00:00It's not Graham Turner's usual style to complain, but after a year waiting for extra government
00:09funded support to help him live at home, he's had enough.
00:12I tend to always think the best, but it really is very disappointing.
00:20It's not great being somewhat helpless and having to be reliant on others.
00:25The 78 year old has been approved for the highest level of at home care, but has been stuck
00:30on a lower level package because of a ballooning backlog.
00:3487,000 older people are still waiting for their approved home care package and more than 120,000
00:42are in the queue to be assessed for a home care package.
00:45That's 120,000 people on the waiting list to get onto the wait list.
00:51It's for assistance with everything from bathing to cleaning, allowing people to stay at home
00:56longer.
00:57The pressure piling on in question time.
01:00How many elderly Australians have died waiting for a home care package?
01:05The current wait times for aged care assessments are longer than they should be and we're working
01:09hard to address this in every corner of Australia.
01:12Somebody who's 97 doesn't have the luxury of time.
01:15Frustrated it's not fast enough, the coalition, Greens and independent David Pocock are rather
01:21unusually teaming up to take on the government demanding at least 20,000 packages immediately
01:28after they were delayed alongside the broader aged care reforms.
01:32The sector wasn't ready for the sweeping changes, but says it is ready to handle more home care supports.
01:38This is essentially an attempt to force the government's hand now because either way more packages are
01:45coming. 83,000 will start rolling out in November. Still not enough to cover the growing wait list.
01:55And the longer people like Graham wait, the higher the risk of decline.
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