Santo Santoro (Queensland, Liberal Party, Minister for Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

Senator McLucas and those opposite may not want to hear the details of the very real commitment of the Howard government to aged care. The budget last night committed $108.3 million over five years for new initiatives. I have just read Senator McLucas’s media release and I acknowledge that she showed some grace, though not much grace, in actually welcoming some of our initiatives. Let me tell you in the time I have remaining what those commitments are—and I hope Senator McLucas asks me about this in her supplementary question: $108.3 million over five years for new initiatives and funding totalling $311.3 million over four years to extend existing programs. It also provides $152.7 million for improved provision of hospital care, including in small rural hospitals, to older people who are eligible for aged care as part of the major package of health reforms agreed at COAG in February 2006—a meeting where much more grace and a much more constructive attitude was displayed by Labor ministers and Labor members than that being displayed in this place today. (Time expired)