Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

I am following on from my contribution last week. Now, as a result of the government's failure to provide flexibility to implement their reform, older Australians are being denied their rights and have been denied the care that they've been assessed as needing by this government. Because of their failure to consider transitional provisions, the government were forced into an embarrassing backflip to delay the implementation of the Aged Care Act 2024. While the Albanese government will claim their delay was the result of consultation with the sector to provide them with time, the truth is it was the government that wasn't ready. The government's steadfast commitment to this chamber in November last year that all government systems would be ready by 1 July was nothing but politics. These bills here today, the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025 and the Aged Care (Accommodation Payment Security) Levy Amendment Bill 2025, prove exactly that.

These bills prove that the government's decision to vote down all the amendments moved by the coalition in relation to transition provisions was nothing more than a political stunt because, without these bills today, critical information cannot be shared between government departments to ensure the reforms can be implemented. This was confirmed in the Senate inquiry on 8 August. Department officials confirmed that, without these bills in front of us today, elements of the Aged Care Act 2024 could not be enacted. Most concerningly, this government was aware of the need for the legislation changes as early as January this year. They did nothing about it until June. Clearly this government lied at the election about its commitment to supporting older Australians, as this transition has been anything but supportive of those who rely on the system.

The Albanese government refused to admit they were not ready to transition to their new aged-care system and framework that they'd celebrated so loudly. Then, when they were forced to do an embarrassing backflip on the start date for their reforms following the election, the Albanese Labor government continued to use the sector as a scapegoat, stating that the deferral of Support at Home was appropriate to give more time for aged-care providers to prepare their clients, support their workforce and get their systems ready for change. But the Senate inquiry into these bills confirmed that existing legislation was not adequate to implement aged-care reforms and that it was the government who required more time to get their systems ready for change, not the sector.

Even more shocking is the evidence we heard last Friday in which the department confirmed that more than 121,000 older Australians are waiting to be assessed for care. The department refused to provide updated figures on how many vulnerable older Australians are waiting for the care they've been assessed as needing. We know this figure is more than 87,000 from data provided in March, but experts suggest this number has skyrocketed to more than 100,000 people. While the minister continues to claim that the sector weren't ready, peak bodies, providers and advocacy groups unanimously told the Senate Community Affairs References Committee on Friday that the sector is absolutely ready to provide that care and provide it now. Most importantly, the department confirmed that there are no barriers to the release of additional home-care packages beyond it being the minister's decision. The department is ready and the sector is ready, but the government continue to withhold critical aged-care packages without any reasonable excuse.

The inquiry highlighted that, within existing legislation, the government is not able to implement the no-worse off principle. Through our persistent negotiations on the act, the coalition achieved significant improvements to the government's proposed reforms that will protect the interests of older Australians and future generations. One of the most critical outcomes of our efforts was the introduction of grandfathering arrangements. These arrangements guarantee that Australians who are already in the residential aged-care system, on a home-care package or assessed as waiting for their allocated home-care package will not see any change to their existing arrangements. But the government could not implement this critical policy without this bill, the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025, which we are debating today, because this bill creates the necessary legislation to exempt existing residents from payment obligations of the new act. Specifically, item 77 and item 183 insert sections 275A and 285A respectively into the Aged Care Act 2024. Without these provisions, the no-worse-off principle cannot be implemented within the rules. This is a clear failure of the government to implement their promised reform and this is a clear example of the contempt of this government because the Senate inquiry provided confirmation that the government knew of this error as early as January. The government didn't just fail to deliver legislation to implement the no-worse-off principle. They failed to ensure that older Australians could enter new services agreements with informed consent, because, yet again, without the bill we are debating today, and to quote departmental officials:

… the transition of the information from the old act to the new act wouldn't have been able to occur …

Again, the government was aware of this as early as January this year. But here we are in August, after a federal election, with another broken promise from the Albanese Labor government.

ICT readiness was consistently raised throughout the inquiry as an area of concern, given many department builds are yet to be operational. This prompts the question: how was the government ever going to be ready for 1 July 2025 if internal ICT remains incomplete?

It's no secret that we are the party of hardworking Australians. That is why we also advocated for a lower taper rate towards care contributions to ensure those who have worked hard and saved for their retirement are dealt a fairer deal under this government. We doubled down on a fairer deal for all Australians and held the government to account on their commitment to remain the majority funder of aged care. We fought for the maintenance of a lifetime cap on care contributions and we fought to remove the Labor government's introduction of arbitrary caps on access to gardening and cleaning—caps the coalition did not want to see implemented during a cost-of-living crisis. Item 20 of this bill removes the ridiculous caps imposed by Labor's government, including in primary legislation, and affirms the amendment as moved by the coalition during debate of the Aged Care Act last year.

