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

Senator Wong obviously didn't hear what I just said. The private sector actually already provides some of those services right now. We don't procure any services directly ourselves. I have also said, as a part of this process, that we need to bring the workforce together as one. That is an objective of the government, and it was also a recommendation of the Tune review to bring together a single workforce. That is the government's determination. That is what we intend to do.

We need to reform the way that ACAT services and RAS are delivered, because there are currently duplications in the system and there are too many waiting for too long for a state based aged-care assessment. In fact, as at 31 December last year, 591 people had waited for over 75 days for a state based ACAT assessment.