Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was not expecting the call, but I now have it. I bemoan the fact that yesterday in this House the Minister for Ageing outrageously misled this House on the record of the Howard government in aged care. From the very beginning of the government in 1996 when the constraints were put on that government because of the government that had gone before and the debt we inherited, it was the Peter Costellos of this world who grabbed hold of that budget and enabled the Australian people to get the aged care that they required. In fact, there was a tripling of the spending on aged care over the 11 years of the Howard government, which changed the lives of families right across this nation. I will not for one minute in this House step back from the great record of the Howard government in aged care. Peter Costello and work that he did in those early years set this government up for the Rolls Royce service they have today. You will be struggling, Minister, just to service your portfolio. Do not put down the work that was done by the Howard government.