Fatima Payman (WA, Australia's Voice) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

After a lightning visit to Canberra yesterday, WA's premier Roger Cook has returned to our home state. He was on a mission to get more aged-care beds to take some strain off the health-system crisis. The Premier certainly slipped quietly, without any announcements at all, apart from the promise of a visit to Perth by the Minister for Aged Care and Seniors, Sam Rae. A promise, yes, but that's not much of a result. I point this out because Western Australians, nearly three million people, deserve a functioning health system. The delay in addressing this issue only fuels their disappointment.

For weeks there have been daily headlines about shortages, about ambulances ramped outside hospitals and about surgeries cancelled at the very last minute. Behind every one of these headlines is a human story—a worker who has already arranged leave for an operation, a child waiting for treatment, an older person left in pain far longer than they should be. This is the human cost of delay and indecision. I'm not here to play the blame game, and, frankly, pointing fingers is not going to deliver a single hospital bed. What we need is cooperation between state and federal governments. WA is a state that generates immense wealth for our country. We know the resources are there. What's missing is the political will to translate that wealth into world-class health care for the people.

One obvious part of that solution lies in GST. Ensuring WA gets its fair share of GST revenue could go a long way to addressing this crisis if—and that's a big 'if'—the money is invested wisely and directly in health. I'm talking about freeing up hospital beds by boosting aged-care places. I'm talking about cutting wait times so people aren't left suffering. I'm talking about ensuring regional and remote communities from the Kimberley to the Goldfields aren't forgotten in the process.

Funding alone is not enough. Too often we see big announcements with little change on the ground. Accountability matters, and that's why I believe that there is merit in establishing an independent taskforce to oversee how this health funding is allocated and delivered. It wouldn't need to be large or costly, but it would serve as an independent umpire, making sure promises translate into real results. As the only independent senator for Western Australia, I will continue to press both state and federal Labor governments to step up. I've offered to work with Premier Cook, and I renew that offer today. I say to our prime minister: 'Western Australians are watching closely. They want to see urgency, transparency and results.'

The crisis in hospitals cannot be separated from the crisis in aged care. WA has the lowest number of home-care packages in the nation—just 43 per 1,000 older people. That's far below Victoria and South Australia at 72 and New South Wales at 59. Even the Northern Territory and Tasmania are fairing better. This isn't just about numbers though. It means older Western Australians are missing out on support, longer wait times for home-care and aged-care beds, and hospitals forced to fill the gap. About 250 WA hospital beds are occupied every single day by people who could otherwise be at home or in care if the support existed. The St John Ambulance data makes it very clear. In one year, more than 18,000 older people were transported from residential care into hospitals, and over 41,000 from private homes.

More than four in five callouts ended up with an older person in hospital because home supports just weren't there. We know from international research that investing in home care reduces unnecessary hospitalisation. The lesson is very clear. The solutions aren't a mystery. Expand home-care packages, invest in the workforce, build more residential places, deliver services to the regions and, above all, act with urgency because right now older Western Australians are being left in limbo. They deserve the guarantee that wherever they live they can age with dignity— (Time expired)

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It being 1.30 we shall now move to Senators statements.