Mark Butler (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the House) | Hansard source

I thank the member for the opportunity to repeat a few things I was able to say yesterday—frankly, about the pretty misleading campaign that the insurance industry is running about the numbers involved here, which the opposition appear to be quite happy to parrot word for word. The numbers just used by the member there are entirely different to the position we've put out very clearly that the average impact of the decision that we announced in the budget would be in the order of $220 to $250 a year—nothing like the figures that the member has talked about.

The Prime Minister was asked about why we have done this, and I repeat what I said yesterday, which is to say that we have had to take some hard decisions in this budget. We have a responsible approach to the budget, which seeks to reallocate spending to new areas of need, and, as I think everyone in this parliament and the community knows, there is a growing need for aged-care services in a population that is ageing rapidly. The Minister for Aged Care and Seniors is doing a terrific job in bringing to cabinet proposal after proposal to deliver more beds, more packages of Support at Home and better care to older Australians. And every single dollar that we will save through this change—a difficult change, I admit—will be ploughed back into aged-care services.

And I'll repeat what I said yesterday. If those opposite are opposed to this—first of all, are they saying they don't support the additional beds? They don't support the additional packages of Support at Home? They want to continue to see older Australians pay for part of the cost of their showers?

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