Kimberley Kitching (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Government Accountability) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians, Senator Colbeck. The Australian newspaper this morning revealed that in the days after the Nationals leadership spill, Deputy Prime Minister McCormack lobbied the Prime Minister for a $120,000 grant to keep open an aged care home in the electorate of Nationals' ally Damian Drum. The article also reports that 'Nationals sources questioned the due process conducted ahead of the grant being finalised in four days.' What representations did the Prime Minister or his office make to the minister and when did they occur? Why was the grant finalised so quickly?

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for the question. The member for Nicholls arranged for the Deputy Prime Minister to visit the Murchison community on 31 October for discussions on the DP Jones Aged Care facility and those discussions have continued since then. The circumstances surrounding DP Jones nursing home in Murchison are quite unique and as a result require a tailored solution. That is why we negotiated a tailored solution for a longer period of administration. The circumstances in the community of Murchison were quite unfortunate, with the DP Jones facility having a number of connections to other community organisations. There was a strong desire and interest from members of the aged care community to consider a takeover of—

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

Senator Kitching on a point of order?

Kimberley Kitching (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Government Accountability) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On relevance. My question was around representations—did the Prime Minister or his office make representations to the minister? Why was the grant finalised so quickly? This is not relevant.

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

I'm listening carefully to the minister. I was speaking to the managers then about order of questions. I missed his last contribution. I will continue to listen carefully. It is also in order for the minister to address the quotations and assertions at the start of the question. That is also in order and being directly relevant. I will listen to it very carefully.

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government had provided some assistance to the administrator to extend the period of administration in an attempt to find an alternative provider to take over the facilities of DP Jones. We were coming to the end of that process, and there were still some discussions we wanted to continue with respect to that. The decision was made to provide additional resources to extend the period of administration so that the negotiations with prospective providers could be undertaken.

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

Senator Kitching, a supplementary question?

Kimberley Kitching (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Government Accountability) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister's department has said of the nature of the grant that it had not 'provided funding of this specific nature before'. Why was this new precedent set for Mr Drum?

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One of the concerns that the government has is the provision of high-quality aged care across the country and particularly in regional Australia. Here we have a community in Victoria that was about to lose its aged-care facility. It had a number of other services attached to it. It had a doctor's surgery, a pharmacy, a community house. All of the services were attached to the provision of care at the aged-care facility. We were concerned about whether those things all had the capacity to continue to be provided in that community. We had a number of providers who were interested in taking over the facility. We extended the capacity of the administrator to continue the administration to see if we could find a new provider for the centre.

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

Senator Kitching, final supplementary question?

Kimberley Kitching (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Government Accountability) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Given $400,000 has already been provided to the aged-care facility in Mr Drum's electorate, can the minister now confirm that the Prime Minister has spent $520,000 of taxpayer money to buy a vote inside the Nationals party room to prop up his preferred Nationals leader?

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I have just indicated, the concern of the government is for the people in the community of Murchison and to ensure that they continue to receive the services that are important to them. As I've indicated, the aged-care facility was supporting a doctors surgery, a pharmacy and a community house. The concern for the government is to ensure that the community of Murchison has the capacity to retain those facilities, if we can assist them to do it.