Jamie Chaffey (Parkes, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It becomes more apparent every day that there are people this Labor government has forgotten. Across the country, people are more anxious, more stressed and more worried about how they're going to pay their bills. They are worried and they are tired of being consistently disincentivised to save, to invest, to start a small business and to buy a home. Among the people who feel forgotten are older people and regional people—and, if you're both older and living in a regional area, then you're in serious trouble. Anyone with an elderly friend or a relative in a regional area who needs care is fully aware of this.

At the Dubbo Show on the weekend, I asked people to list their main concerns. I've never seen more engagement at an event such as this one, with more than 550 people who just wanted to be heard. The No. 1 issue was the cost of living. I'm sure that's no surprise to anyone in this House if they've been talking to their communities. The second issue was the axing of the inland rail north of Parkes, and this is having devastating impacts on many regional communities. The third was aged care.

We've heard a lot of talk in this place about hospital beds and bed availability, but I'd like to talk this evening not about beds but about people. Our older generation are a generation who have done so much for this country and have helped to build it. They have worked hard, they've volunteered, they've raised their families and now they deserve a measure of care and of respect. Many of them have saved all their lives, never having any idea of just how expensive a loaf of bread or a tank of fuel would soon be.

Let me tell you a little bit more about what's happening to these people. A Warren community member with early-onset dementia who has dedicated more than 40 years of service to the Warren hospital has been waiting in Dubbo base hospital for an aged-care bed since the middle of September last year. Her family have asked that she be transferred back to Warren, the community which is her home. That's more than five months waiting in a hospital for the appropriate care. Also in Dubbo, a grandson has written to tell me of his grandmother who has had several falls in the last month and will have to wait another six to nine months for an assessment for care. In the meantime, she's been denied a mobility scooter and charged $900 for the assessment.

In Gunnedah, a 90-year-old woman who has volunteered at an aged-care facility for many years was herself last year approved for care services after undergoing major surgery. This woman lives alone and cannot walk. Her daughter was given a list of six providers. All six have said that they can't provide services due to the limited funding available. To date, this 90-year-old woman has been unable to receive any services other than meals on wheels. She has now been advised to be assessed for a Support at Home package shell will have to wait several months for this to even happen.

A 98-year-old community member from the small community of Neilrex who is almost blind has not been approved for her necessary medical trips to Coonabarabran once a fortnight or to Dubbo once a month.

Back in Gunnedah, an 88-year-old man has been approved for aged care. His wife has contacted nine aged-care providers without success. His wife, who can no longer care for him, tried providers from as far away as Newcastle. This shows not only a lack of care but a severe lack of respect for the generation who has given so much to our nation. It is frightening. These are people who the government agree need care, and yet here they are waiting for further assessments, stuck in a hospital bed for months at a time, struggling at home by themselves or with loved ones who might themselves, indeed, need care. There are people in every community who are dealing with this issue.

It is time the federal government took a long, hard look at what's happening to older people who need daily care. In some cases, this is beyond neglecting to provide the basics of life; it is a matter of survival. It is a matter of eating, of showering, of seeing loved ones and getting to a medical appointment. We can, and we must, do better. Our older generation deserve dignity, they deserve respect, and they deserve the best quality of life that we can give them.