QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Mr RAE (Hawke—Minister for Aged Care and Seniors) (15:07): I thank the member for Mayo for her question. As I have done previously, I acknowledge that she engages very constructively around all matters relating to aged care, both in her community and nationally; and plays a role, as she did this morning, with the friendship group that convened this morning. This government said it would rebuild aged care, and that work is very much well underway.

Right across the country, we're getting beds built. We're getting older people the care they need at home and we're backing the workforce that makes all of that possible. The member's question relates to the AN-ACC funding arrangements for residential aged-care providers.

Government sets residential aged-care funding based on the advice from the Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority, IHACPA. IHACPA provides expert advice to me and Minister Butler based on extensive modelling and sectorwide surveys with a view to working out the efficient cost of delivering care. Because the IHACPA process is about identifying current costs, not about indexing existing funding, it's not meaningful to compare the year-on-year increase with wider economic and wage trends, such as the question does.

Each year, IHACPA looks at a refreshed set of data based on sector-reported costs and its own costing studies. For now, the hoteling supplement will remain at its current rate of $22.15 per resident per day, and this reflects advice to government that there is an average surplus of 18c per resident per day in everyday living funding across all homes. The government has asked the Independent Hospital and Aged Care Pricing Authority to review this hoteling supplement to ensure that it supports the delivery of high-quality care that meets future demand.

This is, of course, in addition to the AN-ACC funding that the member's question refers to. There is more work to do to ensure that we can meet that historical demand for aged care right across the aged-care system, but we are starting to see generational reforms translate into better care on the ground. This Labor government will keep listening to older Australians and will keep working with the sector to make sure that every older Australian can access safe, dignified and high-quality aged-care services.