Colin Boyce (Flynn, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I speak today, I would like everyone to consider the older people in each of our lives—those we know and love as parents, grandparents, mentors; those in our political past; and the quiet heroes who built and fought for the communities we all live in. Ask yourselves: would you ever want those who cared for you so deeply to spend the final years of their lives in a state of fear, struggling to afford the very dignity they deserve? On 1 November last year, the new Aged Care Act and the Support at Home program commenced. This was heralded as landmark reform and a turning point for how in-home care is delivered. At the time, the government gave firm assurance to older Australians that they would be no worse off.

What was promised as a path of independent living has become a maze of confusion and financial strain. To understand the scale of this dysfunction, we only need to listen to the social workers and service providers who report a harrowing increase in suicidal ideation among our elderly.When a person who has lived for 70 or 80 or 90 years with resilience begins to feel they are a burden, that their life is no longer viable due to financial struggles, we have failed them.

Recently, a distraught 94-year-old constituent of mine visited my office. His December statement showed fees of $9,963 for services and a further $7,698 for assistive technology. This gentleman does not have complex needs, yet a single month's charge totals over $17,000. When we queried what appeared to be a blatant double charging with the service provider, their response was quite startling: 'Yes, there are well-known and advertised issues Australia-wide with service provider CRMs. The government has rolled out new Support at Home programs without ensuring it was ready. In November, assistive technology was charged twice and, in December, all direct services were double charged.' These aren't administrative hiccups; they are significant barriers to a dignified life. While provider management fees were previously capped at 35 per cent, the reduction to 10 per cent has helped very little.

Providers appear to be making up the difference through inflated service charges. Anyone can hire a private cleaner for $60 an hour, yet service providers under the scheme are charging $112 to $120 for the same exact task, on top of which a co-contribution must also be paid, impacting our seniors even further. When you couple these exorbitant costs with the fact that service availability in regional areas is often limited, and, in some cases, non-existent, our seniors are left in an impossible and vulnerable position. We are seeing a heartbreaking trend where seniors are choosing to go without food, personal care, cleaning and other essential services, and, in some areas, relinquishing their Support at Home packages altogether.