Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party, Shadow Minister for Youth) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Aged Care. How many older Australians have died waiting for a home-care package since 13 May 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. As I said, it is always saddening to hear of any older Australian who dies either in care or waiting for care. It's the best reason for why our current reforms are so very important. This is about ensuring that older people all across our community can get the care that they need, whether it be in home care, as will be delivered through our Support at Home program, or through residential care under our improved quality and standards framework. I remind the parliament again that this decision was made on the basis of very comprehensive advice that came from the sector, from older people and from those that care for them.

Perhaps, again, it would be helpful if I reminded the parliament of some of the reflections that were made at the time that this decision was made. This is from Silverchain, one of the very large home-care providers, from their media release:

As the third largest Home Care Package provider in Australia, Silverchain welcomes the Federal Government's decision to delay the implementation of the new Aged Care Act and the Support at Home program until 1 November 2025.

The chief executive went on to say:

This is an incredibly ambitious program of reform, and courageous leadership is needed to deliver care differently. We welcome today's—

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

The minister will pause. The member for Moncrieff?

Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party, Shadow Minister for Youth) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A point of order on relevance. The minister is not answering the question. It was a very, very tight question about how many Australians have died since 13 May. A tight question—can we have an answer.

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

I can appreciate the member would like a figure, a yes or no to these types of questions. The minister won't be able to stray too much further because he was asked a very specific question. He is providing information regarding the policy, but he won't be able to go on for too much longer because he was asked a very direct question.

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

As I was saying, the Silverchain chief executive went on to say:

This is an incredibly ambitious program of reform, and courageous leadership is needed to deliver care differently. We welcome today's announcement and thank the Government for listening to and engaging with the sector.

The Ageing Australia CEO—Ageing Australia being the peak body representing the sector—said:

We applaud the Government for listening to the concerns of the aged care sector and putting—

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

Order! The minister needs to confine his remarks to what he was asked about. He can't read too much more into it. Just make it directly relevant to what he was asked about.

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

'And putting the needs of older Australians first'. Sadly, we have lost a number of older Australians who have either been in care or waiting for care. In the last financial year that number was 4,812, as was provided by the department to the Senate in the hearings last week.