Senator KOVACIC (New South Wales) (17:33): Thank you, Senator Allman-Payne, for your words and for your work on the Senate Standing Committees on Community Affairs and on the aged-care inquiries, both in this parliamentary term and previously. I sit here shaking my head while listening to the speakers not just now but also during question time and taking note of answers. I don't know what more we need to say and do or how much more loudly we need to speak to make it very, very clear that there is a crisis in relation to this issue in this country. And, if the government would like to pretend that there is no problem here and that there is nothing to see here, then I would suggest that they have a reality check. I think one of the comments in the chamber earlier today was that there was a conflation about this problem. There is no conflation. This is real. There are some 200,000 elderly Australians waiting to either be assessed or be assigned a home-care package, and that is entirely unacceptable. The waiting time from end to end for some of these people is almost two years. They point and say—I think these were the words from Senator Ananda-Rajah; I wrote them down—'We had to rescue the sector.' Senator Polley: We did! Senator KOVACIC: So rescuing the sector means making people wait for two years? Senator Polley, I listened to you and you got to speak in silence. I think I deserve the same respect. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Marielle Smith ): Order! I remind senators that interjections are disorderly. Senator KOVACIC: More than 200,000 older Australians are waiting for access to these packages, and I don't find it funny. My elderly mother is one of them. She's 91 years old. In November 2023, we made the request for a review of her package. We followed up in March 2024. We were told it would be a six- to nine-month wait. She was approved on 10 December 2024 for an upgrade from a level 1 to a level 4 because she had gone from 1 to 2 to 3 to 4. Guess what? We're still waiting. I actually rang them this morning, just to find out where she was up to. The waiting time is no longer six to nine months. It is now nine to 12 months. She's not alone. She's one of 200,000 elderly Australians that are waiting for this government to do something. They dare to stand in this chamber and tell us that they're releasing packages every single week when we know that they have not released one single new package since 1 July. They should be deeply ashamed of that. These are people who have worked hard their whole lives. These are people who have raised families. These are people who have contributed to our society. And, now, when they are at a vulnerable time in their lives and they need our assistance and support, we are letting them down. Not only are they being let down; the reality of what they are living through is being obfuscated about by this government, pretending that it's not real. Well, it is absolutely real for every single one of those 200,000 people. Whilst I wasn't at the inquiry on Friday, I have heard those stories as well. Imagine being offered a place when your beloved husband, wife, mum, dad or other family member has just passed away or when it's far too late? That's not right. We should be ashamed of that. Every single one of us in this place is responsible and accountable for that, but the government has the carriage of it. As has been noted many times, the aged care bill was something that we worked with the government on. It was bipartisan and we should all be proud of that because we're trying to get the outcome. But we've can't hide from the fact that we are not delivering the packages. This government is not delivering the packages that Australians need. This is an aged-care crisis entirely created by the actions of this government. The Prime Minister promised security, dignity, quality and humanity being placed back into aged care. None of that has happened. People have had to wait longer and longer. That is an absolute shame. The Prime Minister has failed older Australians who need support so they can live with dignity in their own homes. (Time expired)