Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Well, thank you, Senator Grogan, for the suggestions on questions we could ask at estimates, if we were provided the opportunity to do that. Maybe we could ask about the fact that youth detention is up by 11 per cent, suicide is up by 9.4 per cent, adult incarceration is up by 3.5 per cent, preschool attendance is down by 2.6 per cent, and there are 1.2 per cent fewer children commencing school developmentally on track. So many of the domains are not on track, as we know. And of course this issue usually requires, and has received, bipartisan support. But, again, what we're not seeing here is transparency of this government. We're not seeing the transparency that is required.

You say we could ask these questions across every portfolio. What about the minister? Is the minister omnipresent all of a sudden? Can she possibly be in every committee, all at the same time, so that questions can be answered by the minister, who is accountable—who at least is meant to be accountable—for these outcomes? Of course that's not possible. That's the purpose of having a separate section. If there was an allocation of genuine time throughout the week, then maybe that could happen, but it's not what you're making possible. It's not what you're enabling by this change—and it is a disgrace.

On the other matter, the lack of accountability, we had the great question from Senator Blyth on the home-care packages and the lack of places that are being made available to Australians who are on significant waiting lists. We know that there are 87,597 older Australians currently waiting on the national priority system for a home-care place they have been assessed as needing. In addition, there are another 121,596 older Australians who are waiting to be assessed for home-care places. That means that there are over 200,000 Australians currently waiting for access to home-care support under Labor.

This is an outrage. It's a rapid deterioration of the circumstances for these Australians, and the list is blowing out considerably—considerably beyond what you're accusing us of letting happen in maintaining this list when we were in government. This is an outrage. We heard that Minister Rae had a difficult day in the House of Representatives today. Well, anyone could judge him on that. In the other place today he said—and this is a terrible statistic: 4,812 Australians have died since May while waiting for a home-care place. That is 4,812 Australians, as well as those that love and care for them and are deeply disheartened and dismayed by the fact that their loved one could not receive the proper care that they needed. They were on a waiting list for too long and they died while sitting on that waiting list.

The government are culpable with this answer and this statistic, and they need to get things into gear. It is unacceptable that these waiting lists have ballooned. It's unacceptable that these waiting lists have expanded under this government, and something needs to be done. What we need here is a government that is accountable. We know that they are avoiding accountability. We're seeing it through every answer to every question that's put to them by those here on this side, and even—dare I say—by those at the end of the chamber. There is a lack of accountability. There is a lack of preparedness by this government to front up to the Australian people and be honest about the situation. Unfortunately, there's a lack of action. There's a lack of rubber actually hitting the road. It's disappointing that this is going on here in this country. Australians are experiencing extraordinary wait times—the waiting lists have exploded under this government, and, as I pointed out, it is an absolute tragedy that 4,812 people, as we learnt today, have passed away while waiting for a home-care package. It's totally unacceptable.