PM hits back over funding cut claims

---

Labor has accused Prime Minister Scott Morrison of leaving Australia’s elderly vulnerable to the deadly Covid-19 by making cuts to aged care. But Mr Morrison hit back in parliament on Wednesday saying that Labor’s attack was misleading. The Aged Care Royal Commission, established under Mr Morrison, handed down a scathing report last year that called for more funding.Opposition MPs attacked Mr Morrison during Question Time over aged care funding decisions he made in his previous role as treasurer.

Mr Albanese asked, why won’t the Prime Minister take full responsibility for the consequences of his $1.7 billion cut to aged care, which made older Australians worse off before the pandemic and left residents of aged care homes more vulnerable to the deadly COVID virus?

Mr Morrison condemned the criticism as misleading. Our government has continued to increase funding in aged care every year by more than $1 billion. You will see more in next year’s Budget, just as people have seen in every statement now going back several years increased places made available particularly in home aged care.

Mr Morrison went on to speak of his own family’s tough decision to put late father into residential aged care. Health Minister Greg Hunt told the House the investment in aged care had increased from $13 billion to $25.4 billion since the previous government. The number of home care packages would grow from 60,000 to 164,000 packages over the next four years. The elderly population has not doubled in that time but our funding has more than doubled.

The interim report from the Royal Commissioners in October last year confirmed aged care services in Australia were underfunded, mostly poorly managed all too often unsafe and seemingly uncaring. It called for significant extra funding for home care packages immediately and in future years while noting the system was unable to deal with the high level of demand. The government in November announced an extra 10,000 home care packages under a $537 million response to the aged care royal commission’s damning findings.