QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Mr RAE (Hawke—Minister for Aged Care and Seniors) (14:32): I thank the member for Richmond for her question. She is an absolute champion of older people across her community and, as a former minister for ageing, for older people across our nation. Our government is proud to be delivering the biggest and most ambitious reforms to aged care in a generation.
We're just 23 days away from the commencement of the new Aged Care Act. But 1 November is not the beginning of our reforms. Our work to deliver safer, more dignified and compassionate care to older Australians started the moment we came to government.
We've now released more than 10,000 of the fast-tracked home-care packages we committed to last month, putting us well on track to release 83,000 new home-care places this financial year. This means more older Australians are getting the support they need to stay independent, connected and safe at home, close to their loved ones and their communities. Last month we announced the third round of the Aged Care Capital Assistance Program, investing $300 million in new and upgraded services in communities where access to care has too often been out of reach.
In the community of the member for Richmond, we are delivering 14 new rooms at the Feros Village Bangalow home and increased support and home-like care for up to 31 residents with behavioural support needs at St Andrews Village Ballina. These investments will make sure that older Australians, no matter where they live, can age with dignity, close to home and family.
Our aged-care system is nothing without the dedicated, compassionate people who care for older Australians every day. Last week, the Treasurer and I visited the Calamvale seniors expo in his electorate to mark yet another round of the Labor government's pay rises for aged-care workers. These highly skilled workers do some of the most important work in our community, and they are finally being recognised and rewarded for it, with the average registered nurse now $28,000 better off every single year.
We inherited an aged-care system in crisis—an unacceptable and unsustainable failing of the former Liberal government that did not meet the expectations or the needs of the older Australians who relied upon its care. This culminated in the royal commission, which said of those opposite, 'Their main consideration was the minimum commitment that they could get away with.' But every one of our actions, from fairer wages to more home-care packages to better residential aged care, is about fixing the system we inherited and building one that actually delivers for older Australians, because this Labor government believes that aged care should be about care, not just cost.
This Labor government is getting on with the job of giving every Australian the dignity and respect they deserve in later life.