SENATOR THE HON ANNE RUSTON
SHADOW MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE
SHADOW MINISTER FOR SPORT
MANAGER OF OPPOSITION BUSINESS IN THE SENTATE

PRESS CONFERENCE

ADELAIDE
Tuesday, 12 March 2024

Subjects: The Aged Care Sustainability Taskforce report

SENATOR RUSTON: Well, first of all, I want to make an absolute commitment that the Opposition, the Coalition, absolutely supports changes to make our aged care sector sustainable into the future, because we know with an ageing population that older Australians need to be able to rely on the fact that there will be an aged care system there to support them in their years of ageing.

Today we were pleased that the Government has actually come forward with their Aged Care Sustainability Taskforce report. We have been offering the Government bipartisanship on this issue for quite some time now, and we remain committed to supporting sensible changes in the sector that will enable sustainability into the future. Disappointingly, the Government has had this report now for three months and we only received it over the weekend. If the Government wants to genuinely be bipartisan about this, they’re going to have to provide us with the information so that we can make some informed assessments.

So today, we were disappointed I suppose, that the one big issue that is before Australia at the moment across the entire care sector, that there was no reference to workforce. In fact, workforce was explicitly excluded from the findings or the deliberations of the taskforce. We say that unless you deal with the workforce challenges, it’s very difficult to deal with any of the other challenges.

We’d also say that Australians woke up this morning probably expecting to have more information about how much they are going to be paying for their aged care into the future, who are the people who are going to be paying for that amount, and what are they going to be paying for? None of the information that supported any decisions around this was contained in the report. So I would say to the Government, if you want us to work in a genuine bipartisan way, I am happy to come to the table in good faith, but unless you provide us with timely information, you cannot expect us to work in good faith if you are not working in good faith with the opposition.

So, I put it on the table- we’re happy to continue to work in a bipartisan way, but we would like the information, in respect of the provision of that information, so that we can make informed decisions in a timely way, in the same way that the government has been able to for the last three months.

JOURNALIST: So obviously, there is bipartisan support in these, what elements of the taskforce report do you actually support?

RUSTON: Well, obviously, the taskforce report is a very wide-ranging discussion paper that has highlighted the many challenges that are before the aged care sector at the moment in terms of sustainability. What we would say about the report is there’s not really enough information for us to make any comments on anything specifically. What we would say to the Government is please provide us with the background information. Please let us know when you’re likely to provide some indication of the Government’s response to this report - because let’s not forget, the Minister for Aged Care was the Chair of this taskforce. The Government has been intrinsically embedded in this process from the minute it started. We only received the report on Sunday, the Sunday of a long weekend, so we would like the Government to act in good faith and provide us with that information, so I can answer your question that you just asked me.

JOURNALIST: Just looking at the recommendations, just from your brief look at it, is there anything that stands out to you that you do support that you can specify, or you just haven’t had enough time is that what you’re saying?

RUSTON: Well, no, I’ve had, I’ve spent most of the weekend looking at the report. And I think there are some very, good high-level sort of recommendations that have come from the taskforce and I commend the taskforce for the work they’ve done. But there isn’t enough information that sits behind those recommendations for us to actually assess what it is that they’re intending to do, because in the absence of knowing what the quantum of the problem is, it’s very difficult to be able to understand whether the recommendations that have been put forward will actually deliver the kind of responses and the savings or the funding that is needed to make our aged care sector sustainable into the future. So, it’s that additional information, that time for us to understand what sits behind this report and what the government’s intentions are that is missing — and what we would like to engage with the government on in good faith now.

JOURNALIST: The report identifies quite a strong case for people to pay more, for aged care if they have the means to, what metric do you think should be used to define a person’s wealth?

RUSTON: Well, I mean, this is the great challenge. I mean when you have a look at aged care, when you have a look at the age pension, this is a very complex and complicated area, and we do need to simplify it. And so it is very difficult to be able to provide an answer to a question like that, when we actually don’t know what the intention in terms of the overall deliberations about the response by the Government. So we stand very open, as I said, we will support sensible reforms, but we would also like to know what the details behind those reforms are before we make any commitment.

JOURNALIST: So what amount do you think it is appropriate for people to pay for aged care, no matter what their income is? What do you think is an appropriate amount?

RUSTON: Well, once again, it’s really difficult to even put any figures on anything, because we don’t know what the various components of the package going forward are likely to look like. There are many different places where older Australians are currently paying towards their aged care. We know, for instance, that in residential care, Australians on average pay about 25% of the cost of that care, when it comes to home care it’s less than 5%. So there is a really broad range, and there are different elements that are paid into both home care and aged care. So very difficult to put a quantum on it, without actually having a look at all of these elements individually.

JOURNALIST: Can you understand that a lot of older Australians today may be feeling nervous, given that there are so many questions about who this will actually impact?

RUSTON: Look, absolutely and that was probably my biggest concern in reading the report. I think older Australians wanted to know, as I said, how much they are likely to pay, who is likely to pay and what they’re likely to be paying for — and so we could have started this conversation with older Australians many, many months ago. And I think it’s disappointing that we are here in March having this conversation. It’s not just the Opposition that’s been kept in the dark and not been given the information, it’s older Australians and their families, the very people that any of these policy changes are going to impact, they’ve also been kept in the dark.

So I think it is really, really important that we are transparent across the board and so I say to the government, come on, be honest with older Australians with what you’re intending on, what you’re proposing and let them have genuine input in what our aged care sector is going to look like going forward, because otherwise it just creates uncertainty and stress to older Australians and their families.

JOURNALIST: Why do you think there was such a delay between December and now to get that report for you? For the Liberal Party to see that report?

RUSTON: Well, obviously that would be a question you probably should be putting to the Government, but it’s very disappointing. I was expecting that there would be some sort of government response, or at least interim response attached to the report today, given that they’ve had the report now for three months. And as I said, the Minister was the chair of that particular taskforce, so she’s had plenty of time to consider those recommendations. We just seem to have had a hiatus for three months and then all of a sudden we’ve had the report dropped this week.

But I think it is a very valid question that the Minister needs to answer. Why has she kept not just the Opposition, but older Australians and their families in the dark for three months and has produced nothing that wasn’t already available in December and here we are in March.

JOURNALIST: And looking at the moving forward and the recommendations, when would you like the government to respond to the recommendations? Is it, reasonable to expect it by the budget or later in the year? When do you think that should be?

RUSTON: Well, I think the government should respond as soon as possible. As I say, they’ve had the report for a very long time. And until the government actually puts some of its considerations on the table for discussion, all we have is this very, very complex report/discussion paper.

So I’d say to the government, get out as soon as you can and start talking to Australians about what your possible intentions are and secondly, we know the Aged Care Act is — currently the Government is saying the new Aged Care Act is supposed to come into effect on the 1st of July - there is not enough time if this is to inform a major component of the New Aged Care Act- and that is the sustainability and financial framework of aged care going forward. It seems to me that the government really needs to get moving on this and get this information out so people can consider it.

ENDS