Health—Aged care
395. Mr Bevan Eattsto theMinister for Aged Care and Seniors:
I refer to the minister's comments in The West Australian last week in which she claimed that she would be seeking nearly half the 20,000 home care packages the federal government has promised to fast-track.
(1) Given the minister's federal colleagues have already abandoned WA on major infrastructure funding and refused to bankroll her government's racetrack, what confidence can seniors in the state possibly have that she will be able to secure these urgently needed packages?
(2) Will the minister guarantee that the additional home care packages allocated to WA will be prioritised for the regional communities most in need?
Ms Simone McGurk replied:
(1)–(2) Unfortunately, those things are physically not in my control. I can advocate for more home care packages. I can advocate for our share, as I just said in the previous answer. I will advocate for, as a minimum, 10.2% of the share of either home care packages or residential aged care, including timely assessments for home care packages. I know the aged care assessment team assessments have been challenging for people to obtain, including residents in regional areas.
I am absolutely passionate and determined to advocate for Western Australia's share of all of those things, but they are not in our control. The federal government funds them. It is their system. They regulate that system. I repeat: What is the member doing? What is his party doing? What is the Liberal Party doing to advocate to its federal colleagues on these issues?
Several members interjected.
The Speaker: Members!
Ms Simone McGurk: I do not see much. It might be occurring quietly and effectively; I am not so sure about that. I urge, and I said this to the member previously when he asked me questions in this place, the member needs to understand what level of government is responsible for what services.
Mr Basil Zempilas interjected.
The Speaker: Leader of the Opposition!
Ms Simone McGurk: In Australia, the federal government is responsible for funding and regulating aged care. We are very clear about that, but we are determined to advocate for our fair share. I understand that people are frustrated in the regions. They are frustrated in our metropolitan areas as well. I understand that, and we have made the point to the federal government that there are restrictions on the level and complexity of the packages that people are getting, particularly the level 3 and 4 packages.
I think when we visited Canberra, there were about 2,000 people in Western Australia waiting for a level 4 package. I mean, level 4 is the highest level of home care package. That is just not acceptable. Their families would be struggling. Those people would be struggling. Minister Rae assured me that a number of those people will be getting level 3 packages. In fact, that is not what some of the providers are telling me, but we are clear that we need more reliable and real-time data from the federal government. We are clear that we expect and want good and real-time data from the federal government and we have formally raised that with the federal government. But, of course, data is a means to an end. The data will give us a picture of exactly what is happening to those people who need level 4.
Mr Basil Zempilas: You are not doing something.
Ms Simone McGurk: I am certainly doing more than you are doing, member. I am certainly doing more than you are doing. All that you are doing—
Several members interjected.
The Speaker: Members! Leader of the Opposition.
Ms Simone McGurk: —is sitting there with pot shots, commentating—
The Speaker: Minister, just hang on two secs.
Opposition members, this is a question from your side. The minister is responding. If you keep carrying on the way you are going, you will not get to ask a supplementary. Carry on, minister.
Ms Simone McGurk: Thank you, Mr Speaker.
As far as I am aware, and I am very happy to be corrected, there was not one policy or peep before the election from that side about what will happen for our seniors in this state, let alone on specific areas like aged care. There was not one peep. The Leader of the Opposition's side had the opportunity to put something up before the election, but there were crickets—absolute crickets. Now he is sitting there saying, "You do this, you do that, you're not good enough, you're not doing this." There was absolutely nothing from that side.
I will continue to advocate. We have been able to get some of those packages brought forward, but I and others have made the point that these are not new packages. These are not new resources announced by the federal government; they were simply brought forward. About 8,000 Western Australians need home care in our state and we will not stop until those people are given the right care and we also have more residential aged-care beds for older Western Australians.
396. Mr Bevan Eattsto theMinister for Aged Care and Seniors:
I have a supplementary question. Will the minister commit to tabling any correspondence her office has had with the federal Minister for Aged Care on this matter since last week's announcement?
Ms Simone McGurk replied: I do not have any objection to talking about or making public the correspondence that I have sent to the federal government. The member has numerous opportunities to raise those issues through the parliamentary questions on notice system or through the upper house, but I have no objection to doing that.
Excuse me—the formal correspondence is one thing. Sorry—it is a lurgy that I think some people around here are sharing. I have no objection to doing that, but the formal correspondence is one thing. What is important is that we continue to advocate at all levels. We have Minister Rae coming next week. We are continuing to advocate at an officer level and to talk about this issue publicly. Since we have been talking about it, we have received a lot of good feedback from Western Australians who are experiencing those delays firsthand. Similarly, we have received feedback from other states. I mean, it is not just us experiencing this.
