When Sam Rae, the minister for aged care, strides to the dispatch box, he always buttons his jacket like a man with something important to say.
He buttoned his jacket when asked in question time on Monday about a 90-year-old man with Parkinson’s who has been told he will have to wait up to 12 months for a government care package to help him stay at home.
Sam Rae, a man in a hurry, buttons his jacket on the way to the dispatch box this week.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
And he buttoned his jacket when Opposition Leader Sussan Ley crowed on Wednesday that the Coalition had forced the government to deliver 20,000 home care packages two months earlier than planned.
But Rae had nothing to say on her key claim: that he had been sidelined when his government decided to bargain with the Coalition this week, after facing the reality that the crossbench, Greens and opposition were prepared to unite to deliver it a loss in the Senate.
Just how far Rae had been pushed out of the negotiations between his boss, Mark Butler, and opposition counterpart, Anne Ruston, is not clear. But for a man with no shortage of self-confidence, Rae hasn’t been eager to claim personal credit.
“This is a fantastic outcome for older Australians and their families who have the certainty that more care is on the way,” Rae said in answer to Ley, smiling like a man who knows he is eating humble pie.
It was a bipartisan moment, Rae said, taking another mouthful. Ruston deserved thanks, he said, munching on a final slice.
But Rae, or whoever dictated his answer, allowed one indulgence. There had been “remarkably considerable debate on this topic”, he said.
The newish minister has been relentlessly targeted in question time by the Liberals, Nationals and crossbench over the aged care reforms. On Monday alone, Rae faced nine hostile questions, many more than the prime minister or Butler.
