Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) recognises that:

(a) on 31 March 2025, 89,597 older Australians were waiting for a Home Care Package at their approved level, 70,223 without receiving lower-level Home Care Package services;

(b) many older Australians are waiting up to a year to receive a Home Care Package at their approved level; and

(c) although many people are approved to receive Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) services while waiting for Home Care at their approved level, those in regional and rural areas have great difficulty accessing CHSP services due to providers' lack of capacity and poor coverage of some Aged Care Planning Regions (ACPRs);

(2) acknowledges that:

(a) during 2023-24, 3,383 people passed away and 7,380 people entered residential aged care while waiting for a Home Care Package at their approved level;

(b) the Government's deferral of an additional 80,000 Support at Home places from the commencement of the new Aged Care Act 2024 from 1 July 2025 to the revised start date of 1 November 2025 is having a profound, adverse impact on older Australians; and

(c) CHSP providers are funded under grant agreements to deliver services in ACPRs, but it is a provider's business decision whether to deliver services to specific areas within the ACPR, meaning some would-be recipients miss out; and

(3) calls on the Government to urgently:

(a) address systemic issues in the CHSP which see people in many regional and rural areas unable to even get on a provider's waiting list for services; and

(b) commence delivery of 80,000 additional packages promised in December 2024 so that older Australians are not left waiting up to a year or more for much-needed care.

The government is failing on aged care. The government said they would put care back into aged care, but they are categorically failing in this regard. They're failing in every aspect of home care—whether it's the Commonwealth Home Support Program, getting assessed for home care, or receiving a home-care package. I don't even have the time to talk about residential care and the waiting lists to get into it.

Let's start with this: at the end of last year, the government promised 83,000 home-care packages. They were going to be delivering 20,000 of these home-care packages, the first tranche, by 1 July this year. Then they pushed that out to November this year—we believe November this year. As of 31 March, there were more than 89,000 older Australians waiting for a home-care package. Those were the ones that were being assessed. We found out in the Senate last week that there are 120,000 Australians waiting for that phone call—waiting for that appointment, to get assessed for home care. Right now, we believe there are more than 100,000 older Australians that have been assessed for home care but have not received a package and that are desperately waiting—waiting for over a year—plus 120,000 people that the government doesn't want to have on that waitlist that are waiting to be assessed.

This is an abject moral failure at every step. Two things happen. The government says, 'People will get a CHSP code.' Well, that means nothing, because the CHSP is full. Many organisations are not even taking a waitlist for CHSP because it's full, and the government hasn't put extra money into it. The other thing they say is, 'It's okay; if you are a high priority, you'll get your package within a month.' Well, I don't know anyone who is a high priority. In my office—in the electorate with the oldest median age in South Australia—we are working with people who are desperate for home care.

One of those people is Graham. Graham is on a level 2 package. In August 2024, Graham was assessed as needing level 4. He has a degenerative neurological condition and he desperately needs that care. He has already spent nine weeks in hospital. He's lost significant mobility. He can no longer stand unassisted. He's lost his independence and can no longer drive. Yet Graham is not considered high priority. Graham is medium priority, like everyone else.

The government promised they were going to put care back into aged care, but it has been a complete failure, and it's a failure because of government will. That is the only reason. When government wants to spend money on stuff, the dollars magically appear—the chequebook is out. But the government has delayed putting up these home-care packages because, I think, it doesn't care. Maybe older people don't vote for the Labor government, so they're thinking, 'The election's done; we don't need to worry about that now.' But, right now, we have people dying waiting for home-care packages. How can it be acceptable in our nation for people to be waiting up to a year to get an assessment? In many cases in my electorate, it's over six months. And how can it then be acceptable, once they get that assessment, to wait another year for a package? How can that be so?

And, you know what, this affects all of us. This doesn't just affect older people and it doesn't just affect their daughters—and it's largely their daughters who are helping to care for people. It affects all of us, because in nearly every state we've got ambulance ramping. Why? This is because older people that desperately need help in the home end up hospitalised, and then they're taking up those beds. The emergency department can't get through them, and it's a clog the whole way. Peak bodies, like COTA, National Seniors, OPAN and Ageing Australia, are all talking about this. They're all demanding urgent action. Over 3,300 people died in the previous financial year while waiting for a home-care package.

Shame on this government for not delivering those packages. And it's only because of the will of government—nothing else.

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