The federal aged care minister has defended the government's record in the sector despite lawyers for the royal commission accusing it of being "missing in action".
On Friday, senior counsel assisting the commission into aged care Peter Rozen said "the Commonwealth appears on the evidence you have heard to be missing in action".
But Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck told a Senate estimates committee on Wednesday he wasn't "specifically aware" of Mr Rozen's remarks.
"The suggestion that there's no movement in government policy or that we're not actually doing anything, I would reject," Senator Colbeck said.
While Mr Rozen said funding from its aged care workforce programs had been "stripped" by the government, Senator Colbeck said the government had been pumping money into the sector.
Labor senator Murray Watt said Senator Colbeck was accusing Mr Rozen of misleading the royal commission.
"You're putting words in my mouth," Senator Colbeck said.
Health department secretary Glenys Beauchamp attempted to intervene in the spat between Senator Watt and Senator Colbeck, saying the department was reviewing a new funding allocation system for aged care.
Ms Beauchamp said the government was going to trial a replacement for the Aged Care Funding Instrument with 10,000 aged care recipients.
"There's been commentary made about the existing tool in terms of some of the inadequacies of that," Ms Beauchamp said.
Australian Associated Press
