00:00The new Act is very new, 1st of November coming in, so it's going to take a time to
00:09bear down and we know older people are finding all that change really hard and so that's important
00:17that we work through that with the Department and provide advice to the Minister about anything that
00:23we think can be improved. The thing we're hearing about most is the waits for assessments, the delays
00:33in finding providers. There's been a huge spike in applications. There's also a real concern about
00:43the prices that providers are charging and what people will get for those prices.
00:51The ongoing concern that we've heard prior to the Act coming in place as well is people just finding
01:00it hard to navigate MyAidCare, to get into the system, to find out what they're eligible for,
01:09what to do if they don't get the service they want, if they can't afford it, that sort of navigation
01:15process. We provide written advice to the Minister after every meeting. He came to our first meeting
01:24and he's coming to our next meeting as well. So he hears from us around the table and provides his
01:34response to some of the things that we're saying. He's very receptive to what we're saying, very
01:42interested in what we're hearing and the advice that we can provide. When you sit in government, you see a
01:51problem, you develop a strategy to deal with that, you develop a policy, you put it out. But what you
02:02miss
02:02is what impact that has on people on the ground. So it's just so important to hear how people are
02:15living
02:15their lives and what they need to help them have a better life is what the public service is all
02:23about.
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