Leah Blyth (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Stronger Families and Stronger Communities) Share this | Hansard source

I think I'll just start by saying there are people dying now waiting for home-care packages. There have been 5,000 older Australians who have died waiting for their home-care packages that were approved.

The coalition will not stand in the way of the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025 and the related bill moving through and being approved, because it is necessary and it is overdue. It is essential to delivering the Aged Care Act 2024 and implementing the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, which was instituted under the former coalition government. The coalition supports aged care reform. We support a system that delivers dignity, safety and quality care to older Australians. What we do not support is a reform process that is rushed and poorly planned and leaves vulnerable Australians behind.

This government's handling of aged-care reform has been nothing short of chaotic. The Aged Care Act 2024 was Labor's package. It wasn't co-designed with the coalition, and from the outset we warned that reform of this scale could not be implemented in a matter of months. We moved amendments to ensure transitional arrangements for the Home Care Packages Program, allowing it to commence without delay. Labor voted against them. The government has now been forced to delay implementation to 1 November, which is a far cry from the target of 1 July. This is not a minor adjustment; it is a failure of governance. More than 87,000 older Australians are waiting for a home-care package at their approved level. Many have been waiting for more than 15 months—and this figure doesn't include those still waiting to be assessed, which is about 120,000 older Australians. Together, it is a staggering—