Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

The ageing of the population and how best to provide support and care to the elderly is a major policy issue in China. There is already rapid expansion of aged-care services in China. Both the Chinese national government and the provincial governments know that a lot more is needed to meet the future demand that they have. The Chinese government recognises that Australia has a well established, world-class aged-care system, a world-class aged-care sector, and that we are in a terrific position to help the Chinese with the fabulous challenge that is a population that is living longer and living better. China is very keen to establish government-to-government dialogue to learn from us but also, importantly, in these arrangements we need to be very open to learning from the Chinese as well. The Australian Labor Party should put politics aside and get on board.