Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At the request of Senator Watt, I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

  (i) the Morrison Government has announced it wants to privatise the Aged Care Assessment Teams (ACAT) workforce from April 2021, when a tender will be put out for organisations to deliver this vital assessment,

  (ii) ACAT teams are currently based in hospitals across the country and are responsible for assessing which older Australians should receive government-funded care,

  (iii) the Morrison Government's plan could take away the jobs of over

1,000 qualified, experienced and highly-trained professionals across the country, and

  (iv) the Morrison Government's plan to privatise ACAT services is not supported by highly regarded experts, the sector or the states;

(b) strongly opposes:

  (i) the privatisation of the ACAT workforce, and

  (ii) any changes to the current qualification arrangements of the ACAT workforce; and

(c) condemns the Morrison Government for its continued piecemeal approach to aged care policy.

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 remains committed to creating a better experience for senior Australians entering aged care, including receiving timely, consistent and high-quality needs assessments. The government made a commitment in the 2018-19 budget to create a single assessment workforce for aged care, in line with the 2017 Tune review recommendation No. 27, and we continue to work towards this outcome, working with the jurisdictions and the sector. Labor, on the other hand, have offered nothing but fear campaigns and baseless commentary. Despite plans for $387 billion in new taxes at the last election, including their retirees tax, Labor provided no additional funding in their costings for home care places and no additional funding for aged-care quality, workforce or mainstream residential aged care.

Question agreed to.

Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At the request of Senator Kitching, I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

  (i) the Morrison Government sees ageing as a problem and the market as the solution,

  (ii) the Morrison Government sees older Australians as a problem, with the Treasurer describing the ageing population as an "economic time bomb",

  (iii) this Morrison Government thinks a market-led solution is the answer to every problem, including visa processing, Centrelink's Robodebt compliance and outsourced debt collection program, the National Disability Insurance Scheme, and security vetting services in the Australian Government Security Vetting Agency, and

  (iv) based on the track record above, the Morrison Government's market-led solutions result in additional costs to the taxpayer and poor outcomes for ordinary "quiet" Australians; and

(b) calls on the Morrison Government to stop the privatisation of ACAT services.

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 that effect by the opposition are misleading the community and, indeed, the parliament. The government made a commitment in the 2018-19 budget to create a single assessment workforce for aged care in line with the 2017 Tune review recommendation No. 27, and we continue to work towards this outcome, working with the jurisdictions involved and the sector. As the Treasurer said last week, that statement was not in his speech. It was Wayne Swan as the Treasurer who called Australia's ageing population a demographic time bomb. The Morrison government remains committed to creating a better experience for senior Australians entering aged care.

Question agreed to.

Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to inform the chamber that Senator Bilyk will also sponsor this motion. At the request of Senators Polley and Bilyk, I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

  (i) the Morrison Government has announced that it intends to privatise Aged Care Assessment Teams (ACAT),

  (ii) when asked about the privatisation of ACAT in Parliament, the Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians, Senator Colbeck, said he is "actually implementing a recommendation from the Tune Review", and

  (iii) the Tune Review did not recommend the privatisation of ACAT services;

(b) condemns the Morrison Government for its current plans to privatise ACAT services; and

(c) calls on:

  (i) the Minister to correct the record and clarify that the Tune Review did not recommend that ACAT services be put to tender, and

  (ii) the Morrison Government to stop its plans to privatise ACAT services.

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, and again it's disappointing that claims to that effect are being made by the opposition. They are misleading the community and the parliament. The government had made a commitment in the 2018-19 budget to create a single assessment workforce for aged care in line with the Tune review of 2017. Recommendation No. 27 of that review was that the government integrate regional assessment services with aged-care assessment teams. The government rejects the false claims by Labor about consultation. In fact, there have been several rounds of consultation with states following the Tune review recommendation. The government remains committed to creating a better experience for senior Australians entering aged care.

Question agreed to.

Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At the request of Senator McCarthy, I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

  (i) the Morrison Government has announced that it intends to privatise Aged Care Assessment Teams (ACAT) from April 2021,

  (ii) when asked in Parliament about the ACAT tender, the Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians, Senator Colbeck, said he is "actually doing what the royal commission said in its interim report last year",

  (iii) following reports that the Morrison Government would privatise ACAT, the Chair of the Royal Commission into the Aged Care Quality and Safety, the Honourable Gaetano Pagone QC, issued a statement to say that, "the Interim Report did not endorse the Government's stated position", and

  (iv) the Chair of the Royal Commission also stated that, "we have not yet made recommendations about which sector or mechanism will best achieve an integration of Regional Assessment Services and the Aged Care Assessment Teams";

(b) condemns the Morrison Government for its current plans to privatise ACAT services; and

(c) calls on:

  (i) the Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians to correct the record and clarify that the Royal Commission did not recommend that ACAT services be put to tender, and

  (ii) the Morrison Government to stop its plans to privatise ACAT services.

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

Again the government has not made a decision to privatise aged care assessments, and again we are disappointed that claims to that effect, which are misleading the community and the parliament, are being made by the opposition. The government has made a commitment in the 2018-19 budget to create a single assessment workforce for aged care in line with the Tune review of 2017, and we continue to work towards the outcome in the recommendations in that report, working with the jurisdiction and the sector. The royal commission in the 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 Morrison government remains committed to creating a better experience for senior Australians entering aged care.

Question agreed to.