RYK GODDARD, ABC RADIO HOBART: Right now though, Anika Wells is Labor Minister for Aged Care and was in town with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at an election style rally last night where- yesterday, where this policy was announced, put $8.5 million [sic] into Medicare. Minister, good morning.
ANIKA WELLS, MINISTER FOR AGED CARE AND MINISTER FOR SPORT: Good morning. Ryk. How are you?
GODDARD: Very well, thank you. Will this pledge be implemented immediately, as is being called for by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton?
WELLS: It's booked to come in in November because we still have good governance processes that we work methodically through. And that's as fast as we can get the reforms in. You know, not to start off on an unpleasant note, but the umbrage of someone who caused these problems in the first place now rushing us to try and fix his mess more quickly, the irony is not lost on me.
GODDARD: The AMA doctors in general have been calling for a complete overhaul of Medicare. Is this putting more money into a broken system?
WELLS: Well, I think as an Aged Care Minister, obviously the pen is never down in social policy. There's always more things we can be doing in health policy. Whenever we fix one element, there's always calls for us to fix other elements. I find that in aged care as well. So this is, you know, in a cost of living crisis, something that we hear over and over again. I was just doorknocking in my electorate, which is the northern suburbs of Brisbane, on the weekend. When budgets are really tight, when household budgets are really tight, people need to be able to rely on good quality public services, not making a decision about whether they can afford to send their kids to the doctor this week when they've got a problem. So this is addressing the cost of living and the cost of individuals going to the doctors when they need health support.
GODDARD: We're hearing on our news that it's a voluntary system, so you won't be forcing doctors or mandating doctors to pass their savings on to people. What's to say that practices particularly some of those large ones, don't just take those as savings and continue to pass on costs to patients?
WELLS: Well, the PBS system is rigorous and transparent and that, you know, those elements aren't changing. What I would say is that the need to incentivise is recognised. And there's a 12.5 per cent uplift for any GP clinic that moves to a fully bulk billing practise. So the incentives are there for doctors to make those changes.
GODDARD: Quarter past seven. Anika Wells is Labor Minister for Aged Care, getting out behind this announcement by the Prime Minister in Launceston yesterday to put $8.5 billion into Medicare. Chris at Sandy Bay asks a question that'll be on heaps of our listeners minds. And we were talking about this last week on Breakfast. People are in hospital on a bed waiting to get into residential care, there's not enough rooms, and the waiting list for home care packages has blown out. He says under the coalition, it was one month. Now it's more than 12 months to get a package. We've heard sometimes 18 months. So will this have any impact on that?
WELLS: Well, bed shortages in Tasmania is absolutely an issue that we're dealing with in aged care, where I'm always talking to department about how we can better manage that process. In Tasmania, it is a hotspot. We did recently invest $41 million into Tasmanian aged care homes through our capital grants. That's designed to both upgrade the existing homes and beds that are there because many are- you know, that old 1950s cinder block, no ensuite, no veranda, no place to sit and 40 new aged care beds. And that's alongside your- if your- is it Sandy? If you knew the different months in waitlists, he’s obviously a very switched on and dedicated listener, he would be aware that we're investing $5.6 billion in the largest ever improvements to aged care in 30 years, and that is designed to bring the waitlist down.
GODDARD: And that's Chris from Sandy Bay with that one. But he is very switched on ...
WELLS: [Talks over] Chris in Sandy Bay, sorry. [Laughs]
GODDARD: ... don't you worry about that. Yep. Jill asks, are these policies being announced now as pork barrelling? You've been in power for a wee while now.
WELLS: This is the end of our first term. And I- first of all, the vast majority of this money was provisioned for in the mid-year economic update and then the remainder we're working through, which is why we can't get through to November, that's all, I think very considered and transparent. We're always transparent about our costs. And Jim Chalmers was outlining yesterday how he will continue to do that. We are fixing- and it brings me no joy to say this. We are fixing Peter Dutton's mess. Every- like the AMA, all sort of health practitioners will point to the fact that when he made a decision to freeze the bulk billing rates, that meant that doctors across the country had to end bulk billing or cut bulk billing for their practices for the viability of their practises. So that's why the bulk billing rates have been plummeting ever since. And we are now taking drastic action to address that. But that is a good thing because people want more bulk billing practices. That's what I hear in suburbs and regions.
GODDARD: Anika Wells, Labor Minister for Aged Care and Sport. Gabby in Hobart says what sort of money are you adding to aged care to address access to allied health, which was, she says, one of the recommendations in the aged care standards?
WELLS: In the recommendations of the Royal Commission? Yes, it was one of the 148 recommendations in the Royal Commission. We are putting together a $5.6 billion investment. It is the largest improvement in aged care in 30 years. The residential aged care side of things, because there's two sides, there's- whether you go into residential aged care or whether you stay at home. We have put in more transparency measures and done things like boosted the care minutes. So people are now getting an extra 4.5 million minutes of care every single day because of the extra funding that the Albanese Government has put in to aged care in our three years, we had to pull it out of crisis because, like she points to, the Royal Commission said the entire sector could be denoted by the one word, neglect. So it's a bit like where you started with your first question. There's always more we can do in social policy. There's- you know, infinite money we could spend in health policy to make it the best in the world. And whenever we put a measure in some place, there's always calls to put in measures in other places. But we really try to work as methodically as we can and address the biggest issues.
GODDARD: Minister, when's the election?
WELLS: My children would love to know because, you know, I'm currently speaking to you from Melbourne. We're roaring around the country, and it sort of puts everybody in a period of uncertainty, I grant you that. But we know it has to be before 17 May. And I say the Serenity Prayer every day.
GODDARD: Good to talk to you this morning. Anika Wells, Labor Minister for Aged Care and Sport.