Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

Before we close the debate on this very important piece of legislation, I want to put on the record that today was a win for older Australians who desperately need the assistance that the passage of this bill is going to afford them. The decision to release today immediately on royal assent the 20,000 home-care packages is incredibly important for so many Australians, for those 20,000 Australians who now are going to get the support that they otherwise previously had been denied. It will also be a win over time for 83,000 older Australians, because the sector is now in a position to be able to gear itself up to be ready to deliver the packages that have been forced to be released over the coming nine months.

Basically today Labor was faced with a choice: listen to the coalition, the Greens and Senator David Pocock and release these packages early or stand in the way of vulnerable older Australians getting the care they desperately need. Today, I was very pleased to have been able to stand with the Greens and Senator Pocock against what I think has been a very arrogant stance by this Labor government in relation to its absolute preparedness to intentionally deny older Australians the care that they have been identified as needing, simply because the government was not prepared to put its hand in the pocket and issue these new packages.

I just want to be very clear. Today was not a deal. Today was a defeat of the Labor Party's arrogance on this matter. The Labor Party capitulated on the stance that they have taken now for some months simply because they realised that they were going to lose a vote in this place. But, as I said, the big winners today are the older Australians who will now be able to get access to the care that they have been assessed as needing.

This shouldn't have had to take until today. This should have happened months ago. The government should never have said that they were not going to release any new packages for a period of at least four months. As I said, the situation should never have happened. The sector was ready, the department was ready, and the money was already baked in the budget by this government. Labor was the only one standing in the way of the release of these packages for older Australians.

It is a black mark on this government that it has taken the collective effort and will of those of us in the Senate who put older Australians' needs first that we have had to drag the government kicking and screaming to this position. This is a crisis of the government's own making, and we are very proud to have stood with others in this place to force the government to release these additional 83,000 packages. But we also found out today, despite the government's trying to stop us from finding out, that the waitlist is now 108,924 people. We now know that even these 83,000 packages that are to be released over the next nine months are not going to be sufficient to deliver the care to those people that are on the waiting list.

The coalition will continue to fight for older Australians with one very clear goal in mind: no-one should have to be waiting for the care that they have been assessed as needing, and we will continue to fight to make sure that that isn't the case. Can I acknowledge the support of the Australian Greens, who have been steadfast in their pursuit of the same goal that we have—that is, that older Australians should get the care that they need. I will also give a shout-out to Senator Pocock, who has been very steadfast through all of the inquiries to make sure that we have been able to achieve what we have achieved today.

Can I also, on indulgence, thank my incredible staff. We on the side have got very limited staff, which means our staff have to work incredibly hard. Can I put on the record the incredible work of Holly Crothers, who has worked tirelessly now for 18 months to make sure that we're in the position to be able to see these packages released. She's been ably supported by my chief of staff, Lilli Balaam, whom I'm very sad to say will be leaving us on Friday. We wish her all the best. But most particularly we wish older Australians all the best. We will not stop fighting for you.