QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Mr BUTLER (Hindmarsh—Minister for Disability and the National Disability Insurance Scheme, Minister for Health and Ageing and Deputy Leader of the House) (14:43): The government is asked about $3 billion which will be invested entirely into more aged-care beds, more Support at Home packages and better care for people receiving those Support at Home packages—in particular, our decision to reverse the co-contributions that were being charged for showering and other hygiene services.
The opposition continue to ask these questions, which are legitimate questions. But, as an alternative government, they still haven't answered the question about whether they support these investments or whether they have an alternative way of funding the billions and billions of dollars we need to continue to invest in every budget and every budget update. The Leader of the Opposition says, 'Don't make the cuts,' so presumably he has an alternative way of funding the additional aged-care services that older Australians require, or he's just not going to support them.
He's just not going to support the additional beds or the additional packages— Mr Taylor: Eight billion dollars! Mr BUTLER: That's going to go into aged care? You're making this up as you go along.
I can go to the question. Opposition members interjecting— The SPEAKER: The Leader of the Opposition! Mr BUTLER: You can only spend it once, mate!
As I said yesterday, this is a difficult decision we have taken after reflection about the degree to which we need to lean in heavily to provide more aged-care services to a population that is ageing at unprecedented levels. What this decision will do is return the private health insurance rebate to its original design, which did not discriminate based on age.
It provided people living next door to each other with the same rebate, even if they were of different ages. I said we don't take this decision lightly, but we have to make some hard choices if we are going to provide older Australians in unprecedented numbers with the sorts of care and dignity that they deserve.