Second Reading Speech
Ms WELLS (Lilley - Minister for Aged Care and Minister for Sport)I move:
That this bill be now read a second time.
The Aged Care (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2024 makes transitional and consequential changes to support the commencement of the Aged Care Bill 2024.
It is an essential component in enabling us to move forward with once-in-a-generation reform of our aged-care system and services.
The bill operates so that the references to the 1997 Acts and the Commission Act in other Commonwealth legislation are read as references to the Aged Care Bill 2024.
Schedule 1 makes consequential changes to the Crimes Act 1914 and the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 to facilitate aged-care worker screening checks and align aged-care worker screening with NDIS worker screening.
It also makes changes to the Freedom of Information Act 1982 to give effect to royal commission recommendation 88 by removing aged-care-specific FOI exemptions.
Schedule 2 of the bill consists of 10 parts, six of which correspond directly to chapters of the Aged Care Bill. This schedule details the transitional provisions which will ensure the smooth transition of individuals, providers, workers and governance arrangements when the new Aged Care Act commences.
During the exposure draft consultations and through the Community Affairs inquiry we heard very strongly that everyone needs time and support to prepare for the new act.
Within the changes to the aged-care system which the new act will bring, we recognise that everyone will need support to understand what it means for them, what they will need to do and when they will need to do it.
We will support older people, providers and workers to prepare for the changes arising from the new act by providing clarity on what is new, what is changing and what is staying the same.
We are assembling an aged-care transition taskforce to help providers manage implementation challenges, including ICT, education and compliance. Eligible providers will also be able to apply for up to $10,000 to assist with the costs of any IT changes needed to prepare for 1 July.
The bill includes provisions that will ensure that individuals can move as seamlessly as possible from the 1997 act, the Commonwealth Home Support Program and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care Program to the new act.
This bill also includes provisions which will deem approved providers to be registered providers under the new act. This will smooth the transition process for providers and ensure that they can continue to provide services to older people, uninterrupted.
The bill also includes technical provisions to clarify how provider obligations, governance arrangements, regulatory powers, information management and decision reviews will transition to the new act.
The bill also provides a crucial rule-making power to allow transition to be managed in a careful and considered way. The scale of this reform means we need to be able to act quickly during transition to address challenges and unforeseen impacts.
Finally, this bill repeals the Aged Care Act 1997, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission Act 2018 and the Aged Care (Transitional Provisions) Act 1997. From the commencement, it will make the Aged Care Act 2024 the Commonwealth's primary aged-care legislation and pave the way for the future of aged care.
The passage of the aged-care bill and its consequential provisions has the potential to provide a new and enduring foundation for the Australian aged-care system from 1 July 2025 and for years to come.
We owe it to older Australians who rely on aged care now to get this done. We owe it to the growing number of people who will rely on the system in the future.
We also owe it to the countless number of people I've heard about and spoken to whom this system let down: people like John, who died in pain in aged care in Toowoomba because his home mismanaged his medication; people like Val, who waited in hospital for weeks to get the support she needed before she could go home; and people like Cyril, who deserved to live and die in dignity.
Let's get this legislation passed for them and build a new and enduring foundation for aged care that puts the rights of older people first. I thank the House.
Debate adjourned.