Don Randall (Canning, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to speak on this motion today. I congratulate the member for Melbourne on bringing this motion to the House, because it is a concern to many members and senators in this government and parliament that we address the issue of young people in nursing homes. So congratulations to the member for Melbourne. Can I also say that in our party room I could not count the times that this issue has been raised with the Prime Minister: young people should just not be dumped, for want of a better term, in nursing homes because there are no other facilities for them. I would like to acknowledge the member for Riverina for her strong advocacy on this matter in our party room, other members that are present today and the member for Leichhardt, who is not here today.

To have young people with disabilities in nursing homes is an abomination; a nursing home is not a fit and proper place to have them. Even though a nursing home often has the appropriate infrastructure to offer suitable care to these people, it certainly does not address the specific case of someone with a severe disability and perhaps even some form of mental health problem also. We have heard and we are aware that currently in Australia today in aged care homes there are something like 6,500 people under the age of 65 and 1,000 people or thereabouts under the age of 50. In nursing homes in Western Australia, which is the state I come from, there are 492 people under the age of 65 and 63 people under the age of 50.

I have endeavoured to ring the nursing homes in my electorate today to find out if any of them contain young people who could be accommodated better elsewhere. These nursing homes include Dale Cottages, Fairhaven Hostel, Armadale Nursing Home, Mandurah Nursing Home, Kelmscott River Gardens Aged Care, Sarah Hardy House, Beddingfield Lodge at Pinjarrah, Waroona Frail Aged and Anglican Homes in Westfield. To my knowledge, at this stage, no young disabled persons are in nursing homes in the Canning electorate.

I also put on record that one mum, who has been a strong advocate of the Adopt a Politician Scheme in Western Australia, was here in Canberra last Thursday, hanging on to the fact that we might spend more money and commit more resources to this problem. She has a son who is severely disabled and mentally impaired. She was here to see whether COAG would come up with further resources and funding. I am pleased to say—and, as the member for Melbourne said, it may or may not be a coincidence or perhaps his motion brought this to a head—that COAG met last Friday and decided to put far more resources, many millions of dollars, into this particular arrangement.

In Western Australia—and again I will be a bit parochial—$2 million is to be placed into a specific program there and it will be matched by the state. The Western Australian disability services minister, Minister Margaret Quirk, said, ‘The federal government’s promise today of $2 million will be matched by the state.’ She went on to say, ‘The Commonwealth is to be congratulated for recognising the need and making a further inroad into combating the problem of young people living in nursing homes in WA.’

Before my time runs out, let me point out that over the last three years the Australian government has offered aged care innovative pool pilot funding for states and territories to support the transition of younger people with disabilities from aged care and state and territory funded accommodation. To date, only Victoria and South Australia have taken up this offer. So, when some of the states bleat about the fact they have not had enough funding, there is this pool and so far only two states have taken advantage of it. But let us put aside all the Commonwealth-state argy-bargy. I am pleased to say that there is an agreement and both state and federal governments are happy with the response that there is sufficient funding at this stage.

Again—believe it or not—I agree with the member for Melbourne that at the moment this matter has been somewhat addressed. Investing in disabilities et cetera is like investing in a bottomless pit: you will never have enough money to address all the wants and needs that can and will be there. However, this is a great innovation from the state and federal governments coming together and seeing that a proper response is given to young people. These young people should not be in a nursing home; they should be in a fit and proper facility that accommodates and acknowledges their real needs. (Time expired)

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