Ann Sudmalis (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week, as part of the Treasurer's community connection around the country, we held a seniors forum. It was an exciting sort of forum because there were some people there who were pretty angry about some of the policies that they thought we were putting in place. One them was to look at their self-managed superannuation funds. We were quick to let them know that that wasn't actually what we were doing; we were looking after them, but in more ways than one. First of all, we're hoping to get an entrepreneurship facilitator in Gilmore, which means that, for some people over 45 who've great ideas and want to change jobs, they can get mentored to change their jobs and work for themselves. The pension work bonus will be great. A person in my electorate worked at Vinnies. She did bookkeeping, but, because she earned too much money, it impacted on hubby's pension, so she had to toss her $100 a week job away. Now she can get that back. She'll be really pleased.

The 14,000 additional high-level home-care places would, I think, be welcomed by the previous speaker. That's such an amazing addition, and it's going to be very welcome in Gilmore. We have a large number of people needing them. Making sure we invest in mental health in aged-care facilities is absolutely critical. Dementia is on the rise, Alzheimer's is on the rise and mental health care is critical. Sometimes people who came to Australia after the Second World War are suffering from mental illnesses because of the experiences they had. We need to look after them. I'm so pleased about the changes we've introduced.