QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator WONG (South Australia—Minister for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (14:00): It is the case that we were concerned, in opposition and in government, about support for our elderly Australians and improvements that needed to be made in the aged-care sector. I believe there was cross-party understanding that the sector needed to change and to reform, and the government has sought to do that.

We've made changes to improve the aged-care assessment system. The system is less than a year old, and I know the minister has announced two important improvements, in particular, to the way aged-care assessments work. I'm advised that there is a rapid— Senator WONG: Senator, you have worked in this sector and you know the problems of the old assessment processes.

They weren't fair or consistent and Australians were left waiting. We tripled the number of homecare packages—420,000—by the end of the financial year; it's triple what was provided in 2020. Secondly, it is the case that we know that the ageing of the population means that the number of people needing help at home is increasing.

We are working to bring down wait times across the board— Senator WONG: Senator, you asked me about an aged-care package. I'm entitled to tell you what we are trying to do on aged-care packages, and I would have thought you'd be interested. What I would say is that wait times have been coming down for Support at Home places since the new system started in November.

Of course, we absolutely want to deliver the care people need. (Time expired)