The most egregious aspect of the government's delay on the aged-care reforms is the impact on older Australians who need essential home-care services. Anthony Albanese and his government have abandoned older Australians who need support to stay living independently in their own homes. They promised to deliver 83,000 packages from 1 July 2025. But they have broken this promise, leaving more than 87,000 older Australians waiting for a home-care package and without the care that they've been assessed as needing. This is an appalling decision by the government, and the coalition absolutely condemns the government for the skyrocketing waitlists and wait times that they have overseen and for their refusal to provide the promised packages.

The waitlist for home-care packages has almost tripled in the last two years under Labor's watch. Many vulnerable older Australians are waiting more than a year to access the care they've been assessed as needing. This is nothing short of a national crisis. Minister Rae must urgently deliver the promised packages and address this skyrocketing waitlist as a matter of absolute priority, because older Australians deserve access to the care they need to stay independent in their own homes for longer. Home-care providers also deserve the certainty of knowing how many packages will be released over the coming months so that they can plan their workforce, so they're ready to support the older Australians in their care.

Under this Labor government, over 87,597 older Australians are currently waiting on the national priority system for a home-care place they have been assessed as needing, and that was back in March. We don't know how many people are waiting now, because the government won't tell us. There are 121,596 older Australians waiting to be assessed for a home-care place. Therefore, overall, more than 200,000 older Australians are waiting to access home-care support under Labor. Labor has released zero new home-care places this financial year. Labor only released 41,215 home-care places over their entire first term in government. This compares to the 123,000 additional home-care packages that the former government committed to in our last term of government. The most vulnerable older Australians are now waiting up to 15 months for access to home care packages they have been assessed as needing, compared to between three and six months under the former coalition government.

The coalition remains absolutely committed to an aged-care system that provides dignity, choice and control to Australians. As this legislation is essential for the delivery of the Aged Care Act, the coalition will not seek to delay the passage of this bill, because without the passage of this bill the Aged Care Rules can not be registered, and we know how essential the final release of supported legislation is to ensuring a smooth transition. That is why this bill must be passed without delay to ensure older Australians can finally receive the care this government has promised them and has failed to deliver.

Older Australians deserve better than another broken promise and more delay by the Albanese Labor government. I therefore foreshadow a second reading amendment which I will move in in my name and other second reading amendments that will be moved in other coalition senators' names in recognition of the outstanding information still required for the sector to implement these reforms in a timely manner. We all know that if the government had been truly ready for a 1 July start date, this information would already be finalised and it would have been published. Other amendments in relation to the concerns raised throughout the inquiry will also be moved by the coalition, most particularly regarding the absolutely disgraceful blow-out of the number of people on the waitlist and the time that they are waiting. We will seek to make sure that there is some remedy for older Australians who are continuing to wait for home-care packages. Quite sadly, and quite frankly, some of them are dying while they're waiting for the care that they've been promised by this government.

The coalition condemns this government's clear decision to put politics above the rights of older Australians. We condemn the government for preventing older Australians getting care because they simply will not release the packages that we know the sector is ready and capable to deliver and we know from the department's advice that the department is ready and capable to deliver. But, as I said, we will not stand in the way of this legislation. We will not stand in the way of this bill passing, because Australians deserve the rights based system that they have been promised for such a long time.

On the record, we want Australians to understand that this is a government that promised to put the care back into aged care in 2022. They continued to make promises to older Australians throughout their first term of government, but in the process of the last three years the government have abjectly failed older Australians as we've seen wait times and waitlists blow out. As I said, we will not stand in the way of this legislation, because we understand its importance. We will hold the government to account for the delivery of the Aged Care Act starting on 1 November, as you have promised Australians, and we will stand ready to condemn you again if you do not have the act staff on 1 November. I move:

At the end of the motion, add ", but the Senate calls on the Government to:

(a) immediately register the Aged Care Rules upon Royal Assent of these bills,

(b) immediately publish a release schedule for Support at Home places to ensure the aged care sector can adequately plan and scale up the workforce,

(c) immediately release the final Support at Home Manual to ensure sector readiness for 1 November 2025,

(d) undertake further consultation on care management fee caps and service delivery, including with clinicians, to ensure no older Australian sees a reduction in the quality of care as a result of the Government's decision to halve the value of care management,

(e) expedite the design of the program to replace the Commonwealth Home Support Program to prevent the challenges associated with rushed policy implementation as seen with the Aged Care Act 2024 , and

(f) acknowledge the regulatory and financial burden placed on the sector as a result of the Government's decision to delay the implementation of the Aged Care Act".