Question to the Minister for Aged Care - delay of Home-care package rollouts

Mr HAWKE (Mitchell—Manager of Opposition Business) (14:45): My question is to the Minister for Aged Care. I refer the minister to his previous answers. The minister has justified the government's decision to delay home-care package rollouts from 1 July to 1 November this year by saying, 'The legislative framework didn't allow for that start date.' If the government knew its own legislation didn't allow for a 1 July start date this year, why did the Labor government mislead Australians and promise to deliver 83,000 new home-care packages in November last year for 1 July this year on a timeline that it knew was impossible?

Mr RAE (Hawke—Minister for Aged Care and Seniors) (14:46): I thank the member for his question. What I said was that the implementation of the new act provided the legislative framework for the Support at Home program. The implementation of the new act was scheduled for 1 July. On the basis of feedback from older people all across our country and from the sector themselves, we made the decision to briefly defer the implementation of the new act to 1 November. From 1 November, we will be introducing an additional 83,000 packages in the first 12 months of Support at Home, which will be the growth component of the more than 300,000 Australians who are currently receiving care under our Home Care Packages Program.