00:00The Government had initially promised to roll out an additional 83,000 home care packages
00:08by mid this year, along with a suite of other reforms to the aged care sector. Now, home
00:13care packages provide services for older Australians so that they can remain living at home and
00:18don't have to transfer into residential aged care facilities. Now, the Government delayed
00:23those reforms from July to November this year. And the aged care minister, Sam Ray, has been
00:30grilled about this in question time yesterday and again today. He argued that those delays
00:37were made in consultation with the sector, arguing that providers weren't ready to take
00:43on the changes from mid this year. But this has faced backlash from an unlikely grouping
00:53in the Senate, the Coalition, Independents and the Greens coming together to push back
00:59on this legislation that the Government's been trying to pass this week. It wants the
01:05Government to immediately release 20,000 home care packages, arguing that those waiting for
01:14those packages, that they have waited too long and that many people are dying while they're
01:20waiting on the list to get a home care package. And this has led to a game of chicken between
01:25the Government and the Coalition and Independents and the Greens. The Government risks not being
01:31able to roll out those changes at the start of November if it can't pass the legislation
01:36this week. But the Coalition has said that it won't block the changes eventually by the end
01:42of the week if those amendments aren't able to be passed. Deputy Leader of the Opposition
01:47in the Senate, Ann Rustin, called on the Government to accept this proposal.
01:52ANN RUSTIN, The Government has a choice when it goes down to the House. They can either look
01:57older Australians in the face and say, despite the fact we can, and the sector has told us they can,
02:03the department has told us that they can. Despite that, we're not going to accept the Senate's
02:10decision that these packages should be released.
02:13And Sean, on to another subject. What's happening with freedom of information laws?
02:18Well, the Government's announced today that it's proposing to charge for freedom of
02:22information requests. Now, those requests can be made by public citizens, can be made by journalists
02:28and any one of government agencies or government departments for information that's not otherwise
02:33publicly accessible. Now, the Government's arguing that these agencies and departments are receiving
02:39a large number of frivolous or automated freedom of information requests, and that's
02:44wasting a lot of resources and time of public servants. So, it's proposing to charge for freedom
02:50of information requests. The Opposition has criticised the Government for this, saying that this is
02:55effectively a truth tax, and that the Government is avoiding transparency and accountability.
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