Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Labor's budget of broken promises and higher taxes contains a budget bomb with more than $18 billion in new net zero spending. At the same time, Labor has ripped more than $600 million from essential health services for our veterans. Why has the Prime Minister decided to prioritise breaking promises, raising taxes and spending big on net zero while cutting vital support services for our veterans, including funding for the Invictus Games?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question. I'll say that both the Minister for Climate Change and Energy and the Minister for Veterans' Affairs might want to supplement my answer. I say this when it comes to veterans—we have significant additional investment in this budget as a result of the royal commission into veteran suicide and the response. That comes on top of something like $800 million, which is the package in this budget.

In addition to that, of course, one of the big expenditures that we had upon coming to government was addressing the backlog that was there of people waiting forever and ever. The member for Calare knows something about this because he stood up, to his great credit, to the former government—of which he was a part, as a minister—and said he was just not going to cop the cuts that were there in the budget.

Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You took $9 million from my electorate—

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

Order! The member for Cowper will cease interjecting.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

So we put significant investment in the budget to make sure—

Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

and you haven't replaced it.

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

No, when I say, 'cease interjecting', that means cease interjecting. You'll leave the chamber under 94(a).

The member for Cowper then left the chamber.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We put significant investment in our budgets to make sure that that delay where people literally were leaving this Earth while they were waiting for payments to come through—it was a complete outrage. It is one of the things that led us to a significant increase in public servants so that we could clear that backlog. I might see if either of the ministers want to supplement.

Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Prime Minister for the opportunity to address something that the member has raised, which is actually a great success of this year's budget for veterans. What we have been able to do here is make sure that, as we've improved the system, as the Prime Minister said, more people have been able to get their claims processed and get access to the health care they need. But what that has also seen is a degree of overservicing coming into the system, where practitioners are taking advantage of veterans.

So what we have done is introduce an annual monetary cap for allied health services which is well above what the vast majority of veterans ever actually access. For a small proportion, it will mean that we remove overservicing, restoring integrity to the system. Importantly, by doing this we are increasing the fees that will be paid to allied health professionals by $169 million over the forwards. That means it's easier for veterans to access health care.

Veterans and health professionals have been saying to us for a long time, 'You need to increase fees.' The royal commission said to us, 'Increase the fees.' That is what this budget is delivering so that our veterans get better access to health care. That is what you're seeing reflected in the budget and the additional funding that is going into implementing royal commission recommendations as well. (Time expired)

Emma Comer (Petrie, 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's budget building Australia's future through historic investment into aged care?

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

I thank the member for Petrie. She's an extraordinary representative for her community and she stands up for older people every single day. Last night the Treasurer delivered a budget that is responsible, that is ambitious and that is squarely focused on building Australia's future. It's a budget that backs workers and strengthens Medicare. It builds the homes, the workforce and the skills that this country needs for the decades ahead. For older Australians in need of care, it builds more aged-care beds and improves home care so that more older Australians can access the high-quality aged care they deserve.

We cannot build the Australia of tomorrow without delivering on our promise to the people who built the Australia of today. That's why at the centre of our aged care agenda in this budget there is a significant boost to residential aged care. Labor has already invested more than a billion dollars through the Aged Care Capital Assistance Program since 2022, and we're not stopping there. In response to the accommodation pricing review, we're building on our record investments to deliver more beds in the places that need them most, built in partnership with a sector that we're determined to keep strong and sustainable in the interests of every older Australian. These are 5,000 real beds every year for the parents and grandparents that raised each of us. It'll mean real jobs in care and in construction. It'll mean older Australians getting the care they need closer to home sooner. It'll have a particular focus on ensuring those who need financial support to get into appropriate aged care are never left behind.

This is a budget that lives Labor's values. First Nations elders who have received Stolen Generations redress payments will no longer have those payments counted against them in residential aged care means assessments. That's the right thing to do. This budget will continue our work to make sure that more Australians can age at home with dignity, purpose and quality care. No older Australian with a place in the Support at Home program will be out of pocket for help with showering, dressing or continence care. We'll extend care for older Australians in the final weeks of their lives, giving them continuity and certainty so they can focus on precious moments with their loved ones.

This is what a responsible, ambitious budget looks like. It builds on our generational reforms and record-breaking investments in aged care. It shows we've listened to older Australians, to their families, to workers and to providers. And it delivers on our promise to build a fairer and more compassionate aged-care system that every Australian can trust. It is one more step in this Labor government's careful, considered work of building an aged-care system worthy of the Australians who rely on it every single day.