Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Attorney-General (Senator Brandis), the Minister for Indigenous Affairs (Senator Scullion) and the Minister for Regional Development (Senator Nash) to questions without notice asked by Senators McAllister, Ketter and Polley today.

What a pathetic attempt by this government to fudge the figures and not release any data relating to the aged care home care packages. We have been waiting since February—seven months—and there are older Australians who have been waiting for more than two years for home care packages. We know they go from level 1, which is the lowest, up to level 4. This is a really serious issue for older Australians, and there wouldn't be very many families in this country that aren't affected one way or the other when it comes to aged care.

Last month, we had the launch of the My Aged Care support line. The Minister for Aged Care, Ken Wyatt, admitted then that more than 200 people have been identified as waiting for over two years for these home care packages. I get calls into my office on a weekly basis from family members and older people who are distressed and so anxious about getting the support they need to be able to stay at home. Let's face it, this government has never had a good record when it comes to aged care. During the Howard government, we remember Bronwyn Bishop and the kerosene baths. We've now had three ministers in this government, and not one them has been able to progress any real reforms. In 2012, when we were in government, under former minister Mark Butler, Labor actually did the hard yards. We worked with the opposition at that time, we worked with the sector and we worked with consumers to make sure that we had the foundations there for reform that we knew was going to be of paramount importance to older Australians going forward. All of the hard work's already been done for them, yet they still can't roll out the reforms.

I'll give you a couple of real examples of people that have been waiting for a long time. The minister suggesting that people aren't dying waiting for the delivery of these home care packages is outrageous, because she doesn't know. Not only was she ineligible, most likely, to be even sitting in this chamber but, as a minister, she obviously didn't have a brief on something that, as I said, is one of the major issues confronting the aged-care sector in this country. I know very well that the minister is very much aware of it. The issue is: how bad are these figures going to be? I think they're going to be much, much worse than what this government has ever anticipated. I have an example of an instance where a 92-year-old gentleman with high needs has been told that he will have to wait 18 months for a level 4 package. How absurd is that at 92? Just this morning, we had a constituent contact us whose mother was approved for a level 4 package 12 months ago. It was only this week that her mother received an interim level 2 package. This is just unacceptable.

Australians deserve much better from this government, particularly when it comes to older Australians. We know that the result of these long waiting times is that those older people who are on level 4 end up either going to an acute hospital, being prematurely put into residential homes or they die. That's the reality. I'm calling on the government—I couldn't believe that somebody who was responsible for health in regional Australia, Senator Nash, would not have that information. How out of touch are the government? How arrogant are they that they think that they can keep older Australians and their families in the dark about this data? One thing I will say is that data will be crucial in formulating policy going forward. This government will then have to act on that. Like most Australians, I'm afraid that we do not have the confidence in this government to be able to deliver the outcomes that Australians need.

All Australians, particularly our older Australians, deserve to have this support so they can stay at home much longer. That's a better outcome for whichever government is in power at a Commonwealth level. You save more money by keeping people in their own homes and giving them that support. But the last place older Australians want to end up in is an acute hospital. That is the last place that they want to be. They want to be able to age in their own home with dignity, with respect and with the care that they so justly deserve. This is a reflection on the government. It is one that I would be ashamed of if I were sitting on that side of the chamber. Older Australians deserve much better. (Time expired)