Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is notable that Senator Moore, in her concluding remarks, mentioned the words ‘waste’ and ‘mismanagement’. In and around the same sentences she referred to the so-called Building the Education Revolution. We have seen evidence this week of over $7 million being expended on signs and the Hon. Julia Gillard memorial plaques! Such waste. This is money that could be expended in the aged-care sector rather than on promoting the government.

In fact, they were caught out with their hands in the cookie jar trying to use this money to gain an extra vote for the Labor Party at the next election. The Australian Electoral Commission said that this federal Labor government is in breach of the Australian Electoral Act. This money should obviously have been used more wisely and more carefully. And one of the areas where it could have been used is in aged care. So waste and mismanagement is a key theme that certainly flowed all this week with respect to the actions of the Rudd Labor government. School after school is being built or redeveloped, including when the parents and friends of the school do not want it. So the waste and mismanagement has been reckless in the extreme.

I very much support Senator Cormann’s motion today. We do have an aging population that is putting pressure on the viability of the aged-care sector—and will be doing so into the future. I have always seen the importance of highlighting the need for quality aged care, the need for access to aged-care services and the need for viability. At the moment we know that the viability of aged-care services is going southward in this country, particularly in Tasmania. That reduced viability will compromise the quality care that is to be provided for our elderly citizens—those in residential aged care, in particular.

Only last week I met with the president of Aged and Community Services Tasmania, Susan Parr, at St Ann’s Homes, in Davey Street, Hobart. I am a former board member of St. Ann’s—of some eight years—so I know a little bit about the topic. Susan Parr and Aged and Community Services Tasmania are not happy pumpkins. They are being prejudiced by the lack of action, the lack of a decisive approach and the lack of funding support from the Rudd Labor government. So let us make clear the concerns that are being put to the Senate—