$39.8 Million Boost For Home and Community Care Across Queensland
The Australian Government and the Queensland Government have announced a $39.8 million boost for home and community care services throughout Queensland.
View by date:
Previous MinistersJoint Media Release
The Hon Mark Butler MP
Minister for Mental Health and Ageing
The Hon Curtis Pitt MP
Member for Mulgrave
15 February 2012The State and Commonwealth Governments have announced a $39.8 million boost for home and community care services throughout Queensland.
Queensland Disability Services Minister Curtis Pitt and Commonwealth Minister for Mental Health and Ageing Mark Butler said the extra funding will help more people to live independently in their own communities.
Mr Pitt and State Member for Ashgrove Kate Jones unveiled details of the extra funding at a visit to Blue Care Ashgrove today.
“This is great news for older Queenslanders and people with a disability,” Mr Pitt said.
“It means extra resources for hundreds of organisations delivering vital home and community care services throughout Queensland.
“From Cairns to Coolangatta, these organisations provide care and services which make a real difference to people’s quality of life, and we’re pleased to be providing this extra support.”
Ms Jones said that crucial HACC services are delivered to over 170,000 Queenslanders.
“These are important services which include domestic assistance, personal care, social support, home modifications, transport, and respite care,” she said.
“They’re the sorts of things that can be the difference between someone remaining in their own community among family and friends or living in a nursing home.
“I’ve seen first-hand the positive difference organisations like Blue Care Ashgrove make to individuals and to their families.
“And they can count on the Bligh Government to keep delivering better services and more care in communities throughout Queensland.”
Mr Butler said the $39.8 million funding boost is part of the joint State-Commonwealth Home and Community Care (HACC) program worth $509 million to Queensland in 2011-12.
“I’ve met with more than 4,000 older Australians since the release of the Productivity Commission’s Final Report, Caring for Older Australians and the overwhelming message I’m hearing is that they want to live out their later years in their own homes for as long as possible, if not for the rest of their lives,” Mr Butler said.
“Older Australians want to age with the dignity and respect to which they’ve been accustomed, and access to high quality care in their own home will allow them to continue to lead healthy, independent and productive lives.”
The HACC program was established in 1985 and has grown from around $150 million in 1985 to a $2 billion national program in 2011-12, supporting more than 800,000 Australians to remain in their homes.
For more information about Home and Community Care in Queensland, see the Queensland Government Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services website or phone the National Aged Care information line on 1800 200 422.
For more information, please contact Mr Butler’s Office on 02 6277 7280
Help with accessing large documents
When accessing large documents (over 500 KB in size), it is recommended that the following procedure be used:
- Click the link with the RIGHT mouse button
- Choose "Save Target As.../Save Link As..." depending on your browser
- Select an appropriate folder on a local drive to place the downloaded file
Attempting to open large documents within the browser window (by left-clicking)
may inhibit your ability to continue browsing while the document is
opening and/or lead to system problems.
Help with accessing PDF documents
To view PDF (Portable Document Format) documents, you will need to have a PDF reader installed on your computer. A number of PDF readers are available through the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) Web Guide website.