00:00:02
Speaker 1: Well, today's breaking it is actually a continuation of yesterday's breaking out because it involves something completely jaw dropping that I only found out this morning, namely that the Albanezi government had been secretly using something called an Integrated Assessment Tool the IAT, to assess people's applications to receive help. This is older people, frail people, sick people, elderly people who need help around the house. They've been using this thing called the IAT to assess their applications to receive help through the My Age Care scheme. Now, this AI style thing, it was rolled out, it wasn't trialed. It was rolled out without consultation and without any mechanism for trained professionals to override its decisions. So it might explain why, you know, well, have listeners are in this position. They might have serious conditions they've put in their forms and it's been A computer says, no scenario has happened with the Rheese family with Greg who's suffering from MND a prognosis of twelve months to live, and even though he got classified for the highest level of care, it was deemed by the computer to be non urgent. Well, mercifully, the lives all over this Senator around Rustin is the Shadow Minister for Health. I think she was in estimates when all this came to light and good morning, thanks for coming on this. Right quite scandalous, I think, well, it's.
00:01:27
Speaker 2: Really quite outrageous that we've got a situation where older Australian's care needs and the priority of those care needs are being decided by a computer and not by a human. And despite often the qualified assessors determining that the older person needs a much much higher level of care, they have got no capacity to overturn the decision of the computer. So you're quite right, the computer can say no. So what we're speaking to do today to say that can't happen anymore. The decision maker must be a person and not a machine.
00:01:56
Speaker 1: Is that just? Is that legislation at Senator? Would that just be for these specific cases or across all of government?
00:02:02
Speaker 2: No, well, it'll be specifically for the use of the independent Assessment Tool for assessing older Australians. But one of the things we're going to put in this legislation is anybody who's been assessed by this tool whilst it has been the machine making the decision. We are going to make sure that they have the opportunity to be reassessed. So anybody who's been assessed since the first of November will have the opportunity to be reassessed, because we know there are so many bad decisions.
00:02:28
Speaker 1: Out there, and there's about what nine hundred odd people said at Rustin who has lodged complaints about the assessment that they received.
00:02:36
Speaker 2: Yet, Yes, indeed, we've heard of nine hundred people who well we know that nine hundred people have put in a request for a review, but how many more people out there haven't chosen to put in an assessment because they're so distressed by the decision. And you know, you hear stories like John Wilson, who was assessed as meeting the highest level of care, told to wait ten months, and then to add insult to injury, gets a congractuously lesser to him days, you know, two days after he died, to tell him he's got his package.
00:03:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, well yeah, that hardly cause for celebration, is it. It's a total shambles, and good on you for acting on it, Senator around Rustin, the shadow Minister of Health joining us this morning for breaking at eight
Speaker 1: Well, today's breaking it is actually a continuation of yesterday's breaking out because it involves something completely jaw dropping that I only found out this morning, namely that the Albanezi government had been secretly using something called an Integrated Assessment Tool the IAT, to assess people's applications to receive help. This is older people, frail people, sick people, elderly people who need help around the house. They've been using this thing called the IAT to assess their applications to receive help through the My Age Care scheme. Now, this AI style thing, it was rolled out, it wasn't trialed. It was rolled out without consultation and without any mechanism for trained professionals to override its decisions. So it might explain why, you know, well, have listeners are in this position. They might have serious conditions they've put in their forms and it's been A computer says, no scenario has happened with the Rheese family with Greg who's suffering from MND a prognosis of twelve months to live, and even though he got classified for the highest level of care, it was deemed by the computer to be non urgent. Well, mercifully, the lives all over this Senator around Rustin is the Shadow Minister for Health. I think she was in estimates when all this came to light and good morning, thanks for coming on this. Right quite scandalous, I think, well, it's.
00:01:27
Speaker 2: Really quite outrageous that we've got a situation where older Australian's care needs and the priority of those care needs are being decided by a computer and not by a human. And despite often the qualified assessors determining that the older person needs a much much higher level of care, they have got no capacity to overturn the decision of the computer. So you're quite right, the computer can say no. So what we're speaking to do today to say that can't happen anymore. The decision maker must be a person and not a machine.
00:01:56
Speaker 1: Is that just? Is that legislation at Senator? Would that just be for these specific cases or across all of government?
00:02:02
Speaker 2: No, well, it'll be specifically for the use of the independent Assessment Tool for assessing older Australians. But one of the things we're going to put in this legislation is anybody who's been assessed by this tool whilst it has been the machine making the decision. We are going to make sure that they have the opportunity to be reassessed. So anybody who's been assessed since the first of November will have the opportunity to be reassessed, because we know there are so many bad decisions.
00:02:28
Speaker 1: Out there, and there's about what nine hundred odd people said at Rustin who has lodged complaints about the assessment that they received.
00:02:36
Speaker 2: Yet, Yes, indeed, we've heard of nine hundred people who well we know that nine hundred people have put in a request for a review, but how many more people out there haven't chosen to put in an assessment because they're so distressed by the decision. And you know, you hear stories like John Wilson, who was assessed as meeting the highest level of care, told to wait ten months, and then to add insult to injury, gets a congractuously lesser to him days, you know, two days after he died, to tell him he's got his package.
00:03:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, well yeah, that hardly cause for celebration, is it. It's a total shambles, and good on you for acting on it, Senator around Rustin, the shadow Minister of Health joining us this morning for breaking at eight
