Wendy Askew (Tasmania, Liberal Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Aged Care and Seniors, Senator McAllister. Yesterday in this chamber we heard of 91-year-old John Wilson, who spent his final months waiting for care this government had already assessed he needed. In 2024-25, 4,812 Australians died waiting for care they were approved to receive. How many older Australians died waiting for the care your government assessed them as needing in the past 12 months?

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

():  No-one wishes to see an older person die waiting for the care that they require, and our government understands that we need to make the investments that will make Australia's aged-care system fit for the future. Australians are getting older, and that's a good thing. We are living longer and healthier lives than any generation before us, and that means we need to make additional investments, and we need to make change.

When we came to government, the aged-care system was not fit for the population that we had, let alone fit for the future—not even close. The government that the Liberals oversaw cut $2½ billion and failed to meet the growing need for aged care.

Sue Lines (President) | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, please resume your seat. Senator Askew?

Wendy Askew (Tasmania, Liberal Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

It's just a matter of relevance. The question was directed very clearly at how many.

Sue Lines (President) | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister is being relevant. And, Senator Colbeck, I'm going to ask you to withdraw that remark.

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

I withdraw.

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

So $47 billion will be invested in aged care in the upcoming financial year, and that is the largest investment in this country's history. The government is continuing to back older Australians and the workers who care for them, and the system that they rely upon. The truth is that generational reform—and it is significant reform that is underway—is not a single moment; it is a long-term project, and this government is getting on with it.

Opposition senators interjecting—

Sue Lines (President) | Link to this | Hansard source

I ask for silence.

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

We are compressing a decade's worth of reform, reform that could have taken under place under the watch of those opposite—

I see Senator Colbeck interjecting. I would observe that Senator Colbeck has more to say from his seat up the back there than he ever had when he was sitting over here as the minister.

Opposition senators interjecting—

Sue Lines (President) | Link to this | Hansard source

I remind senators I did call those on my left to order. If you make an interjection, the minister is entitled to respond to it. Senator Askew, first supplementary?

Wendy Askew (Tasmania, Liberal Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Disappointing that we can't get the answer we're actually after in regard to the number. Minister, I want to read to you the words of Julie-Ann, a Daily Telegraph reader. Six months after her mother died waiting for a home-care package, My Aged Care rang to ask if she still needed it. Julie-Ann said, 'When I told this person Mum had died, she actually sounded relieved.' Minister, is that how this government manages its waitlist—waiting for people to die?

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

As I indicated in my answer to your first question, nobody in this chamber wants to see people pass away while waiting for care. What is necessary is the investment and reform needed to deal with a generational change to the demand for aged care and the need that this government recognises to improve our system so that we can respond to it. That is work that could have happened over the last decade but didn't.

In the budget, we will invest an additional $3.7 billion to deliver more beds, more packages and better care for older Australians. It means 5,000 additional aged beds each year, principally for those of limited financial means. It means faster access to Support at Home places. It means that personal care services, including showering, dressing and continence support, will be free alongside clinical care.

Sue Lines (President) | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Askew, second supplementary?

Wendy Askew (Tasmania, Liberal Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Another reader said her father had been waiting since October for a package your government assessed he needs. When Labor came to office, the wait was 30 to 90 days. It is now 12 months. In her father's words, 'By the time I get the help, I'll be bloody dead.' Minister, what do you say to him?

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

Australians want freedom, support and choice to remain at home and in the community with the people that they love as they age. We know older Australians want that support. They want to return home and they want to stay at home for longer. It is why we are making the reforms that we are making—reforms which were supported by those opposite, which were voted for by those opposite because, at the time, those opposite recognised that change was required and recognised that our government was prepared to make the necessary investments to deliver it. We are investing additional resources to bring forward the places that will support people to stay at home in the way that they need, and every single person assessed as urgent priority is being allocated their full funding within a month. (Time expired)