Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing and Mental Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. In his first budget as Treasurer, the now Prime Minister cut $1.2 billion from the Aged Care Funding Instrument, which determines the level of funding paid to aged-care providers.

Mr Pyne interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the House will cease interjecting. The member for Franklin will begin her question again.

Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing and Mental Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question's to the Prime Minister. In his first budget as Treasurer, the now Prime Minister cut $1.2 billion from the Aged Care Funding Instrument, which determines the level of funding paid to aged-care providers. The latest leak reported in today's media reveals that the government is considering further cuts to the Aged Care Funding Instrument of up to $5.4 billion. Can the Prime Minister rule out having had any discussions or received any documentation canvassing further changes to the Aged Care Funding Instrument?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They can say these things as often as they want, but they still remain untrue. The Australian people are very used to Labor telling untruths about government policy. They've swindled them before, and they are seeking to swindle them again.

The changes to the Aged Care Funding Instrument were actually measures that were supported by the opposition. They were passed through the parliament, and, when in the Senate, the Greens actually sought to change them, they voted with the government to support them. And the reason they did that, as the member for Lilley will remember, is that in their own budget in 2012-13, in Budget Paper No. 2—that was the surplus as announced in that budget—page 184 makes it very clear that the Labor Party engaged in making changes to the Aged Care Funding Instrument, to the tune of about $1.6 billion.

I'll tell you what this government is doing. This government is investing a billion dollars extra every year in aged care in this country. This government has added an additional 20,000 places in the last 12 month alone for in-home care, which means that older Australians can exercise their choice to remain in their home for longer. I met two of those Australians this morning in Canberra. What they had to tell me was that this was a game changer for them to be able to stay in their own home. In high-level care packages, we are taking level 3 and 4 packages from just under 40,000 or thereabouts to around 74,000 over the next four years. That is an 86 per cent increase or thereabouts in the level of in-home care places that are being provided by this government.

The Labor Party can lie all they like about these things, but we won't cop their lies; we won't cop their untruths. We will tell the truth about what is needed in aged-care funding. We will tell the truth about what is needed with a royal commission into aged care. We are establishing that royal commission to ensure that we can get to the facts. We're not afraid of the facts. We're not afraid to confront those facts and deal with them when they come back, and we will continue to act on the urgent needs of senior Australians each and every day.