Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about the Turnbull government's continued failure to put dementia at the forefront of the government's thinking and to treat it as a national health priority. Our calls over the last three years for this government to refocus its resources to tackle dementia as an immediate priority have fallen on deaf ears as evidenced during the 2016 federal election campaign.

Today is one year since 'the Malcolm Turnbull experiment began.' Whilst the general feeling within our community is one of disappointment, I am personally not surprised. I think the fact that the Prime Minister is seen as a mediocre leader was borne out during his experience in his previous term as leader of the then opposition. Even Mr Turnbull's hunt for any achievement that he can celebrate over the first year of his leadership as Prime Minister delivers absolutely no joy for any older Australians.

I stood here 12 months ago in this place and said the only difference between Mr Turnbull and Tony Abbott was a top hat and a different tie—and I wish I had a top hat so I could demonstrate this more clearly. Since the Prime Minister took the leadership and knifed Tony Abbott, what he has done is hold older Australians in contempt. His failures when it comes to the portfolio of ageing, have only served to fuel uncertainty—

John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Acting Deputy President O'Sullivan, on a point of order: last night in adjournment, I had to take a point of order on Senator Polley not referring to those in the other place by their correct titles but as Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull et cetera. Mr Acting Deputy President, I ask you to show respect to those others to use their proper titles. I do not know how we can get Senator Polley to actually do this and remember to do it in future. Will you bring it to her attention, please.

Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Williams. Senator Polley, the matter has been raised before. I just bring it to your attention and ask you to have regard to it while you make your contribution.

Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I was saying, it is quite obvious that this government has failed the test. Mr Turnbull would not even get a D-plus when it comes to the way he has treated older Australians; he would get a minus-F. He has failed on every account. His treatment of the issue of dementia has been an absolutely dismal response to what is the second-leading cause of deaths in this country.

We know that this government under Mr Turnbull has slashed over $2 billion. He has used the aged-care sector as an ATM. We know that they have no real interest. We know that they have done nothing. They have put some money into dementia research but what they really need to do is support so that we can support those people living with dementia on a daily basis and we can support the carers. What we need in this country is age-friendly and dementia-friendly communities. There is in excess of 350,000 Australians who are currently living with dementia. They need more support. Their carers need more support.

This month is Dementia Awareness Month, and we know how devastating it can be for families and those who are diagnosed with dementia. The theme for Dementia Awareness Month this year is: You are not alone. It is time this government demonstrated this by putting more money into supporting those people who are taking this journey. It is so important that people who are living with dementia and their carers do not feel any less engaged, because being disengaged and not being part of the community leads to further health complications.

The diagnosis that somebody is living with dementia takes longer than it should. We need that research. But there is still stigma, social isolation and exclusion—and this has to change. If this government were to do one thing for ageing people, I think this would be a very good start. We all either have a family member with dementia or know someone who does. Dementia is not just a disease of those who are ageing. There is also early onset dementia. People in their early 30s have been diagnosed with dementia.

Quite frankly, I sincerely believe that this government can do more. They can do more in the way of putting money into research, but they also need to do more about making the public aware of dementia. You do not have to be put away somewhere in a residential facility just because you have been diagnosed with dementia. There are many things that we can do that can help those living with dementia to keep that journey at bay. We know there is some great research being done and, from the time I have spent visiting people who are running facilities and doing research, I know that what they are doing is going to have fantastic benefits for those who are living with dementia.

We are not alone here. This is a global epidemic that is happening. We have got to a critical point where we need to ensure for those people living with dementia, their families, our communities and the aged-care sector that we have adequately funded policies that respond to the complexity of dementia care. We need dementia-friendly communities. That is something that the shadow minister for ageing, Shayne Neumann, and I have worked tirelessly to get support and funding for. We want dementia-friendly communities established and supported going forward.

I recently visited Alzheimer's Australia VIC to see yet again the innovative ways that they are thinking about how they can help those people living with dementia in our community. They do a wonderful job. Those people are so committed to improving the lives of those living with dementia and also their carers. There are some great, innovative things that will be released later this year. There is some really exciting use of technology and there are projects that I am sure will be so welcomed by those people living with dementia and their carers.. But this work has to continue, and this Liberal government have a responsibility to get behind Alzheimer's Australia and to do more.

As I have said, we have now had one year—one very long year—of Mr Malcolm Turnbull being Prime Minister of this country. When he took over, he said he would not be using three-word slogans. But what did we have through the federal election campaign? We had the former member for Bass using the chant every morning to get himself and his staff motivated, 'Jobs and growth. Jobs and growth.' That is a slogan. So we have seen nothing different from this Prime Minister.

He said that he would have an economic plan for the future of this country. What have we seen? We have seen nothing except a thought bubble passing over him that said, 'Let's increase the GST to 15 per cent on everything.' That was his economic plan. But not even the Department of Finance would support that, because they knew that was not going to make the necessary changes that we need in our economy without compensating a lot of our community members, which would have made it impossible to see any real benefit from the increase.

But he did not stop there. He went over to Western Australia. I like that state, but he went to Western Australia and said to the Western Australian people, 'Your government needs more money. It needs a bigger share of the GST.' I have said in here time and time again, the reason we have a Federation and a Commonwealth is to ensure that the smaller states such as Tasmania, my home state—it is also that of Senator Brown and Senator Urquhart, who are here and who I know would support me on this—have our fair share of the GST funding.

There are so many issues when it comes to the disappointment that the community feels about Mr Turnbull being the Prime Minister of this country. We know that he is already punishing Tasmania for not supporting his members. We got rid of the three amigos in Tasmania by winning back those seats with fantastic candidates who are now excellent members—the Hon. Justine Keay, Ross Hart in Bass and Brian Mitchell in Lyons—who will be responsive to their communities and their electorates, unlike the former members.

This government have learnt nothing. The Prime Minister himself has learnt nothing from that election campaign. On election night he was a man who was looking to blame everyone else for their election result rather than looking in the mirror at himself. He lost 17 members from the government benches. But who did he blame? He blamed everyone else. He blamed what he said was a Medicare scare campaign. Our money was right on the nozzle when it came to what this government planned for Medicare. They are about privatisation. (Time expired)