Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Finance, Charities and Electoral Matters) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you. The Labor Party has been going around the place lying about this issue. It goes to the fact that this is about politics rather than getting to the substance of the issue. The substance of the issue is something this government takes seriously and treats with the utmost seriousness. But you have to come in and claim that we've cut funding. We inherited a spend in aged care of a tick over $13 billion annually from the Labor Party. That has gone up to $22 billion, and in the forward estimates will go to $25 billion. So, when the Labor Party comes in here and pretends that they are serious about the issue and that they are serious about accountability, let's go to the fact that they don't want to speak to the fact that they want to make up their own numbers—false numbers and fake numbers. That's what we've heard from Mr Albanese in the other place, and that's what we've consistently heard from senior Labor—

An opposition senator interjecting—

Well, we've got the budget papers, where it goes from $13 billion, when we came to government, to $22 billion. We are taking this issue seriously and will continue to take this issue seriously. But when you see this kind of smear from Senator Watt, and when you see this kind of dishonesty from other members of the Labor Party, it goes to the other fact: they are running a protection racket for the Victorian Labor government. At no stage in considering the facts of the matter and considering the serious challenges in aged-care facilities in Victoria do they go to the fact that these things are happening in Victoria because of the serious failings of Dan Andrews and the Victorian government in quarantine, in testing and in tracing. This is a government that had the toughest lockdowns, but the biggest—