Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

The Minister for Aged Care and Seniors is misleading older Australians. He pretends the home aged-care system is working. Yesterday, the minister claimed that older Australians were assessed in less than a month. But what he didn't tell you was how long it actually takes for people to get help in their homes. The lived experience of older people and their families in my electorate of Gippsland is appalling. I wrote to the government 53 days ago after a family member contacted me about their parents, Frank and Valma. Frank and Valma are both 99 years old and still live in their own home. They want to stay in their own home, and we know older Australians do better if they can stay in familiar surroundings.

After some recent falls, Frank and Valma were assessed as eligible for an assistance package under the Support at Home program. But did they get the help—as the minister likes to pretend in this place? No. Frank and Valma have been told their package will be delivered in 11 to 12 months time. They are 99 years old. They will both be 100 before they receive any help whatsoever, and they've just been parked on a Labor waitlist, which already has 100,000 people in it. We know more than 4,000 Australians have died on that waitlist in the past 12 months, and the minister pretends everything is okay. When we asked questions in Senate estimates about whether there was any capacity for support to be fast-tracked for Frank and Valma given their considerable age, we were told that wasn't possible unless they were homeless, Indigenous or had cognitive issues. I ask the minister— (Time expired)

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