Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Aged Care, Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, before I ask a supplementary question, I note that the minister absolutely avoided answering the fundamental question: where is the government’s long-term response to the Hogan review? Does the minister agree with his comments earlier this year, when I asked that same question, that the response was going to be released shortly? Is it going to be released or is it not? Can the minister confirm that, when the issue of aged care reform was raised earlier this year, the following response was received from his office and reported in the media: ‘A spokeswoman for the Minister for Ageing, Senator Santoro, could not be contacted’? Can the minister also confirm that, when the option of adjusting care subsidies paid for dementia sufferers was reported, we got the following response: ‘A spokesman for the federal Minister for Ageing, Senator Santoro, would not confirm or deny that the government was considering the option’? When will the minister actually have something to say on the future reform of the aged care sector?