Senator CHRIS EVANS —My question is directed to Senator Herron as the Minister representing the Minister for Aged Care. Can the minister explain why, despite the Prime Minister's assurances, nursing home residents who were in a nursing home before 1 October 1997 are being required to pay the government's accommodation charge when they are forced to transfer into a new nursing home? I have a letter from an aged care provider to a nursing home resident that includes a bill of $1,464 for `accrued accommodation charges' after the resident was transferred to a new home following the closure of the facility they had occupied prior to October 1997. Why are pensioners being forced to pay accommodation charges when the Prime Minister made it very clear that it would apply only to new residents?

Senator HERRON (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs) —Nursing home charges are a responsibility of the people who run the nursing homes and are not a Commonwealth responsibility. So it is the responsibility of the individuals who are occupying that accommodation to pay the charges.

Opposition senators interjecting—

The PRESIDENT —Order! There is an appropriate time to debate answers to questions, and this is not it.

Senator CHRIS EVANS —Madam President, I have a supplementary question. For the minister's information, the government is responsible for imposing accommodation charges and, as Minister representing the Minister for Aged Care, he is responsible. It is also the case that Mr Warwick Smith, in a letter dated 28 September 1998, committed your government to removing charges applying on those residents. When are you going to implement that decision; and why are people being faced with huge bills when you assured them that if they occupied a nursing home prior to the increase in accommodation charges they would not be hit in this way?

Senator HERRON (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs) —Where a person alleges that there is a hardship, under the Aged Care Act there is an opportunity for them to make a hardship application to have their care fees reduced or to have accommodation bonds or charges waived on the grounds of financial hardship. So if an individual does claim that, there is an avenue for that to be addressed.