Judith Adams (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

No, she was here—and I was here, unfortunately. The message to the minister is that they are fed up with her and her office. The minister is not making any satisfactory progress. They are very disappointed that the minister did not accept the invitation to attend the national conference. Instead she sent a video, which unfortunately was very poorly received and almost booed. There is a crisis in the aged-care industry, and consumer groups have now agreed to work together and to be more vocal and aggressive. Industry are going to take the fight to the streets and right up to the government. They are completely disgusted that no stimulus money was spent on aged care. Stimulus money should have been spent on aged-care construction projects, not school halls.

As senators are aware, the Australian population is ageing. Within five years there will be more older people than children. Over the past two decades the number of elderly people in Australia increased by 158 per cent, compared with total population growth of about 29 per cent during the same period. When trying to answer the questions of Senator Williams, Minister Ludwig really did not know how many places had been sent back, but I can give the details from Western Australia. Of the 1,208 places made available in Western Australia this year, just 536 places, less than half, have been sought. Of those 536, only 519 places have been allocated. This is just 43 per cent of the bed places offered in Western Australia in the 2008 round. The Bethany group in Western Australia last October handed back licences for 110 beds. Each of these beds would have cost approximately $180,000 to create, plus $65,000 to run. However, the funding available was a one-off $109,000 and $41,000 per year to maintain.

This just cannot keep going on. You are blaming the previous government, but you have been in government nearly two years, so it is time the minister started to do something. We just cannot keep going the way we are going. A wide, dysfunctional gap is appearing between waiting lists and bed licences. Licences are being issued but many either are not being taken up or else are being handed back because the providers are unable to fund the construction capital needed to expand their facilities to house the new beds. The waiting lists are getting longer whilst bed licences are being turned down. Quite simply, as the demand for aged-care services is rapidly increasing, the number of facilities being built is rapidly decreasing. I am talking about the present and future, not what has passed, and I give it right back to you: take up the challenge and do something about it.