Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Aged Care and Seniors. The Albanese government has promised to deliver 83,000 new home-care packages. Minister, how many of these promised packages have been delivered?

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

I thank the Leader of the Opposition for her question. In the last term of parliament, the now Minister for Communications moved the new Aged Care Act through the parliament with bipartisan support and, indeed, with cooperation from those on the crossbench as well. As part of the new Aged Care Act, which provides for a rights based framework for older people receiving care in Australia, we also see the Support at Home program, to which the Leader of the Opposition's question pertains. This is an entirely new program. It is an overhaul of the old home-care packages program. We've seen enormous growth in the demand for home care across our community. In fact, since 2020, the home-care program has grown from 155,000 people to over 300,000 people. In federal government expenditure terms, that growth looks like 800 per cent growth over a decade.

Now, the Leader of the Opposition is quite right. Support at Home, which will come into effect from 1 November, along with the new Aged Care Act, will deliver an additional 83,000 home-care packages in the form of Support at Home, which will mean that 83,000 additional older Australians, on top of the more than 300,000 who are already receiving care—

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I raise a point of order on relevance. With respect, I've listened to the minister for half of the allotted answer time and he hasn't answered the question, which was very tight and very direct: how many of these packages have been delivered?

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

I thank the leader for her point of order. The minister was asked a specific question about a number, and, as she knows, under the standing orders I can't direct the minister to answer in the way she would like. He can't go into alternative policies or what the opposition is doing. He's got to make it relevant, and he is doing so by talking about the new packages and when they're coming in. I know you'd like a number, but, at this stage, he's being directly relevant, and I'll continue to make sure he is.

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

As I was saying, Support at Home will come into effect from 1 November alongside the new Aged Care Act, which provides the legislative framework for the new home-care approach that we are taking. We will deliver an additional 83,000 packages from 1 November in the first 12 months of Support at Home. That's on top of the more than 300,000 Australians that are currently receiving home-care packages who will be transitioned into the Support at Home program. Between now and November, we will continue to allocate packages every single week to older Australians who are in need of care. We will continue to allocate them at an average of above 2,000 packages per week, and every single Australian who is assessed through a clinical assessment process as high priority will receive their package within a month. The Albanese Labor government is absolutely committed to ensuring that older people all across Australia receive the care that they need and that they deserve.