Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Share this | Hansard source

Thanks, Senator Pocock. You're right. There are important investments that we should make. You spoke about cost. The government understands the importance of investing in older Australians. I spoke earlier in my contribution about the $5.6 billion that the government is investing in the aged-care system, because we know it needs to do better. You won't find an argument with us about that proposition. We understand the human stories that sit behind every family—about seeking to support another person, whether that person wishes to be at home, whether that person needs to be in a residential aged-care facility or whether that person needs hospital care. The government is in fact making very significant investments to support those people and to support their families.

We have throughout this period ensured that older Australians assessed as a high priority continue to receive their packages within a month. We look forward to rolling out further resources, as has been clearly signalled by both Minister Butler and Minister Rae over a long period of time. Over the last five years we have gone from having 155,000 people accessing in-home care to over 300,000 people. In part that's due to our additional investment in the last term of $798 million. This matters.

I think you will understand, Senator Pocock, from your engagement with people in the ACT, that Australians increasingly want to be at home. People want to be at home for as long as they can, and many people express a preference to spend their last days at home. One of the important aspects of this reform is it will provide a pathway for people to obtain the resources they need to do so. These are incredibly important, significant reforms. They have been achieved through discussion with the opposition. We are looking forward to implementing them.