David Smith (ACT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also wish to take note of answers given by the minister representing the Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care, Senator Scullion. For a long time, Labor has been saying that there is a crisis in our aged-care system, and finally the government has recognised this and that the crisis is of sufficient magnitude to announce a royal commission. The quality standards and reporting system clearly isn't working. There aren't enough aged-care workers and they aren't given enough pay, respect or support. As Gerard Hayes said earlier today, it's right that a royal commission must go beyond simply asking what's happening and get to the bottom of why it's happening and how it can be fixed. That means tackling the issue of financial sustainability so that aged-care providers can afford to provide the level of care that Australians deserve while also providing appropriate pay and conditions for staff.

Over 1.3 million older Australians receive aged-care services every year, including 240,000 people receiving permanent residential aged care. As our population ages, and particularly as the number of Australians aged over 85 grows, the number of Australians in need of aged-care services will continue to grow. I've experienced the challenges of this system firsthand with my father moving to care over the last 18 months. As Treasurer, the current Prime Minister cut nearly $2 billion out of the aged-care system. He can't hide from this behind a lapel pin. Initially, these cuts were to be achieved by changing the scoring matrix for aged-care funding subsidies. This was supposedly justified by claims that some aged-care providers were claiming a higher level of subsidy than was warranted by the needs of residents. This government's initial claim that this was due to unsupported growth in aged-care funding claims was blown out of the water by their own changes which spread the impact of cuts across the aged-care sector, pausing relevant indexation for 2017-18 to ensure that the amount of savings was maintained. Clearly, these were funding cuts driven by the need to find savings for things like tax giveaways to the banks and multinationals rather than any concerns for improving the aged-care system.

We shouldn't be surprised that this system is in crisis. To provide quality of life to older Australians and their families, we need our aged-care system to deliver accessible, affordable and quality aged care. However, what this government has done falls way short of that. I've spoken to dozens of aged-care workers across the Australian capital region and their message is pretty clear. You simply can't impose cuts of this magnitude on a sector like aged care and not expect it to have an impact on the quality and availability of care for older Australians and to put more stress on a workforce that is already under pressure to provide quality care for those in need. More than 108,000 Australians are now waiting for a home-care package and around 88,000 are waiting for a high-level package. Without additional funding, these Australians will have to continue to wait for an adequate level of care. Over 53,000 of these older Australians on the waiting list are receiving no support at all.

This government has been on notice about the need to address the crisis in aged-care funding for some time, not just in residential care but in home-care support. The December 2017 data showed that over 104,000 Australians were waiting for that package, but what was the government's response? A mere 14,000 extra packages delivered over four years. Furthermore, they delayed the release of the March 2018 figures, which showed the waiting list had grown further since the start of the year. Older Australians being made to wait for home-care packages is a problem affecting all areas of Australia. Here in the ACT, the December 2017 figures show that 1,593 older Australians were waiting for a home-care package. Two-thirds of them were waiting for the highest level of support, level 4. As the Our Turn To Care campaign has put it, when the Prime Minister took away the time that aged-care workers had to help older Australians with their arthritis, their blood pressure, their pain management and even applying the most basic bandages and dressings, he took away the time that older Australians had to enjoy their retirement; he took away the time they could relax with their families and see their grandchildren grow; he took away the time they had to enjoy the days they spent their whole lives working for. It's critical the Prime Minister— (Time expired)

Question agreed to.