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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 10 Hansard (Thursday, 26 August 2004) . . Page.. 4377 ..

have earlier discharge now, but we also know that acuteness is higher. We also know, as I said, that we have got these other factors—the pressures of the region, et cetera—and I wonder if maybe what we should be talking about is our capacity to fund the beds that we need. Maybe this is about the federal government and their capacity to support territories and states in actually how we provide beds as well as of course. I will go back to the point I started with—if we invested in prevention, that would be a key way that we could reduce the need for acute care in hospitals as well as accommodation for older people.

MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member’s time has expired.

MR CORNWELL (5.50): I join this debate to discuss the matter of aged care, and I am delighted that the Chief Minister made a ministerial statement a little earlier on the matter, because it enables me to address some comments in there.

There is no doubt that this government is sensitive on the issue of aged care, as well they should be. It is interesting—and I believe more than a coincidence—that, in the dying days of this the Fifth Assembly, not even days but hours of this Fifth Assembly, they finally bring out a statement on aged care, presumably to avoid any close scrutiny or debate. I do not claim to be able to give it close scrutiny but I will certainly be happy to debate some of it.

Earlier today, during question time, I asked a question of the Chief Minister about various commitments that had been made by this government to the provision of land all over Canberra for aged care accommodation.

MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: Excuse me, Mr Cornwell, if I could just draw your attention to relevance. The MPI is about the management of the health portfolio. I just give you a gentle reminder.

MR CORNWELL: Indeed, thank you. It is the management of the aged care aspect of the health portfolio that I am addressing, sir. I did not receive a satisfactory explanation as to when the beds for aged care would come on line in all of these aged care facilities that have been promised but not built. This has a very marked effect upon hospital bed numbers because we have got people stuck in them who should not really be there at all; they should be in nursing home accommodation or aged care facilities. This impacts very much and very directly on the main health portfolio.

I was interested to hear a criticism by the Chief Minister that in our time in government only some 21 beds were allocated for aged care facilities. I think a point that has been missed in this is that the real crisis in aged care had not developed in that time. It was something that was growing in that period, certainly, and it came to pass, however, in the period of this government.

The minister, granted, indicated that they were addressing the problem by providing transitional care beds, which will move people out of the hospitals, by facilitating the provision of supportive housing to ensure that community facilities can be used and by considering loans and recurrent funding for aged person’s accommodation. These are good initiatives, and I do not have any problem about it.

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