DOCUMENTS

Senator RUSTON (South Australia—Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) (10:12): I move: That the Senate take note of the statement. I stand to condemn the government for their failure to properly comply with the order for the production of documents in relation to a very serious issue: how many older Australians have died waiting for the care that this government has assessed that they need.

Older Australians were promised care. In 2022, the then opposition leader, now Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, said: … we will look after our older Australians. No one held back.

No one left behind. But nothing could be further from the truth. This Prime Minister has overseen a policy agenda that has not only held back and left older Australians behind but has actively sought to pit grandparents against grandchildren.

Of all the policy failings of those opposite, the most abhorrent has to be their absolute disregard and disrespect for older Australians. I want to share some words from Lynne Meehan. Lynne has bravely become a public advocate for change in the home care system, sharing her dad's story in the hope that other families do not have to go through what they have.

Recently, she spoke to the Senate inquiry into Support at Home. About her dad, John, she said: He wasn't just a number; he was a respected member of society, a taxpayer all his working life, a husband, a father, a great grandfather and a great great-grandfather who was dearly loved. Lynne had convinced her parents to engage with the aged-care system in 2023 so that, when the time came, help would only be a phone call away.

Instead, when John needed that care in 2025, he was assessed as needing the second highest level of support at home, but only after serious advocacy by Lynne, who spent countless hours and days on the phone and writing emails. But, even after all that, Lynne was told that her father would have to wait 10 months for that care. Days after his funeral, the family received a congratulatory letter about his funding coming through.

That was after John had passed away while waiting for that care. Lynne said, 'For Mum, who'll be 90 in October, the remnant of all of this is a profound sense of loss, both for dad and for the help they could have received.' She feels let down, as though she's been kicked in the guts by the government of Australia. John is so much more than a number.

So are Lynne, her mum and her family. Their family is not alone. The waiting list for Support at Home has nearly quadrupled under this government, from fewer than 50,000 when the coalition left government to closer to 200,000 today.

For too many, that wait never ends. That is a number which this government is trying to keep secret and it's why we are here today. How can we fix something if the architects are unwilling to face the reality of the current state of the system?

On 9 September, the Senate ordered the Minister for Aged Care and Seniors to produce one thing: the number of older Australians who, like John, died waiting for a Support at Home care package. But the minister refused, saying that that search was too expansive. The Minister representing the Minister for Aged Care and Seniors, Senator McAllister, has just said that, basically, it's too much trouble to actually find out how many people have died while on the waiting list.

As I said, the minister has staff who are paid to do the work. Older Australians, on the other hand, rely on their families to overcome the roadblocks and hurdles this government has placed between them and the care they need. That is why the Senate ordered the Minister representing the Minister for Aged Care and Seniors to come into this chamber today and to explain that failure.

An explanation is not compliance. It's an admission that the government is shamelessly hiding from Australian families how many of their loved ones died waiting for the care this government itself had assessed that they needed. This explanation should not be taken as good enough, and the order should be complied with in full without delay.

It has previously been complied with much, much earlier than the middle of September. The only conclusion that anybody listening could reach on the failure of this minister to provide that number is that he doesn't want Australians to know how many people have died waiting for the care they were assessed as needing by this government.