Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Under Labor, aged care wait times have blown out to over a year. More than 200,000 Australians are waiting for care. Today, Labor was defeated in the Senate, which passed the coalition's bill to put people back in charge of aged care decision-making. Why won't Labor support the coalition's bill to provide human oversight of all aged care decisions?

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

I'll make two points before I ask the minister to respond. The first is that the premise of the question is wrong. There is human oversight over all of these processes. The second is that for the party of robodebt to have the hide to come in here and talk about these issues shows extraordinary gumption, when we were left with an aged-care system that was titled—summed up by one word on the interim report of the royal commission established under the former government, and that word was 'neglect'. We have not engaged in neglect. What we have done is have legislation that passed the parliament.

I ask that that be withdrawn.

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

There was an unparliamentary remark made. To assist the House, I'd like for it to be withdrawn. I didn't hear the remark because there was constant interjecting. But, if the member for Goldstein has made an unparliamentary remark, I'm just going to ask him to assist the House and withdraw and we'll move on.

Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) | Link to this | Hansard source

If it assists the House, fine. Sorry, I withdraw. Fine.

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

I thank the member for Goldstein.

Order! The member for Calwell will leave the chamber under 94(a).

The member for Calwell then left the chamber.

When someone is withdrawing to assist in the House under the direction of the Speaker, I want all members—on both sides—to remain silent to show respect to the member who's doing the thing that I've asked them to do. Now the House has come to order, we'll hear from the Prime Minister.

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

The final point that I will make is that the aged-care legislation that passed this parliament in the last term, which was the most significant reform of aged care this century, by a long way, was the initiative of the government but, to give credit where credit's due, passed with the support of the Peter Dutton led opposition at that time. That was a good thing. As a result of that, you have seen these changes flowing through from a period when it was frankly in a state of collapse.

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

Let me be clear. Assessments are always conducted by qualified human assessors, with clinical input documented from start to finish. This is about delivering a system that is efficient, accurate and fair so that, no matter where in Australia someone lives or who does their assessment, they are treated equitably. Being a responsible steward of this system upon which so many older people rely means approaching changes in a careful and considered way. The government have been clear we share the intent of the private senator's bill, but we're concerned that in practice it would lead to inconsistent and subjective decisions and increased wait times for older people.

This morning I announced that the government will itself, through legislation, establish a new legislated escalation option so outcomes of the aged-care Integrated Assessment Tool can be changed in extenuating circumstances. This means that, in the small number of cases where a person's complex circumstances are not fully captured by the tool, under this new pathway their assessment can be escalated to the secretary of the department and adjusted if necessary so they get appropriate care.

We'll take the parliamentary break to consider what specific form this pathway might take. We'll consult with older people and the sector, and we will, if people are willing, work across the parliament to get the best outcomes for older people. (Time expired)