policy options and trying to generate discussion and debate, when will the minister actually deliver on the government’s promise to consult with the community over needed aged care reforms and then implement those changes?

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

I thank Senator McLucas for her question, because it allows me to elaborate on the answer that I previously started giving. I will take Senator McLucas’s question in parts, as she asked them.

Opposition senators interjection—

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

No, Senator. Ignore the interjections and I ask you to return to the question.

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

As I said, I will take Senator McLucas’s question in parts. In terms of consultation with the community, which was the first point that she raised, I suggest to Senator McLucas that, in fact, if she were honest, she would admit that the level of consultation with the aged care sector, particularly under the Howard government, has been second to none. When this government came to power—

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

What happened to Hogan?

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

Senator Evans, continuing to interject across the chamber is disorderly and turning your back on the chair while you do it is not the best practice to be showing the rest of your colleagues.

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

Mr President, I rise on a point of order. I apologise for interjecting—your order is correct—but I cannot pay attention to the minister and you, given the angles. I meant no disrespect to you; I was listening to the minister.

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

Let us listen to the minister in some sort of peace and quiet.

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

When the Howard government came to power in 1996, there were minimal fire standards, there was no accreditation process and there was no complaints abuse mechanism to take care of complaints from the aged care sector. The sector had been neglected under the 13 years of the Keating-Hawke government to the extent that it was a cottage industry. It was the Howard government that introduced all the reforms that I have just mentioned—fire safety, accreditation, complaints tribunals and complaints commissioners—and all the other quality control mechanisms that have been put in place.

In addition to that—and I give credit where credit is due—we took up an initiative of the Labor Party to start moving the aged care sector into community care. When they left government, as a result of a wise decision by the Australian public in 1996, there were 5,000—

Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Aged Care, Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I rise on a point of order that goes to relevance. I asked a very specific question about what is happening with the long-term response to Hogan. The minister has been on his feet for a couple of minutes now and has not got anywhere near it.

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

The minister has two minutes plus left to answer the question. I remind him of the question and ask him to return to it.

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

I continue to answer very relevantly Senator McLucas’s question by again reminding her that the first part of her question was about consultation. But let us talk about the response to Hogan. Three budgets ago the government clearly committed over $2.6 billion in response to Hogan. That has gone into increases in aged care places across all aged care facilities in Australia, across all the regions that have been designated for the allocation of places. More importantly, as I was saying before I was again interrupted by Senator McLucas, we have continued to provide more capacity for people who are aged and frail to make a choice as to whether they go into aged care facilities or whether they stay in their own homes. By doing that, we implemented one of Professor Hogan’s recommendations that people be provided with choice and quality care when it comes to aged care.

In addition to that, we addressed some specific issues raised by Professor Hogan, particularly issues relating to dementia. As I have stated in my previous answers—and I just wish that Senator McLucas would come into this place and reflect the reality of our response to Professor Hogan—the reality is that, when it comes to dementia, we have stepped forward with $320 million to be paid over five years to a sector that is doing wonderful work particularly in research but also in caring very specifically for people with the dementia condition within Australia’s aged care facilities and some people with the dementia condition within community care.

One of the most frustrating things that I find about this job is that we have an opposition shadow minister who just refuses to recognise the wonderful work that we have done in aged care. That is intellectual and political dishonesty of the worst kind. (Time expired)

Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Aged Care, Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, before I ask a supplementary question, I note that the minister absolutely avoided answering the fundamental question: where is the government’s long-term response to the Hogan review? Does the minister agree with his comments earlier this year, when I asked that same question, that the response was going to be released shortly? Is it going to be released or is it not? Can the minister confirm that, when the issue of aged care reform was raised earlier this year, the following response was received from his office and reported in the media: ‘A spokeswoman for the Minister for Ageing, Senator Santoro, could not be contacted’? Can the minister also confirm that, when the option of adjusting care subsidies paid for dementia sufferers was reported, we got the following response: ‘A spokesman for the federal Minister for Ageing, Senator Santoro, would not confirm or deny that the government was considering the option’? When will the minister actually have something to say on the future reform of the aged care sector?

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

I cannot believe the supplementary question. As a government we have over the past nine months, since I have been minister, handed out to the sector tens of millions of dollars for workforce training and retraining. We have continued to improve the quality of the aged care system with a $110 million package in terms of our response to the abuse issue, which arose during the year and which was shamelessly whipped up, through you, Mr President, by Senator McLucas. If there is one very clear instance of abuse of the elderly, it was when Senator McLucas whipped up the campaign of fear. If anybody has abused the confidence of the aged care sector, it is Senator McLucas—and she comes back in here day after day and disgraces us. (Time expired)

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

Order! Senator Evans, if you cared to face the chair instead of shouting across the chamber—as I warned you about earlier—you would see that I am on my feet.

Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, on a point of order: I ask you to look at the claim that a senator has abused confidences—I do not think that is inconsistent with the parliamentary rules—and come back to the Senate with your ruling on that matter.

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

I will review the Hansard, but I do not understand your point of order. Perhaps you might like to give me a call after question time and tell me what you are implying.