The parliamentary week opened with Aged Care Minister Sam Rae, just three months into the role, facing a barrage of questions about the ballooning home care waiting list – including calls to apologise to the 5,000 families whose loved ones died before receiving their Home Care Package.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley (pictured below) led the charge on Monday afternoon (1 September), demanding to know how many of the promised 83,000 new Home Care Packages had actually been released.
She was followed by a line-up of crossbench and Coalition MPs – Helen Haines, Rebekha Sharkie, Llew O’Brien, Thomas Venning, Melissa McIntosh, Alex Hawke and Dr Anne Webster – pressing Rae on:
- the immediate release of 20,000 Home Care Packages,
- expediting care for a 90-year-old still waiting,
- whether he would apologise to families of those who died waiting,
- why the “hardworking” workforce was being blamed for delays,
- whether reform timelines were knowingly unrealistic, and
- if assessments are being slowed to mask the growing waitlist.
Rae on the defensive – again
Rae stuck closely to Government talking points on “bipartisan support” and a “rights-based framework.” He said he was “saddened” by the stories and offered his “condolences” but refused to say whether more Packages would be released before Support at Home begins on 1 November.
The grilling came after last week’s Senate Inquiry into Aged Care Service Delivery revealed more than 120,000 people are still waiting for assessment and heard harrowing accounts of people going without support.
This morning, Health Minister Mark Butler told ABC Radio National the Government is rolling out 2,000 “vacant” Packages each week – those freed up when people move into residential aged care or die.
Inquiry Chair, Queensland Greens Senator Penny Allman-Payne, also shared her personal connection on the same station:
“I’m the daughter of a mother who died waiting for a Home Care Package. I know what that feels like,” she said. “And I know what it means for an older person who feels like they’ve been left on the scrapheap, and that the Government and their community doesn’t care. So this is a problem that the Government can fix, and they really need to take action.”
