Amanda Stoker (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

While I always enjoy Senator Sheldon's contributions, I'm not super clear what that contribution was about. It veered from talking about aged care to veering in another moment to talking about something entirely different. I'm going to focus on the aged-care point because I think that's what he's getting at. I have to say, amid all the guff, it's pretty hard to make sense of it. The truths are what nobody wants to talk about in the field of aged care. They are uncomfortable truths. It might sound easy for someone of my age to say, but I will quote someone very wise, and that's my grandmother. She always says, 'Getting older ain't easy,' and, 'Getting older ain't for sissies.' She's got a sense of humour, my grandmother, but it points out something very real about this time in life. Aged care is deeply challenging. Nobody really wants to be in aged care. Everybody would rather be living independently and healthily without the circumstances that force them to come to require aged care. That puts to the front of one's mind the raw realities. It's very confronting to enter the place where you know you are opening the book on the last chapter of your life.

And so, to make life as good as we can for older Australians for as long as we can, this government has delivered record investment right across the aged-care system over the forward estimates, not just in residential age care but also in assistance to help our older Australians live independently in their own homes for longer with the little bits of help they need to be able to do so for as long as possible. In fact, new home-care packages under this government have increased from 60,308 under Labor in 2012-13 through to 164,135 in the coming financial year. That's an increase of over 170 per cent. Over the same period, funding for them will increase by 258 per cent due to the growth in the number of people who are seeking higher levels of care from home—which, again, highlights that reality: people want to be able to stay in their homes for as long as they possibly can.

It's also worth noting that for all the gloating, for all the confected emotion we see on that side of the chamber, at the last election Labor offered no additional funding in their costings. Not a single cent. Nothing! Not a penny! Not even mentioned. Not a single dollar more for home-care places, not a single dollar more for aged-care quality, not a single dollar more for investing in the quality of the aged-care workforce and not a single dollar more for residential aged care. So I am not inclined to listen to the confected outrage of those opposite when they had no plan to improve this sector, they had no vision for investing more in older Australians and they had no interest in the welfare of those in that difficult last chapter of their lives.

The fact that this is a difficult chapter of life doesn't mean we don't, as a society, continue to aim high. It's vital we have measures in place that make this tough chapter as positive and as healthy as it can possibly be. That's why the Morrison government, under this minister, has provided PPE from the national stockpile for aged-care workers. That's why, under this minister, the Morrison government has put in place infection-control training, PPE measures and infection-control protocols that are designed to keep this workforce and our older Australians safe. As at 30 September of this year, 1,244,709 aged-care workers had completed basic training. (Time expired)