My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Health and Ageing and the minister for disability, Senator McAllister. After a decade of neglect, the Albanese Labor government was elected to deliver critical health and care services to Australians when they need it. As the population grows and the population ages, Australians deserve a government that manages the budget responsibly while investing in the health and care services Australians require. How is the government responsibly delivering the critical care services Australians rely on?

Senator Brown is asking exactly the right question. The Albanese government takes seriously our responsibility to deliver the care that Australians need while managing the budget responsibly. We invest in Medicare because we know that primary care makes a real difference. It means seeing a bulk-billed GP to catch health problems early before a chronic condition becomes a more serious condition. It means that an older Australian who's had a bad fall can get care at a Medicare urgent care clinic rather than spending hours in an emergency department, and it means Australians can access critical medicines for no more than $25 a script through the PBS.

But delivering that essential care also requires responsible decisions about public money. That is why we are putting the NDIS on a more sustainable footing—so it can support Australians with permanent and significant disability for the long term. We are investing in quality care for older Australians while ensuring that the system remains sustainable for future generations. That is responsible budget management—investing in the care that Australians need today while planning for tomorrow.

Those opposite want to lecture Australians about spending restraint without explaining what they would cut. Mr Wilson let the cat out of the bag the other day. He specifically pointed to home aged-care packages, saying that they needed to be controlled. Now, Senator Ruston is blocking changes which would fund more aged-care places by making the private health insurance rebate fairer. Those opposite demand fiscal restraint while, at the same time, committing fiscal vandalism in the same breath. You cannot claim to care about aged care while blocking measures to fund more of it.

Senator Brown, first supplementary?

Australians are living longer and healthier lives, and we know this requires making careful decisions about how public money is used to ensure our aged-care system is equipped to meet their needs. After years of underinvestment by the coalition government, how is the Albanese Labor government responsibly funding aged care and delivering the reforms older Australians deserve?

When we came to government, the aged-care system wasn't built for the population that we have today, let alone the one that we will have in 10 or 20 years. There is a reason that the royal commission named their interim report Neglect. Those opposite neglected that system, and the Albanese government is delivering generational reform in the space of just a few years. We are putting older Australians' needs front and centre in a new rights based act. Since we came to government, aged-care funding has increased by over 80 per cent. But we do know that we need to manage the budget and that this requires responsible choices. We get a lot of lectures from those opposite about the need for strong fiscal management, yet, every time a responsible decision is brought to this chamber, politics takes over for the coalition. We should be very clear that this is all about self-interest. Nothing about it relates to the national interest.

Senator Brown, second supplementary?

Senator Ruston, I have called you out over and over. The minute Senator Brown stood up, you started interjecting again. Please be quiet. Senator Brown?

Australians deserve a health and care system they can rely on. They deserve confidence that, when they get sick or grow older, the essential care they need will be there. Can the minister outline how the Albanese Labor government is delivering on its commitments to essential health and care services and why it is important to have a clear and consistent plan for Australians.

Our government does have a clear plan to deliver the health and care that Australians need now and into the future, and that is the plan we were elected to deliver. I'm not sure that the same can be said of those down the other end of the chamber. Of course, the Greens political party are divided all over the place on the approach to Ukraine. By Wednesday, they walked away from a key election commitment. For years, the Greens political party promised to abolish the private health insurance rebate and redirect that funding into public services. But, yesterday, they voted to discharge a bill to invest in aged-care services—in public services—without actually even debating it. That must have come as quite a shock to the members and supporters—the people who went out and campaigned for the Greens political party at the election—who presumably took at face value their commitment to public services. These guys have a different policy for every day of the week, they promise everything, they've spent that gas tax five times over. Australians deserve a lot better than the proposition they are bringing to them.