Varun Ghosh (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm going to address my remarks today to the question asked by Senator Ruston and the answers from Minister McAllister in relation to the aged-care debate and the delivery of home-care packages and the changes that are being brought it on 1 November 2025. But before we start with the government's reforms we need to go back to what we're dealing with here, which is one of the more complicated and difficult challenges that the Australian public are going to have to deal with in the coming decades. Our aged-care system is complex, and our population is ageing, and this makes for a real challenge.

We also know this is a government that's 100 per cent committed to ensuring the level of care delivered is up to standard, and we know it wasn't up to standard because of the royal commission into aged care. The interim report of that royal commission, in 2019, was titled Neglect; that was the aged-care system the Liberal government presided over and that is the aged-care system that now requires deep renovation and change, and the Albanese government is tackling that change. The final report of that royal commission was entitled Care, dignity and respect, and that is the approach this government is taking to this issue. The second thing we know is this is going to present a fiscal challenge over the long term to Australians in the context of an ageing population. The third thing we know is that the complexity of the system, the failure to plan long term and the ageing nature of the infrastructure mean there are going to be delivery challenges.

But what we saw from the opposition today here and in the other place was a political two-step—an attempt to disguise their failures by notionally supporting reforms and then to try and take little political points here and little political points in the other place to take attention away from the fact that theirs was a government that shirked the issue. Those little political games show that it's still an opposition that doesn't understand the significance of the challenge, and Minister McAllister's answers today showed that this is a government that not only understands the significance of the challenge but also understands how important it is to be rigorous in the way it approaches it. These are reforms that we need to get right and that need to stand for a long time.

While the opposition can't help but take political points, we are getting on with the business of trying to fix the aged-care system. What does that look like? It looks like whole-of-system reform. It involves resourcing aged-care providers properly. It involves providing them certainty of funding. Those two things are essential to ensure that they can plan and operate to the standards we expect in terms of the care of elderly Australians.

What is this government also committed to? It's committed to supporting the aged-care workforce. That includes delivering an additional $17.7 billion in wage increases promised by the Fair Work Commission. That supports carers, nurses and allied healthcare professionals. That's because the government understands that, when you have a stronger workforce, a workforce that is paid properly and is treated with dignity and respect, those changes flow through to the system overall and ensure that elderly Australians are paid better.

In terms of the packages that are being delivered, this government has fast-tracked 20,000 packages in the next eight weeks, and, when the new system comes in on 1 November, has guaranteed to deliver 63,000 packages to 30 June 2026. That's the underlying promise. In terms of the way that will be delivered, it will be delivered under the new reforms for a single assessment process. The current system requires multiple assessments by different providers and separate assessments as aged-care needs change. A single assessment process that is simpler to access, provides the right care levels and allows those care levels to change as needs change over time is not only going to be faster and drive down wait times but going to be more efficient. That's the other thing that's very important here because of the fiscal pressures many of these changes are going to put on our system.

What do we see overall? We see a government that is grasping the nettle and an opposition that shirked the issue for 10 years while they were in government and now tries to take little political points while supporting the overall reform. If we had a mature opposition they would be more constructive, but they can't help themselves. Instead we have the Albanese government forging a path with others in this place to try and reform the healthcare system and ensure that it serves older Australians in the long-term and provides them with the necessary care.