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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-02-29 Daily Xml
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TRADING HOURS

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (14:54): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before directing a question to the Minister for Industrial Relations on the subject of trading hours.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Interestingly, in the last 48 hours it has not been the minister prosecuting the public case for the change in legislation—even though the minister in this chamber is supposedly the minister responsible for the changes—it has been the Premier. In a vigorous debate on a number of radio stations, in particular, radio station FIVEaa yesterday, the Premier was challenged by Mr Paul Carberry, representing the Aged Care Association, in relation to the impact of the proposed legislative package on aged-care homes in South Australia in particular.

Mr Carberry indicated that the cost for aged-care homes in South Australia of the government's changes would be an extra $475,000 per year, and he asked the simple question of the Premier (who, as I have said, has taken over the running of the legislation from the minister) in relation to how their industry could afford that and what did the government propose to do about it. I think any fair analysis or examination of the Premier's response would be that he refused to provide an answer to Mr Carberry in relation to his question on the Aged Care Association.

Given that the minister has been clearly sidelined in terms of the public debate on this, I ask him the question: does the government intend to provide any assistance to aged-care homes in South Australia as a result of the increased costs from the government's proposed package and, if not, does the minister accept that the costs for residents within those homes will have to be increased as a result of the government's proposed package?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (14:56): With regard to the Premier taking the lead on this whole issue, it is only fitting that, because this policy direction is central to our strategic plan with regard to making this city a vibrant city, on such a major historical reform the Premier should take the lead. I personally do not have any hassles about that. I have spoken to the Premier about that, and we agreed that that was the appropriate course of action. I will say once again that this policy is integral to the vision for the City of Adelaide and it is very relevant and probably very appropriate that the Premier lead it.

With regard to aged-care homes, there is a review at the moment federally regarding their funding. I have no doubt that all aspects of funding arrangements will be taken into consideration. As we all know, they are funded federally, and there is currently a review underway. I have spoken to the representative from aged-care homes, and our position is that any cost increase will have to be taken into consideration with regard to the review.

I will say that, with any major historical policy implementation, there is always a cost somewhere. The governments will have a $5 million cost, and I have no doubt that there will be a cost in a number of places, but we believe the cost will be minimal and it will be taken into account when the federal review has taken place.

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