Wendy Askew (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I, too, would like to contribute to this debate on the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025 and the Aged Care (Accommodation Payment Security) Levy Amendment Bill 2025. I rise today to speak on behalf of the millions of older Australians, particularly those in Tasmania, who are being left behind by a government that promised reform but continues to deliver confusion and delays.

The Aged Care Act 2024 was supposed to be the Albanese Labor government's signature reform. It was rushed through this place last year. What was delivered was a piece of legislation without the foresight or necessary consultation that long-term reforms demand. And now, less than 12 months later, we find ourselves debating a bill that amends 325 items to that very piece of rushed-through legislation. This isn't refinement; it's repair. It is precisely why we referred these bills to the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee, so that they would receive the appropriate level of scrutiny these changes deserve.

We remain increasingly concerned about and disappointed by the lack of transparency this Labor government has shown to the Australian public through their entire process of attempted reform of the aged-care sector. Key stakeholders—including Ageing Australia, the largest aged-care peak body—were excluded from public hearings. Services Australia was barred from giving public evidence. And the Law Council of Australia described the consultation process as 'unreasonably and significantly limiting the ability for peak bodies to meaningfully consult with their membership'.

During the recent inquiry, it became clear that the government's legislative framework was not ready to support its own reform package. As Ms Amy Laffan from the department of health stated, without these amendments older Australians could not sign service agreements prior to 1 July 2025. This is not a minor oversight; it's a fundamental flaw that could have left thousands of older Australians in limbo. Yet, despite identifying these issues as early as January, no action was taken until after the federal election. The Deputy Secretary for Ageing and Aged Care, Ms Sonja Stewart, confirmed that it was always intended that there would be amending legislation as early as January this year. This lack of preparedness has been compounded by poor communication. There has been no meaningful public education campaign to inform older Australians and their families about these changes.

The bill before us today includes technical and transitional amendments to support the implementation of the Albanese government's Aged Care Act 2024. These include ensuring correct payment of aged-care subsidies; providing for interim services during high-demand periods; allowing access to unspent funds; clarifying information-sharing between the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing and Services Australia; introducing substantial penalties for misuse of personal information; and requiring five-yearly reviews of the Aged Care Quality Standards. These are all welcome changes, but they are just a further admission that the original act was not ready.

While the coalition did not co-design these reforms, we did fight tooth and nail to improve them. With the passage of the Aged Care Act in 2024 during the last parliament, the coalition upheld our commitment to rights based legislation to guarantee a world-class aged-care system into the future. Through our persistent negotiations, 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 to protect those already receiving care. These arrangements guarantee that Australians who are already in residential aged care, on a home-care package or assessed as to be waiting for their allocated home-care package, will not see any changes to their existing arrangements, and this bill provides for the essential framework to ensure that the no-worse-off principle can be implemented.

It's no secret that we are the party for hardworking Australians, and that is why we also advocated for a lower taper rate towards care contributions, to ensure that those who've worked hard and saved for retirement aren't penalised 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 cleaning and gardening, services that are not luxuries but lifelines for elderly Australians trying to stay independent. This bill removes the ridiculous caps imposed by this Labor government from the primary legislation.

We are here today because the Albanese government's original legislation was flawed. It's necessary because the government's promise to be ready by 1 July 2025 has proven, like many of its promises, to be nothing more than words. They promised that the department of health and ageing was ready, that Services Australia was ready, but this bill proves exactly the opposite. This legislation proves that the government's decision to vote down all amendments moved by the coalition in relation to transition timelines was nothing more than politics. Without this bill, critical information cannot be shared between government departments to ensure the reforms can be implemented. Without this bill, elements of the Aged Care Act 2024 cannot be constitutionally enacted.

How can the Albanese government claim readiness while it's scrambling to fix its own reforms? How can it promise transparency while withholding the very rules that providers need to prepare, and how can it celebrate while 87,000 older Australians wait—some for over a year—for the home-care packages they've already been assessed as needing? These are not just numbers, these are people. According to the government's own figures, in the last financial year alone, 3,383 older Australians died and 7,380 were forced into residential aged care while waiting for their approved home-care packages. These are people who wanted to stay in their homes, who applied for help, who were assessed as needing it and who never received it.

For Tasmania, getting these changes right couldn't be more important. We are home to Australia's fastest ageing population, with the number of Tasmanians aged over 85 expected to nearly double by 2033, from 13,000 to almost 25,000. Our median age is already 41.7, well above the national average, and our average incomes are lower than comparative states, meaning affordability is crucial. In regional Tasmania the challenge is even greater. The population of those aged over 85 is growing faster in the regions than in Hobart, with this cohort projected to increase by 88 per cent over the next decade.

I've had the opportunity to visit aged-care facilities in every corner of our state, from urban centres to remote communities. What I've seen is a sector that is deeply committed to caring for older Australians but one that is also under immense strain. Providers are grappling with workforce shortages, rising operational costs and a growing regulatory burden. Many are struggling to meet new compliance standards while continuing to deliver high-quality care. Even exemplary providers, like the community-led aged-care service Toosey Aged and Community Care service in Longford, Tasmania, are feeling the pressure. These organisations are models of innovation and compassion, yet they too face uncertainty as they prepare for new legislative requirements. We must ensure that the rollout of this new framework does not come at the expense of service continuity or workforce stability. The government must work closely with providers, communities and the broader sector to ensure readiness. That includes transparent communication, practical guidance and ongoing consultation.

The bill also introduces automated processes for classification, prioritisation and means testing. While efficiency is incredibly important, automation must be approached with caution. Technology should not replace human judgement, and trust in these systems is not built overnight. Older Australians, especially those with complex needs, deserve more than a digital check box; they deserve personalised and compassionate care. If this system is to work, it must be accessible. That means real people answering phones, real offices providing assistance and real support for those navigating a complex and, often, overwhelming system.

My colleague Senator Ruston has rightly said that aged-care reform must be about dignity and clarity. It must be about ensuring timely access to care, especially in regional and remote communities, and it must be about fixing the system at its source, not just patching it up after the fact. I want to acknowledge the work Senator Ruston as shadow minister for health and aged care has done to improve the original legislation and the advocacy she continues here to further improve upon these bills. The coalition supports these bills because they contain the safeguards we fought for last year, but we will not let the government escape scrutiny, because these reforms are too important for us as a parliament not to get right. You only have to stand in the shoes of the millions of Australians navigating the aged-care system for the first time—for their families and for the patients themselves—to feel the sense of bewilderment, confusion and loss of independence. It will never be an easy process, but the government can make it more bearable because every older Australian deserves dignity, respect and access to the care they need, not just in principle but in practice.

The coalition does not seek to delay the passage of these bills, but we will move amendments to ensure sector readiness, transparency and fairness. I also foreshadow a second reading amendment which has been circulated in the chamber in my name. We urge the government to immediately publish the Support at Home release plan and the final manual, and to register the aged-care rules upon royal assent. Older Australians deserve better, providers deserve clarity, and parliament deserves accountability.