Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Aged Care and Seniors. The government's delay to the new aged-care system leaves nearly 90,000 people waiting for a home-care package—nearly 90,000 families under pressure. Despite this, the government ignored the call to fund 20,000 packages to bridge the gap to the new system in November. What are you doing to support these people in the meantime?

Sam Rae (Hawke, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Aged Care and Seniors) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for the question and I acknowledge her genuine interest in ensuring that every older Australian can access safe, dignified and high-quality aged care. In the last term of parliament my predecessor, the Minister for Communications, passed the new Aged Care Act with support from the opposition and constructive contributions from the crossbench. The parliament was able to come together on this work because care for older people should be above politics.

These once-in-a-generation reforms will deliver world-class aged-care services to the older Australians who worked hard to build our country and to whom we owe the very best care. Alongside these reforms comes Support at Home, to which the member's question refers, which will simplify current in-home care arrangements and deliver a system that will help older people stay at home for longer.

As our population ages, demand for home-care packages has grown very fast. It's now operating at record levels. We have more than 300,000 Australians accessing home-care packages, compared with about 150,000 people accessing them five years ago. Last financial year, the federal government spent over $8 billion on the Home Care Packages Program, compared with just $1 billion 10 years ago. The important point here is that we are delivering more care to more people than ever before, but we are going to do it better.

Last month, Minister Butler and I announced, after extensive consultation with older people, with providers and with workers, that we would briefly defer the act through to 1 November, and that includes the introduction of the Support at Home program. This will make sure that all operational, digital and legislative pieces are in place so that the new system is a genuine success. When Support at Home comes into effect on 1 November, we will roll out an additional 80,000 packages in the first 12 months.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order. The minister will pause. The member for Indi, on a point of order?

Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On relevance: I asked the minister what the government was going to do to support these people in the meantime. It's three months until 1 November.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition will cease interjecting. The minister was asked a question about government policies and a specific around that. He does have another minute to go, but I can't direct him to answer it the way you'd like. He is being directly relevant.

Sam Rae (Hawke, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Aged Care and Seniors) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I said, from 1 November we will roll out an additional 80,000 packages in the first 12 months. Until then, over the course of the period between now and November, my No.1 priority is ensuring that older people continue to receive the care and services that they need, and until November we'll continue to assign packages each and every week in accordance with the national prioritisation system. I can assure the House that older people who are assessed as being high priority will continue to receive their packages within a month.

Our government continues to deliver more care for more Australians, and this brief deferral will give aged-care providers more time to prepare their clients, support their workers and get their systems ready for these historic changes.