Richard Dowling (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of responses to opposition questions. In the questions some individual cases were raised, and it is important that we do take the time to reflect on those circumstances, as Minister McAllister did. We also note that Minister Rae is very happy to receive those cases and look at those individual circumstances with the compassion that they deserve, but we shouldn't lose sight of the bigger picture at play here. Following the royal commission and everything we found out about aged care, we have now put in place the new Aged Care Act. It was passed with bipartisan support and it's a once-in-a-generation reset. Less than two months from today, on 1 November, it will take effect.

We have heard those distressing stories, and, to every family who's lived through those, we do extend our sympathies and compassion. And that's why we are acting. The answer is not to simply express regret; we need to fix the system so that those stories become less common, and that's what these reforms do. They ensure that people remain in their homes with dignity and access to care faster than has ever been possible in the past.

Let's look at the facts here. There are a lot of numbers being thrown around in this debate. If we look at the facts, yes, the number is too high. For the people waiting, it's always going to be too high, and I don't think anybody in this chamber could deny that. But things are moving. The government is allocating, on average, more than 2,000 home-care packages every single week, and that pipeline is being delivered and being improved in real time. For those who are assessed as highest priority—those who are most in need of aged care—the package is being allocated within a month. That's a concrete measure of progress.

Again, with all the numbers being thrown around, there is some conflation of the waitlists for packages and the time taken for assessments. They are different processes. It's important to note a key statistic: 99 per cent of those waiting for a package at their approved level are already receiving care. It's not at the right level, but they're not out of care. They are receiving care—99 per cent of them are—either through a lower-level package or through the Commonwealth Home Support Program. So the overwhelming majority are not without support while they wait. The median waiting time for an aged-care assessment is now down to 25 days from referral to completion of a support plan. And that timeline is trending down, under the new single assessment system.

Our goal is clear: a system that provides care with dignity, safety and compassion, that responds more quickly to people's needs and that gives older Australians confidence about the support they will receive. There was some shift in the timelines, from July to November, in terms of the implementation. There was obviously an election that delayed some progress there. We're implementing one of the biggest generational reforms we've ever seen in aged care, and it's important to take the time to get it right.

I know there's some confusion now, with the sector—or certain bodies within that sector—saying they're ready, but, if you look at the commentary from a few months ago, it was clear that many of the providers weren't ready, and I had many providers in Tasmania begging me, saying: 'Please take the message to Canberra that we just need a little bit more time to get our systems right.' The most important thing is that, when we implement this package, we do it properly and we deliver confidence and restore confidence in a system that hasn't done enough for older Australians in the past.

On 1 November, the new act takes effect. It's not just a date in the diary; it's the beginning of a better aged-care system—one that Australians can rely on.

On a less serious note, I was surprised—it felt like deja vu to be going back in time again to the goddamned spare bedroom tax. It's obviously getting a lot of clickbait online, this one. Next we'll be asking, 'Do we rule out taxing the doona, the bedside lamps and the pillows?' I think that, if only we could have a tax on coalition scare campaigns, we could raise a lot of revenue; maybe we'll put that idea into the next roundtable! Just to clarify: that's not an idea that came from the government. It has nothing to do with the government and it's not under any consideration. It wasn't even mentioned at the roundtable, and I think those opposite should know that because the shadow Treasurer was there for every minute of the discussion, and it's a characteristically dishonest conversation. (Time expired)