Senate debates

Thursday, 14 November 2019

Questions without Notice

Aged Care

2:59 pm

Photo of Richard ColbeckRichard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians) Share this | Hansard source

I think I've very clearly indicated that older Australians, whether they're in regional Australia or in metropolitan Australia, are waiting too long for home care packages. The objective of the government in its policy development work is to reduce the waiting list, a clearly stated objective. They're waiting too long. The royal commission told us that. The royal commission told us to take action, and we intend to address that. Our significant investment into home care packages—$2.2 billion since last year's budget—indicates that we take this matter seriously. We are looking to reduce the number of home care packages. We injected an increase of 25 per cent last year and saw for the first time a reduction in waiting lists. We've said that we will invest further in this space. We take this matter seriously. As I have said a number of times, we want older Australians to get the care they need.

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