SENATE

More documents

Recommendations

Info

100 <strong>SENATE</strong> Thursday, 13 October 2016 Auditor-General's Reports—Consideration The following orders of the day relating to reports of the Auditor-General were considered: Auditor-General—Audit reports no. 10 of 2016-7—Performance audit—Award of funding under the Mobile Black Spot Programme: Department of Communications and the Arts. Motion of Senator Bilyk to take note of document agreed to. Auditor-General—Audit report no. 16 of 2016-17—Performance audit—Offshore Processing Centres in Nauru and Papua New Guinea: Procurement of garrison support and welfare services: Department of Immigration and Border Protection. Motion of Senator Gallacher to take note of document agreed to. Senator Gallacher, by leave, moved—That the Senate take note of the following document tabled on 30 August 2016 (see entry no. 7, 30 August 2016): Auditor General—Audit report no. 33 of 2015-16—Performance audit—Defence's management of credit and other transaction cards: Department of Defence. Aged Care Complaints Commissioner Consideration Consideration resumed of the motion: That the Senate take note of the document. Senator POLLEY (Tasmania) (17:52): I want to speak on the Aged Care Complaints Commissioner's Report for the period 1 January to 30 June 2016, including the final report of the Aged Care Commissioner for the period 1 July to 31 December 2015. The Aged Care Complaints Commissioner's annual report details work that Rae Lamb has been doing in her first six months as the new Aged Care Complaints Commissioner. It is a good report, full of valuable information and data-specific to the aged care sector. This is the first time that a report about aged care complaints has been made available. In the six months since the new commissioner was appointed she has been inundated with complaints. In fact, the number of complaints has increased by 11 per cent. Over 5,000 people contacted the commissioner's office with concerns between 1 January this year and June. More than 2,000 of these were formal complaints, mostly from concerned family and friends of people living in residential care. Some people have attributed the increase in complaints to the fact that there has never before been an avenue specifically for aged-care-related complaints. But I am sure that I would not be alone in suggesting that the increase in complaints really stems from the Turnbull government's disinterest and neglect of the ageing and the aged care portfolio. We have sought from this government on numerous occasions to have released the modelling that they made their judgement on when they cut over $1.2 billion of ACFI funding out of the aged care sector. It has been demonstrated over the last three years that this government has not had the passion, the vision or the drive to ensure that they have oversight of this extremely important sector—the sector that is caring for older Australians and the sector that is responsible for caring for some of the most vulnerable people in our community. So the fact that we now have a complaints commissioner is a good thing. We will continue to watch with great interest, to see whether or not the increase in complaints continues. But I do at least acknowledge the fact that this is a step in the right direction. But it does concern me that the minister responsible, Minister Sussan Ley, has said that the overall increase in complaints remained low. I think that is a bit of a joke—maybe she was trying to make light of it. But it does not matter how you look at this and how much you want to try to deny it: there has been an increase in complaints. I am not surprised, really, considering that last weekend, when the minister, Senator Siewert and I attended the LASA Congress 2016, which was held on the Gold Coast, we heard the minister speak and give her address, which said nothing—as usual. But when we participated in a panel discussion in relation to this sector the minister did say that she wanted to be honest with the sector about the cuts. Unfortunately, she did not call them 'cuts'; she sees the ACFI funding cuts as a 'saving'. But the sector knows, as we know, that a cut is a cut is a cut. So if she really does want to be honest, transparent and open with the sector then she should release the modelling which her government used. She has responsibility around the cabinet table as the minister to release that modelling. All other modelling that has been done by peak bodies has indicated that they believe the outcome will be far worse than the $1.2 billion. Those people who are going to be most affected are those who have multiple conditions and high and complex needs. These are the most vulnerable people in our community. What I am asking the minister to do is what she said she was going to do—be open, be honest and release that modelling for us. We know that the interest shown by the minister in this sector has been very little. She much CHAMBER
