Senator Chris Evans asked the Minister representing the Minister for Aged Care, upon notice, on 16 March 1999:

(1) Can a breakdown be provided of the number of aged care places in each rural and remote planning region, by the types: (a) community aged care packages; (b) low-care; and (c) high-care.

(2) What is the size of each rural and remote planning region.

(3) In the process of allocating residential aged care places within regions, is the distribution of places within the region taken into account.

(4) What provisions of the Aged Care Act and its principles require the even distribution of residential aged care places within a region to be taken into account when allocating additional places.

(5) Is the transfer of residential aged care places within a region regulated by the department to ensure that places are evenly distributed within that region.

Senator Herron (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs) —The Minister for Aged Care has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

(1) AGED CARE PLACES IN PLANNING REGIONS THAT ARE ENTIRELY OR MOSTLY MADE UP OF RURAL AND REMOTE AREAS (February 1999)

NOTE: The majority of the Statistical Local Areas (SLAs) in the listed regions are classified as "Rural" or "Remote". In some cases, a listed region also includes one or more SLAs classified as "Other Metropolitan".

(2) The size of each rural and remote aged care planning region varies.

(3) Section 12-4 of the Aged Care Act 1997 (the Act) states that the Secretary may distribute the places available for allocation in a State or Territory in a financial year among the regions within the State or Territory.

Under Section 12-7 of the Act, the Secretary may appoint Aged Care Planning Advisory Committees (ACPACs) and may request advice from an ACPAC about the distribution of places among regions under Section 12-4.

Section 4.15(2)(c)&(d) of the Allocation Principles states that "In advising the Secretary, the committee must take . . . into account: . . . demographic and other statistical data on the balance of care in each region . . . (and) relevant information obtained by the committee from local and regional sources".

(4) See (3)

(5) All transfers of places are regulated.