Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Aged Care and Seniors. On 31 March, 87,597 older Australians were assessed and waiting for home care at their approved level. As of today, that figure is estimated to be over 100,000. Older Australians are dying while waiting for aged care. What justification does the government have for delaying the promised additional home-care packages from July to November this year?

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

I thank the member for her question, and I acknowledge her legitimate interest in and commitment to ensuring that all older people across her community can access safe, dignified and high-quality aged care. In the last term of parliament, my predecessor, the now minister for communications, worked across the parliament to pass the new Aged Care Act with bipartisan support from the opposition and constructive contribution from the crossbench. We're preparing to implement that new act on 1 November along with the Support at Home program, which is the updated program replacing the current Home Care Packages Program. These are once-in-a-generation reforms, and they will deliver world-class aged-care services to the older people who worked so hard to build our country and to whom we owe the very best care.

Support at Home will deliver a system that helps older people to stay at home for longer by making a higher level of care available in the home. This is an entirely reformed program. It is not an extension of the current program; it is an adapted model of care in the home. As our population ages, we've seen demand for in-home care grow very fast. There are now more than 300,000 people accessing home-care packages today, compared to just 150,000 people back in 2020. We are currently delivering more care to more people than ever before. When Support at Home starts on 1 November, we will roll out an additional 80,000 home-care places in the first 12 months. Until then, my No. 1 priority is ensuring that older people continue to receive care and services. Until November, we'll continue to assign packages every single week. The weekly average since September last year is 2,700 packages. I can assure the member that people who are assessed as high priority will continue to receive their packages within a month.

The brief deferral of the commencement of the new Aged Care Act is to ensure that programs like Support at Home are ready for older Australians and their families. The Labor government continue to deliver more care for more Australians, and we've given aged-care providers more time to prepare their clients, support their workers and get their systems ready for these historic changes.