Member for Maranoa Bruce Scott has warned that the South Burnett – like many other parts of Australia – is facing a major demographic challenge.
Mr Scott, speaking in Federal Parliament to the Aged Care (Living Longer Living Better) Bill 2013, said the median age of Australians was growing all the time
“In fact, in my electorate and in many rural communities it is rapidly increasing, more so than in many of our cities and larger regional centres,” he said.
Mr Scott said the median age across his electorate was 38.2 years, which was 1.2 years above the national average.
However, in the South Burnett the median family age was 42 years, fiver years older than the national average.
“Australians are living longer, and that is the challenge,” Mr Scott said.
He said the Federal Government’s Aged Care Bill did not resolve many of the outstanding viability issues for aged care providers.
“At this most critical time, as a result of the unprecedented demographic change occurring in Australia, investment in the aged-care sector is imperative,” Mr Scott said.
He said an opportunity had been lost to address some of the key concerns of the charitable organisations that provide the services and run very successful aged-care facilities.
“The government just has not listened to the message that is coming from our aged-care sector,” he said.
