E&OE TRANSCRIPT
SUBJECTS: Seniors forums, Aged care reforms
PAUL CULLIVER, HOST: First though, let's find out what happened in Wallsend today. A seniors forum at the Wallsend Pioneers Memorial Hall. Kate Thwaites, Assistant Minister for Ageing, Social Security and Women, was there and joins you on the line today. Assistant Minister, good afternoon to you.
KATE THWAITES, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SECURITY, AGEING AND WOMEN: Good afternoon. Thanks for chatting with me this afternoon.
HOST: Thanks for visiting Newcastle. What was this forum all about?
THWAITES: This was a chance, together with my colleague Sharon Claydon the excellent Member for Newcastle, to talk to older Australians here in Newcastle about their experience of ageing, how we best support them and what support they need into the future. And Paul, it was a really great discussion. I personally know that Newcastle is a great place to age. My parents-in-law live here, so I've got first-hand experience of that. It was really good to be able to talk with older people directly today about how we recognise that older people are at the centre of so many of our communities. They're the people doing the volunteering, keeping the sports clubs running, they're doing grandparent care, they've got decades of work and contribution behind them. And as a Government and as a community, we really want to support them.
HOST: Just to sort of think off the top of the head, the number of ways in which the federal government and your life as a senior might interact. There's many. We talk about aged care, we talk about support in the home, we talk about the way that health is funded, your superannuation, your pension, so many different things. What were the issues that were being raised today in Wallsend?
THWAITES: You're right. There are so many areas where we do support older Australians. I think one of the biggest things being raised with me at the moment, Paul, for older Australians, just like most of Australia, is the impact of cost of living. And certainly, as a government, we are really focused on supporting older Australians with cost-of-living pressures. And that's why we have given every household a $300 rebate on their electricity bill.
But for older Australians, it's also why we've put a real focus on making health care cheaper and access to medicines cheaper. I know for a lot of older Australians, often they're taking regular medication, perhaps a few different medications. So, our changes for 60-day scripts are for cheaper PBS medicines and putting in place some lower thresholds for PBS and Medicare. Safety nets are really important. They're both for pensioners but also for older Australians more broadly. And one piece that I think when I've been having this discussion here in Newcastle and also right around the country that I've been keen to emphasise with older Australians because they're not always aware of it, is that one of the things we've done since we came into government is to increase the income limit for the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card.
Now, this is a card you can access if you are a senior, but you're not on the pension and it gives you all those associated health benefits and the income limit now for that is $99,025 for singles and $158,440 for couples. Since we brought those changes in 30,000 additional people around the country have gained access to that card. So, if there's people listening who didn't know that who are interested, please get in touch with Services Australia because it's really worth knowing about that in terms of access to healthcare and the cost of healthcare there.
HOST: I fully understand you'd want to talk through the various measures that the Labor Government have enacted to try to help the lives of people that are seniors in Australia. What are the issues that were being raised today or problems or just sort of thought bubbles that were coming up. People saying hey, we still need help in this area, or we still want some greater focus on this from the federal government.
THWAITES: Healthcare is a big one. Other areas that come up at the moment are aged care and how we make sure that people are able to access both support at home before they need to get into aged care, and then that aged care is appropriate for them when they get there. Again, this is something as a Government, we have put such a focus on since we came into office, as you'd be aware, and your listeners would be aware, we did have the Aged Care Royal Commission which really pointed out to all of us that aged care in this country wasn't meeting the standards that it should. And as a result of that, we've already brought in some changes, like having a requirement that there's a nurse on site 24 hours, like putting in place more time for carers to care for people and increasing the wages of aged care workers.
Because what people talk to me a lot about is workforce and the fact that they're not finding people who are able to deliver care in the home or in aged care. So, we've increased the wages to try and deal with some of those workforce issues. But we're also putting reforms through the Parliament just at the moment that actually go to putting the rights of older people in aged care at the heart of the sector. Really flipping the equation where it's not what's happened in the past for a lot of older people and for their families, because it’s really concerning for families when they approach aged care with a sense of trepidation, without feeling confident that they are going to be respected and get the care they need.
And we're really trying to flip that with legislation that we're putting into the Parliament at the moment. So I've been having a lot of discussions about that as well.
HOST: To talk to the Aged Care Act and the reforms that the Government is working through at the moment. Obviously, a big part of that is the way in which it is paid for into the future. If left untouched, we'd imagine that we would see a ballooning size of the budget when it comes to funding aged care. But the idea of tinkering with that so new entrants into the aged care system may pay more depending on their situation. And we'll put the caveat that the family home won't be affected there, as we know, is that generally receiving good feedback? Are people sort of comfortable with the idea that if they have a little bit more when they retire than they might contribute more?
THWAITES: What we've been hearing through this whole process is that what people want is a service where they do feel like their rights and dignity are respected, and they're getting the care that they want and that people are, if they have the capacity to pay, willing to pay more for that. And that is really where the reforms we are bringing in, that's the principles that they are based on.
So it really is based on people making a reasonable contribution according to their means. So the Government, under the changes we're making, will continue to pay for people's clinical care costs. People will make a contribution to some of the costs outside of that clinical care. And in fact, even under these changes for everyone, the Government continues to pay for the majority of aged care costs. But yet we're looking at how do we make the system sustainable into the future and make sure we're meeting people's needs.
HOST: Part of that package is the support at home approach to things, the idea that you can live older and stay in your own home and that the federal government can support you in doing that. Is there a popularity for that approach? I mean, the idea that you could live into your home potentially decades longer than you otherwise might have? Is that something that is going to be even potentially overwhelmed in terms of interest for older Australians?
THWAITES: I think part of this broader conversation and one of the best things for me when I'm having this conversation, as the Assistant Minister for Ageing, is that as Australians, we are living longer and there are more of us living longer. And actually, we are much healthier in our old age. So you're absolutely right that there are more older Australians who do want to stay in their own home, and that is a good outcome for them and in general for our communities and for the government.
So we do want to support people to stay in their own homes for as long as they want to. And some of the changes that we are making here is from next year, we will be introducing a new package called Support at Home. So that's a $4.3 billion program, and it's a program that will bring together the existing Home Care packages and Short-Term Restorative Care packages that we have in place. And the idea behind that is that we will reduce the wait times that people are currently facing for that in home care, and we'll also do a better job at matching support to the level at which people need it. I've been getting a lot of feedback on that as well. A lot of questions from people about how it will work, and a definite interest from older Australians about wanting to be supported to age in their own homes.
HOST: We more or less started this conversation about dignity and respect and proper treatment in aged care. Are you confident that this legislation has got those settings right, to make sure that there is that accountability now going forward?
THWAITES: That's absolutely the aim of the legislation. And at the heart of what we are trying to achieve here, the legislation is currently before the Parliament and in fact, as well as me being on a listening tour, the relevant Senate committee has been on a listening tour and holding an inquiry right around the country to make sure that we get these settings right. So we'll continue to fine tune it as it goes through the Parliament. But I'm confident that broadly, what we are trying to do are the changes that need to be made and that are setting up our aged care system to make sure it meets the needs of older Australians.
HOST: Kate Thwaites, Assistant Minister, I really appreciate your time today. Thanks for talking with me.