Thursday, 13 October 2016 <strong>SENATE</strong> 101 prefers to re-announce sporting events so that she can have her photo opportunities again and again. If she just paid 10 per cent more interest in aged care then we would be happy to acknowledge that. But we know that her interest lies in sport, photo opportunities and not doing the job that she has responsibility for. I seek leave to continue my remarks later. Leave granted; debate adjourned. COMMITTEES Health Select Committee Report Consideration resumed of the motion: That the Senate take note of the report. Senator O'NEILL (New South Wales) (18:02): I refer to this report because I think it is a very important piece of record-keeping about the impact of the cuts to health that were heralded in that tragic 2014 budget brought in by the then Prime Minister Abbott. I want to speak to it this week in particular in the context of what has happened in the House of Representatives. I remind those who might be listening, and anybody who catches up with this speech that I am giving here today, that this week in the House of Representatives a vote was taken that absolutely and clearly indicates that the cuts in health that were backed in by the Abbott government, the $56 billion worth of cuts that the Abbott-Turnbull government undertook, are very much a real and live thing for this country. What happened this week was that Liberal MPs in the House—I assume in concert with those here in the Senate—voted against guaranteeing to keep Medicare in public hands as a universal health insurance scheme for Australia. They are bleating all over the place about a 'Mediscare' campaign. But here in the Senate, where they think people might not be watching the chaos that has ensued under this government, they voted against keeping Medicare in public hands. They voted against protecting bulk-billing so that every Australian can see their doctor when they need to, not just when they can afford to. The Liberal and National parties voted against that this week in the House of Representatives. They refused to reverse harmful cuts to Medicare by unfreezing the indexation of the Medical Benefits Schedule. They voted against reversing cuts to pathology that will mean Australians with cancer will pay more for blood tests. They voted against reversing cuts to breast screening, MRIs, X-rays and other diagnostic imaging. They want the election to go away. They lost all but a one-seat majority and they are trying to pretend Australians were hoodwinked. But today I want to put on the record that this week in the parliament, once again, they showed their true colours: they are committed to a massive cut to the health care of Australians. They voted against abandoning their plans to make all Australians, even pensioners, pay more for vital medicines. Finally, in the House this week, in concert with their Senate colleagues, the Liberal and National parties voted against developing a long-term agreement to properly fund our public hospitals so that Australians do not languish in our emergency departments or on long waiting lists for important surgery. That final point really brings home the message that Mr Turnbull, the Prime Minister of Australia, still has not learned his lesson. He copped a shellacking in the election. One seat is that majority—and we know how fragile that is because we have already seen them fail on multiple occasions in the 10 days they have had here in Canberra. But the government has not reversed a single cut from the election. Why is that so important in regard to the report I am speaking to this evening? The report that I am addressing is the final report of the select health committee from the last parliament entitled Hospital Funding Cuts: The Perfect Storm. And that subtitle tells what happened—the demolition of federal-state health relations from 2014 to 2016. If I was a member of the government I would be hoping that this was going away. But this is a story we need to retell and retell and retell. Prior to the Abbott government coming into being, a series of national partnership agreements were established to end the blame game on who is responsible for health—whether it is the state government or the federal government. It was a proportional responsibility that was assumed—that both levels were responsible for health. Those agreements were simply torn up with the hubris and arrogance that we now see every day on display from this government—torn up and destroyed. Those vital partnerships, federal-state relations, were torn apart. We are seeing now, as a legacy of those agreements being torn up, the impact of cuts to health. In New South Wales it is creating incredible financial pressure on the state, and it is starting to manifest in all sorts of bizarre decisions by the state government of New South Wales. They are linked intimately with the cuts at federal level. I want to make sure that people who are listening to the parliamentary broadcast, including people from the Central Coast, know that there will be a very important community gathering of people who are a wakeup to this Liberal-National government; who understand that the government are cutting our access to health and CHAMBER
Page 1 and 2:
COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA SENATE Ha
Page 3 and 4:
FORTY-FIFTH PARLIAMENT FIRST SESSIO
Page 5 and 6:
Senator State or Territory Term exp
Page 7 and 8:
Title Minister Minister for Health
Page 9 and 10:
Title Shadow Minister Deputy Manage
Page 11 and 12:
CONTENTS—continued International
Page 13 and 14:
Thursday, 13 October 2016 SENATE 1
Page 15 and 16:
Page 17 and 18:
Page 19 and 20:
Page 21 and 22:
Page 23 and 24:
Page 25 and 26:
Page 27 and 28:
Page 29 and 30:
Page 31 and 32:
Page 33 and 34:
Page 35 and 36:
Page 37 and 38:
Page 39 and 40:
Page 41 and 42:
Page 43 and 44:
Page 45 and 46:
Page 47 and 48:
Page 49 and 50:
Page 51 and 52:
Page 53 and 54:
Page 55 and 56:
Page 57 and 58:
Page 59 and 60:
Page 61 and 62: Thursday, 13 October 2016 SENATE 49
Page 111: Thursday, 13 October 2016 SENATE 99
Page 125: Thursday, 13 October 2016 SENATE 11
show all

SENATE

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?