Sam Rae (Hawke, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Aged Care and Seniors) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the Leader of the Opposition for her question, and I can perhaps assist the Leader of the Opposition to better understand some of the matters to which she refers. Firstly, the Support at Home program, to which the opposition has been supportive in moving the initial legislation, provides the legislative framework for Support at Home. The members opposite will understand that the legislation they voted for is a requirement for Support at Home packages to be delivered, so those 83,000 can begin to be delivered from the time the legislation comes into effect. Secondly, as I mentioned before, in the meantime, we will continue to deliver packages each and every single week—the average being above 2,000 packages per week—to ensure that Australians continue to receive the care that they need; we will ensure that every single Australian who is assessed as high priority will continue to receive their package within a month; and, from 1 November, we will continue to invest in the Support at Home program as the key mechanism for delivering the in-home care that older Australians tell us that they want.

See this speech in context