Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to talk about the changes to the ACFI funding model and what that has done to the small rural and regional aged-care providers in my electorate. This is creating a major problem for those small providers—in fact, it is putting them at real threat. They are at risk right now. If you are one of the people in one of those facilities you would be very concerned.

I want to speak up on behalf of all of those who have rung me, very concerned about what this change means to the services being able to be provided for their families in those facilities with the changes the government has made. As usual, we have seen smoke and mirrors from this government—in fact, there will be no new funding till beyond the election. And, of course, there is only a minimal amount of $500-odd million in that tranche; the rest is redirection. That is what we see from this government: instead of growing the pie, whether it is in business or in other areas, they simply change how they are going to direct it. That is exactly what they have done with this. And that is why the aged-care providers in my electorate are extremely concerned about how they are going to get through, how they are going to continue to provide the services that they need to for their residents. It is a threat to those who desperately need to increase the size of their facilities and the aged-care beds that have not been taken up in Western Australia because the providers are not able to generate profits. (Time expired)