CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY EMBARGOED UNT IL 2. 30 Pm.
PRIME MINISTER
OPENING ADDRESS BY THE PRIME 1MINISTER
LUMEAH DAY CARE CENTRE MELBOURNE 26 MAY 1985
Mr Moderator, Ladies and Gentlemen.
I welcome the opportunity of joining you today at
Lumeah. This day is the culmination of ten years dedication and
commitment on the part of many people. Outstanding
among them has been Virginia Davey previously the
welfare officer at Lumeah; a woman of tireless energy,
she is being especially honoured today.
Back in 1975 a number of senior citizens from the
Preston area were invited to share in activities at
Lumeah. The number of non-resident participants grew
until, by 1983, 56 people were using the Day Care
Centre, in addition to those resident at Lumeah.
That success zorely strained the old facilities and made
necessary the new complex we see today. It is a credit
to all involved.
I am pleased the Government has been able to provide
financial assistance of some $ 331,000; we know that this
money will be put to good use.
The challenge of meeting the growing and changing needs
of the aged is one of the most important with which the
Government has to reckon.
By next Century the aged will represent a larger, and a
growing, proportion of Australia's total population.
We as a Government aim to ensure that their needs the
needs of the aged are met in-a way which is affordable
by the aged themselves and by the rest of the community.
We are dedicated to providing a range of services for
the aged which is equitable, comprehensive, balanced and
cost effective.
We also wish to ensure that every aged person is able to
select, with his or her relatives, the combination of
services most appropriate to his or her medical, social
and emotional needs.
One step the Government has taken to this end has been
to place all programs for the aged in one Department.
The creation of the new Department of Community Services
highlights the importance the Commonwealth places on the
services area and its recognition of the need to plan
and co-ordinate effective action for the aged.
The setting up of the Office of Aged Care within the
Department of Community Services will give particular
focus to the development and implementation of the-
Government's policies on aged care.
Overall expenditure for the new Department in 1984/ 85 is
likely to be over $ 1600 million. of that total, over
$ 1200 million will be expended on services for the aged.
Lumeah and its various facilities will receive
assistance of over $ 900,000 out of this 1984/ 85
alloca,. tion.
Even with that" Ohigh level of Government expenditure, the
Federal Labor Government considers~ there is plenty of
room to improve services fo'r the aged.
The aged are not a uniform group; they have a wide range
of needs and requirements.
To date the Commonwealth's involvement in care of the
aged has been virtually limited to the provision of
nursing home accommodation. Besides being very costly,
such accommodation is not necessarily the most important
requirement for care of the aged.
An Australian Bureau of Statistics Survey in 1980 showed
that of the people aged 65 years and over who were
moderately or severely handicapped, nearly threequarters
live in the community compared with only onequarter
in institutions. Other available data,
including the views of older people themselves, also
indicates that old'er people need and want more support
services in the community at large.
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is why the introduction of
the Federal Government's Home and Community Care Program
is such an important initiative.
Through this Program, and in co-operation with the
States and voluntary, Church, and community agencies, we
are working towards a situation where there will be a
comprehensive range of integrated home care and
community based services. Although the final parameters
of the Program have not yet been agreed with the States,
I have already announced that the Commonwealth will be
contributing $ 300 million over the next three years for
this integrated program.
This is not to say that we want to stop supporting
nursing home care; it fulfils a vital service for the
frail aged. The facilities here at Lumeah are an
excellent example of what is best in this regard. Nor
do we want. to penalize those who are residents of
nursing homes. But, as a Government, we are anxious to
establish a more rational and less costly way of
assisting nursing home patients.
It may come as a surprise to many of you to learn that
although the_-Commonwealth is paying $ 48.50 per day in
nursing home benefits for each bed in a participating
nursing home ih Victoria, it is paying only $ 27.80 per
day in Tasmania. The other State's are in between these
extremes. I think most people would regard it as ' a duty of their
Government to do something to rationalize these nursing
home benefits.
Nursing home benefits are directly related to the cost
of operation. The variation in these costs is due to a
variety of factors, including the different staffing
requirements. which are determined by State Governments.
However, the Commonwealth Government and the tax payer
foot the bill.
Because the community can no longer afford a widening of
this discrepancy between participating nursing home
costs, the Treasurer announced on 15 May that there
would be a freezing of nursing home benefits in Victoria
and South Australia.
This decision is an important part of the Federal
Government's efforts to restrain public expenditure in
pursuit of its objectives of maintaining strong growth
and increased employment. It is also an important step
in redirecting priorities towards developing better care
services for the overwhelming number of the aged who
can, and who want to, live in their own homes.
The residents at Lumeah, a deficit funded nursing home,
will not be directly affected by this recent decision to
. J freeze the level of nursing home benefits in Victoria.
You will only be marginally affected by the decision to
restore the required nursing home patient contribution
to the 87.5 per cent it was until last October.
in conclusion I should like to acknowledge the untiring
efforts of all those organisations throughout Australia
without whose selfless work no Government's aged welfare
program would be able to operate.
In particular, today, I want to congratulate the Uniting
Church on its efforts in this regard
1' Your nursing home, hostel, and day care centre are
a very important part of the total caring network.
I now have great pleasure in declaring the Virginia
Davey Day Care and Para-Medical Wing open.