TRANSCRIPT
JOINT DOORSTOP INTERVIEW
PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA
Wednesday, 3 September 2025
Topics: Labor’s aged care backflip on home care packages; Labor’s cost of living crisis.
E&OE……………………………………
THE HON SUSSAN LEY MP, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Good afternoon everybody. I'm going to make some remarks about something that we were able to achieve on behalf of elderly Australians today. I'll hand over then to the Shadow Health Minister, Anne Ruston, and then to Shadow Treasurer to make comments about the national accounts.
But this is not a deal, Prime Minister. This is a defeat.
Because Labor has been dragged kicking and screaming to implement what we have spent this week demanding that they do; put in place the promised age care packages for elderly and vulnerable Australians.
Congratulations Senator Ruston, you've fought the fight on the floor of the Senate with a little way to go, but you've received those commitments. And Labor faced a choice today, either they listen to the Coalition and actually act in the interests of elderly Australians or they continue with their legislation and hold up something that is making life right now incredibly hard. Because since we raised this issue, we have heard from so many who are struggling right now, and what really made me angry in question time this week was when Labor characterised this as a short delay. You tell that to a 97-year-old who's desperate at home, frightened every day whether they're going to get the care they need with no help arriving. Every 24 hours is a nightmare. So for us to achieve this it is a win for elderly Australians and I'm proud that the team has worked hard to do exactly that, and 83,000 home care packages were promised, the government needs to acknowledge the promise they made and they need now, Senator Ruston, to get 40,000 out by the end of the year.
SENATOR ANNE RUSTON: Look, thank you very much and today, whilst it has come at the last minute, we are pleased that we actually have been able to deliver this for the 83,000 older Australians who have been left in limbo over the last few months and were intended to be left in Limbo until at least the 1st of November by the inaction of this Government. And I would point out that this Government has not released one new home care package this financial year. So today, in a sense, this small victory that we've been able to achieve in conjunction with our colleagues in the Senate, in the Greens, and certainly David Pocock, that we have been able to deliver something for the older Australians who have been crying out to us to stand up for them. We stood up for older Australians, we pushed back against the Government and we have forced the Government into backflipping and agreeing to our amendments to release these packages starting right now. But in a sense the human toll is the thing that is probably most impactful about what's happened over the last few days.
We heard last week from an amazing lady, Margaret, who told us the story of her husband who waited nearly 18 months to be told he had an aged care package, he died three days later. My constituent, an 87-year-old lady in South Australia, who's been told she has to wait for 12 months for an aged-care package. When you're 97, 12 months is a very, very long time. We also found out today, distressingly, that despite having been told repeatedly that there were 87,000 older Australians on the priority waiting list, we actually found out today that it's actually closer to 109,000 [people].
So whilst we have got the victory today and forced the backflip of the government to force them into releasing the 83,000, we now know that there's another 25,000 that that need to be released just to meet the demand on the waitlist of those people who have already been assessed as needing care by this government and are being denied care. It doesn't go anywhere near towards the 121,000 people the government has admitted are actually on the hidden waiting list, of those people waiting for an assessment. So today is a small victory on behalf of those tens, if not hundreds of thousands of older Australians who are waiting for care, but there is much, much more work still to be done.
SHADOW TREASURER TED O'BRIEN: The government's inaction and complacency when it comes to helping older Australians is reflected right across the economy, which impacts all Australians.
Under this Albanese government, Australia is becoming poorer and weaker, and today's national accounts say that we're certainly not out of the woods yet. Today's national accounts provided the June quarter figures, which also allowed for a summary of last financial year in full, and what it showed was the Australian economy last financial year grew at its weakest rate since the 1990s outside of the pandemic. Since the Albanese government has come to power, we have seen the living standards of Australians drop more than people in any other developed nation, we have seen a cost of living crisis that people continue to feel the pain with, we have seen our economy become weaker by the day and there's nothing in these figures that show that that's going to be turned around. The government has promised a private sector led recovery but again these figures don't point to that. Indeed business investment is down.
In the June quarter, it is pleasing to see that household spending is up. Now, the ABS in their report suggests that could be due to the holiday period, it could be due to end of financial year sales, but I think we all hope that because of the RBA's decisions on the cash rate, that we will see a continued confidence on behalf of consumers. But unless we see the private sector return and have confidence, their balance sheets are strong but the confidence is low, then we will not see living standards rise, and that is ultimately what is going to impact people's living standards over the longer period of time.
The Treasurer was right - when I listened to his comments earlier today - that quarterly results can be lumpy and they can be volatile. That's very true. And so while there is one or two little degrees of sunlight through these figures, the long, cold, over three year winter for the Australian economy continues.
LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Thank you, just a moment, because question time is upon us, we're going to take questions on aged care and over to you, Sarah.
JOURNALIST: So there was something in the Senate today, where Pocock moved to have these 20,000 packages released, the government didn't vote for that. Can you explain what would have happened today had Mark Butler not stood up? Would they have been forced to release 20,000 regardless? And secondly, when I asked Mark Butler about that, that Labor voted against this in the senate, and him doing this, he said well it's because we're working with the Coalition on something more comprehensive, this is different to what was in Senate. Is that true? Is that how you would characterise what's happened today when it comes to this whole debacle in the Senate?
SENATOR ANNE RUSTON: Well in a sense I was somewhat surprised when the Minister stood up and said that he'd agreed to these 20,000 packages being released right now, given that his party only a matter of an hour or so ago actually voted against the release of these packages. So I think there was quite a lot of confusion and clearly a bit of a backflip has occurred just in the last few hours because the Labor Party absolutely put on the record that they voted against release of 20,00 home care packages as of today.
JOURNALIST: You've been demanding less government spending in the economy, but on this, more government spending on aged care packages, is there a contradiction there?
SENATOR ANNE RUSTON: Well, one of the things that I think is interesting in the Minister's comments today is he's saying there was additional funding required for the release of these packages. This government provisioned for all 83,000 packages that we've forced them into releasing today in PEFO, so prior to the election. So all of the packages that have demanded that the government release are promises that they've made that they have already funded.
JOURNALIST: Senator, what about the workforce question? The government seems confident that these packages that have now been brought forward can all be staffed, at least that's what they say the sector has told them. Do you share that confidence that these extra packages will actually be delivered because the workforce is there?
SENATOR ANNE RUSTON: Well, it's really interesting. Up until we started putting pressure on the government this way, particularly in the House of Representatives over the last two days, the government's been saying that apparently the sector wasn't ready, the sector couldn't deliver these packages. Well, the sector have told us repeatedly, they told us all day last Friday, every single sector person that's spoken to me, including advocates and as well as providers, have said they can deliver these packages, and now today, apparently the government has actually come to the same realisation that the rest of us have been aware of for quite some time.
JOURNALIST: Can we expect to see more instances of the Coalition working with the crossbench to put pressure on the government, as you did with this bill by voting for Senator Pocock's amendment?
SENATOR ANNE RUSTON: Look, we were delighted that the Crossbench and the Greens have actually seen the common sense and the humanity of the decision that was made today. So of course we would be really hopeful and we'd be happy to work with the Crossbench and the Green's when sensible outcomes are actually being delivered for Australians. I mean, I don't know how this government could have stood there for so many days and so many weeks saying, we're not going to deliver aged care packages for older Australians who quite frankly are dying waiting for their aged care packages, and thinking that that was a reasonable and humane thing to be doing. So of course we will be constructive where we can and critical where we have to be.
LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Thank you colleagues.
[ENDS]
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