Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Seselja for his question. At the outset I should make clear that the decision to conclude the severe behaviours supplement is not one that the government took lightly. The supplement was introduced by the previous government in August 2013, but as colleagues on this side know and as so often is the case with their decisions, their policies result in cost blow-outs and their policies are very poorly designed.

Just to evidence this, as colleagues may remember, the supplement was budgeted last financial year at $11.7 million. It in fact came out at $110 million—nearly 10 times that which was budgeted. The previous government estimated that 2,000 people would be eligible for the supplement, but as of March 2014 providers were claiming the supplement for more than 25,000 people. If that claiming pattern were continued, projections by the Department of Social Services show that the supplement, rather than costing $52 million over the forward estimates, as the previous government budgeted, would in fact cost $780 million over the forward estimates, and over a 10-year period it would cost $1.5 billion. Therefore, the fact that the supplement was suspended and concluded is fairly and squarely the responsibility of those opposite because of their design.

Nevertheless, the government is committed to working with the sector to find an alternative way to support people with severe behaviour in residential care. The government has been consulting with the sector and there will be a forum held in coming weeks to bring together relevant stakeholders to consider strategies to improve and promote dementia care in residential settings.