Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Community Housing, Homelessness and Community Services) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me real pleasure to rise today and speak on this topic of aged care. The member for Franklin and the member for Cooper may not realise it, but parents and family of people on our side of the House age as well. Every single member of parliament in this House has people that age and often need looking after as they get older.

My father-in-law, my wife's father, is in aged care right now. He suffers from a form of Parkinson's, and this has been a really tough time. He's only in his early 70s. My mother-in-law is worried at times about how he's being cared for there, and so is my wife. But, I've got to say, he is getting looked after quite well. Last week, he fell over and cracked his hip. It was terrible. I should say that, despite the fact that he did get good care in Queensland Health and at Queensland hospitals, he was at the Mater Hospital, ramped for four hours in the back of an ambulance. My wife and mother-in-law weren't able to go out and see him. That is something that needs addressing by the Queensland state Labor government: ramping has increased.

But let me say a little about aged-care facilities. The staff at aged-care facilities play a very important role. Nursing staff and lifestyle staff are really important. Relationships between aged-care staff, the residents and the residents' families are also extremely important. Aged-care facilities, I'm sure, do a very good job on the whole in trying to help those people. I would say to the member for Cooper and others that there are plenty of good places out there, and we shouldn't be coming to parliament and making out that the whole sector is not looking good.

Openness and communication, to ensure that all needs are met, is important to families in aged-care facilities. Not all residents have many visitors. We know there are many lonely people, and lifestyle staff in aged-care facilities are important as well. As the Minister for Health said before, an additional 44,000 home care packages from the Morrison government have been announced in the last 12 months, and $2.7 billion in additional funding. Waiting lists—

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