Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

  (i) Aged Care Assessment Teams (ACAT) are teams of experienced, qualified and highly trained medical, clinical and allied health professionals who are responsible for assessing the level of government-funded care that ageing Australians should receive,

  (ii) the Morrison Government sees ageing as a problem and the market as the solution,

  (iii) the Morrison Government has announced that it intends to privatise ACAT from April 2021,

  (iv) the New South Wales (NSW) Minister for Health and Medical Research, Mr Brad Hazzard, has been highly critical of the Morrison Government's decision to privatise ACAT,

  (v) Minister Hazzard has said that "NSW has major concerns" about the Government's plan to privatise ACAT,

  (vi) Minister Hazzard has said that "It would worry me if a private company had accountability that went beyond the pure interest of the elderly person",

  (vii) Minister Hazzard has said that "It seems pre-emptive and unreasonable to be effectively privatising health aged-care services while the royal commission into aged care is still under way", and

  (viii) Minister Hazzard concluded that the Government's decision to privatise ACAT demonstrated that there was "Not a lot of logic there"; and

(b) calls on the Morrison Government to:

  (i) listen to the concerns of their colleague Minister Hazzard in the NSW State Government, and

  (ii) stop the privatisation of ACAT services.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's disappointing that Labor is still attempting to play politics with aged care by repeating false claims in numerous notices of motion rather than focusing on what the future of aged care should look like. Labor has no aged-care policy and no agenda other than to scare senior Australians. The government remains committed to creating a better experience for senior Australians entering aged care.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the motion moved by Senator O'Neill be agreed to.