Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

  (i) Aged Care Assessment Teams ('ACATs') are teams of medical professionals which run clinical and psychological checks on older Australians who have applied for home or residential aged care,

  (ii) based in hospitals across the country, ACATs are ultimately responsible for assessing which older Australians should receive government- funded care,

  (iii) an ACAT team usually includes a nurse, plus another healthcare worker such as a physiotherapist, occupational therapist or social worker,

  (iv) the Morrison Government has announced that it will privatise the ACAT workforce from April 2021, when a tender will be put out for organisations to deliver this vital assessment,

  (v) on 14 January 2020, the chair of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, the Honourable Gaetano Pagone QC, issued a statement saying the commission's interim report "did not endorse the government's stated position" on privatising the ACATs;

(b) supports the retention of ACATs as a publicly provided service; and

(c) commends the Health Services Union and other unions for their continued advocacy on behalf of working people in healthcare across Australia, in particular in the aged care sector.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government has not made a decision to privatise aged-care assessments. It's disappointing that claims to this effect are misleading the community and the parliament. The government made a commitment in the 2018-19 budget to streamline the assessment process of aged care by the integration of ACAT and RAS in line with the 2017 Tune review recommendation which stated that the government integrate regional assessment services with the aged-care assessment teams. The royal commission in its interim report stated:

The Government has announced that it will implement this recommendation and will integrate the two assessment workforces from 2020. The Royal Commission considers that this integration needs to be progressed urgently.

The government is committed to creating a better experience for senior Australians entering aged care, and our position has not changed. We're committed to ensuring that Australians seeking to enter aged care receive timely, consistent and high-quality needs assessments that they deserve.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that motion No. 414 be agreed to.