Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Over the weekend Labor's once-in-a-generation reforms to aged care kicked off. It's been a long journey to get here, working closely with older people, their families, carers and the industry to build a system that we can all be very proud of. The new act is a huge step in the transformation to deliver rights based, dignified age care for every older Australian, those senior Australians that we owe so much to. We're putting older Australians at the centre of their care and decision-making, building a high-quality, respectful and sustainable system. For the first time, the act's statement of rights makes sure that older people can make their own decisions about their own life and have their decisions not just accepted but respected. From bigger budgets to separate streams for home modifications and assistive technology, the new program will deliver more high-quality care to older Australians. These reforms build on the work we've done in our first term and show that we are absolutely committed to fixing the aged-care crisis and that we are committed to seeing it through.

We have already mandated 24/7 registered nursing, delivering more care minutes for older Australians, and there is now a registered nurse onsite in aged care more than 99 per cent of the time, delivering more direct care for over 250,000 senior Australians in aged-care homes. That's 7.1 million additional minutes of care, every single day, compared to when those opposite were in government. We have already invested $17.7 billion towards increasing the wages of aged-care workers. Our government values the critical role workers play in the sector, and we want those willing to join the sector to stay, and to be able to afford to stay, to help deliver the care that older Australians deserve.

Most importantly, we've improved the standard of care. In December 2023, only 54 per cent of aged-care homes had an overall star rating of four or five stars—that is, a good or an excellent level of care. Today, 79 per cent of homes do. Thanks to our reforms older Australians are now receiving more care and better quality care under our federal Labor government. We promised to lift the standard of aged care and we are delivering. After the new act is underway, we'll continue to make sure that residential aged care is meeting the demand of an ageing Australian population and delivering truly equitable, sustainable and high-quality care. We know people want to age at home, and the new act will make sure that they can do that with dignity and quality support, but when they need extra care we'll make sure that there's a bed there when they need it.

We are delivering on our government's election commitment to ensure that more older Australians in Darwin, in my electorate, can access the world-class residential aged care they deserve. Last week an expression of interest was opened to identify our delivery partner for a new residential aged-care home of at least 120 beds in greater Darwin. The government will invest up to $60 million through the Aged Care Capital Assistance Program to build this residential aged-care facility, with the objective of addressing critical supply shortages in aged care in Darwin and to relieve some of the current pressures in our hospitals. This new home will help reduce the number of older Territorians experiencing delayed discharge from our hospitals, and it will also give Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander elders access to culturally safe care that allows them to stay close to their families in country as well as delivering services to people with complex and high-care needs.

Next month a transformational expansion project for Pearl Supported Care in Fannie Bay in my electorate will open. The Albanese government provided an $18 million capital grant to deliver 26 new aged-care beds in a purpose-built dementia-friendly unit and an age-friendly health and fitness centre, which will help transform aged-care and healthy-ageing services in the Northern Territory. Whether it be our national aged-care reform program that has now been launched, including more support for our seniors to stay at home, the new dedicated dementia-friendly unit or the $60 million for a new aged-care facility in Darwin, we are looking after our seniors.

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