SENATOR THE HON ANNE RUSTON

SHADOW MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE

DEPUTY LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION IN THE SENATE

SENATOR FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA

TRANSCRIPT

INTERVIEW WITH JAIMEE ROGERS NEWS24

Topics: Aged care assessments and human override; prioritisation and waiting lists; digital duty of care bill; Victorian election.

E&OE……………………………………

JAIMEE ROGERS: Thanks, Jamie. Well, let's head to Melbourne now, where I spoke with Senator Anne Ruston a little earlier. Senator, welcome. It's now been one year since Labor introduced its new aged care system, and it's certainly been plagued by controversy. One of the biggest concerns is the assessment algorithm, which didn't allow professionals to override its decisions, even when they believed the outcome was wrong.

But now we're hearing another review has been commissioned into this, with findings not due until next year. And I saw that and I thought, why do we have to wait for another report? Because even the Commonwealth Ombudsman has identified that there are some serious problems with this system.

SENATOR RUSTON: Well, we've been calling on the federal government to actually accept the fact that this algorithm is flawed. We even passed a bill through the Senate that said you need to put human override back in charge when, quite clearly, the decision is wrong. You can quite clearly see that it is wrong, and the assessors should have the final say about somebody's care needs and the priority with which they receive care. The government has chosen to just park that bill in the lower house and not bring it on for debate.

We've been arguing with them. Eventually, we agreed to another short review to report back early next year, but we put the government on notice: if it doesn't come back with that, we are going to sunset all of the changes it has made in relation to this.

But you're absolutely right. The government has been sitting on its hands for a very, very long time with this issue. They've refused to accept the fact that older Australians are actually being harmed by the changes that this government has made, and I can assure you I will keep fighting every single day until the government gets this right.

JAIMEE ROGERS: Senator, I've been looking at the government's aged care prioritisation system, and some questions started to pop up for me regarding its fairness. So you receive points for identifying as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, so you pretty much can go ahead. Then you get points for living alone and other points for circumstances. But when you walk into an emergency department, you're triaged according to your clinical urgency.

And I just wondered, why are we applying a different principle to aged care? So basically, two Australians with identical care needs could end up with different priority levels purely because of their background or their living arrangements. And it just seems quite discriminatory to me, doesn't it?

SENATOR RUSTON: Well, I think you've hit on a real issue in terms of the prioritisation system that the government is using. Your care needs and the criticality of your care needs should determine the speed of your access to care. I would always argue Australians should be getting the care that they need when they need it, not being stuck on some waiting list where they have to wait months and months, if not years, to get their care.

But we have a situation where the government has prioritised just certain things when it comes to giving people points for assessment, and not others. And you make the point about somebody who lives alone. If you're somebody who has someone living with you, and that person has greater care needs than you have, you don't meet the requirements for getting the point for that particular thing because there is somebody else living in the house, even if their care needs are really extreme as well.

So we've been criticising the government for the way they've determined priority. They did a rapid review into it, which they promised they'd come back with. We've not seen anything on that, but we will be continuing to prosecute this issue right through to the end of the year, because somebody who has got incredibly high needs should not be waiting a year for their care. And it's probably part of the reason that last year we saw more than 6,400 older Australians die while they were waiting to get the care that they needed. This is unacceptable.

JAIMEE ROGERS: It is. Let's delve into that number a little bit more, because this was in the news yesterday: more than 6,400 people died in just the last financial year while waiting for their approved home care. Now, that is around, what, 17 people every single day, but people are still waiting around 297 days. And I was reading this and I thought, how on earth can the government stand up and defend a system like this?

SENATOR RUSTON: Well, this is the most incredible thing that we have seen from the aged care minister. He continues to defend a system where, by every single measure, it is failing. We've got 100,000 older Australians waiting to receive care they've been assessed as needing. We've probably got another 50,000 people who have got interim packages, which means they're only getting 60% of their assessed package value. We've possibly got another 100,000 people who are waiting to be assessed.

And as you say, particularly for those who haven't been prioritised—and very few people get into the priority system, I can assure you—most people are waiting seven, eight, nine, ten months, even over a year, to get access to their packages. So a government that can seriously look down the camera barrel, or a minister who can look you in the face and say that they're doing good things in aged care, is completely deluded.

The aged care system is wracked with problems at the moment. And quite frankly, older Australians are getting less, waiting longer and paying more for care that they were receiving prior to the government's reforms. There is something fundamentally wrong with what the government is doing.

JAIMEE ROGERS: Yeah, it's just devastating. And we hear reports that a lot of older Australians are fleeing to other countries because they get quicker access to care packages, which is just appalling.

Let's move on now. I do want to get your thoughts on Angus Taylor and Andrew Hastie, who were both absent for the vote on Labor's digital duty of care bill. And when I saw that, it was more about how Angus has been particularly vocal in his opposition to this legislation. And I thought, from an optics perspective, do you think he should have been there to vote against it?

SENATOR RUSTON: Look, I'm unaware of the reason why Angus wasn't in the chamber, but I can assure you, if there is one person who is always prepared to front up and have their name put on something that they believe in, it's Angus Taylor, as it is Andrew Hastie. I mean, they're both very brave people who would never shirk their responsibilities for coming out and letting the Australian public know where they stand.

I'm sure there was probably a very good reason why they weren't able to be in the chamber. But I don't think that in any way reflects anything about their absolute commitment to their position on this bill.

JAIMEE ROGERS: And Senator, before I let you go, we are speaking to you from Melbourne. It's the countdown to a very important election. What's the feeling like on the ground when you're out and about?

SENATOR RUSTON: Look, it's incredibly positive, and I must say that there is a huge amount of negativity towards both the state Labor government here in Victoria and the federal government. I think people are really, really angry about the state of their personal being. The cost-of-living crisis is having a massive impact on people's lives and their livelihoods. It is affecting families; it has affected businesses. So there's a huge amount of negativity out there about the Labor Party.

It seems very positive in relation to Jess Wilson's campaign here, but obviously a week's a long time in politics, so a month's a very, very long time. And I think the team here know they've just got to work every single day, going out there and explaining to Victorians what we've got to offer as a Liberal Party and a Coalition here in Victoria. And hopefully they'll think that what we've got to offer is worth voting for.

JAIMEE ROGERS: Yeah, the countdown is certainly on. Senator, I appreciate your time, and keep up the fight in Senate estimates.

SENATOR RUSTON: Thanks, Jaimee.

ENDS