David Smith (Bean, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the minister for Aged Care and Seniors. How is the Albanese Labor government delivering meaningful aged-care reforms for older Australians after a decade of neglect?

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

I thank the member for Bean for his question. He does a fantastic job representing the people of Bean, including my old stomping ground of the Tuggeranong Valley. There's a critical feature of this Albanese Labor government: we listen and then we deliver. We listened to the royal commission, we listened to older Australians and their families, we listened to the workers and the providers who know this system inside and out, and then we got on with fixing it. The sector told us that older people needed rights, not just rules, and we delivered Australia's first ever statement of rights enshrined in the new Aged Care Act that came into effect on 1 November last year—the first wholly rebuilt act since 1997.

Older Australians told us they want to stay home for longer, with support that enables them to maintain independence and dignity, so we delivered Support at Home along with 83,000 additional home-care places. Advocates told us that aged-care places should be allocated to people, not providers, so we changed that too. Aged-care places are now allocated directly to the individual—more choice, more control, more dignity. Providers told us we need more beds and we need them in the places where demand is greatest, so this month we announced a further $115 million through the Aged Care Capital Assistance Program, targeted at hotspots in Adelaide, Illawarra, Perth and the Hunter, with an expression-of-interest process designed to get beds open within two years.

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

The member for Lindsay will cease interjecting.

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

That takes our total ACCAP investment to over a billion dollars since 2022, more than that of any other government in Australian history. These aren't promises.

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

The Leader of the Nationals in the House of Representatives!

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

They're real beds. They're older Australians getting care closer to home sooner.

Aged-care workers told us that they were undervalued, underpaid and stretched to breaking point, so we delivered the biggest pay rises in the history of aged care. There were four rounds of fully funded increases. Thanks to these pay rises, the average registered nurse in aged care is now earning $28,000 more a year. That's 550 bucks more every single week. Those opposite spent nine years in government. They had the same royal commission, the same reports, the same workers—

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

Order! The member for Grey! The Leader for the Nationals is now warned.

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

the same families, the same older Australians telling them what needed to change. They didn't listen and they didn't deliver.

Aged care is a fundamental promise this country makes to older Australians that, when the time comes, they will be safe, they will be seen and they will be cared for with dignity. This government listens. This government delivers, and we are keeping that promise.