As the tally of COVID deaths climbs towards the 1000 mark (including more than 630 in aged care facilities), and having regard to the fact that the Hunter-Port Stephens area has a huge and growing number of aged and frail people needing care, I would have thought that this was a more urgent need than a gas plan.

Unfortunately, it appears the care of the aged does not have the pull on the Prime Minister Scott Morrison's time as issues relating to the fossil fuel industry.

The Australian Medical Association reported that as of June 2019, there were 119,524 older people waiting for their assessed home care packages. The Royal Commission into Aged Care reported that 16,000 people died waiting (for more than 12 months) for a home care package.

This is an absolute disgrace.

Yet Mr Morrison is proposing to divert $1.9 billion to assist those in the fossil fuel industry in a project that much of the science says is a waste of public money.

The grossest aspect of this proposal is that one of the main beneficiaries of this waste of public money is a big multinational that has never paid any tax to this country to provide things like aged care.

One of my neighbours, a 97-year-old frail lady that has been declared legally blind, has been approved for an aged care home package.

However, she has been put on the 100,000-plus wait list and my concern is that she will became another one of the 16,000-plus of my fellow aged citizens who will die this year waiting for care. Are we okay with this?

Add to this is the fact that men aged 85 years or older have the highest rate of suicide of any group in the country - I can guess why this happening.

I would be prepared to donate a small portion of my pension, alongside say $10 from each age pensioner in Australia, to help set up a $10 million fund to match the donations to political parties made by the fossil fuel industry, so that we pensioners could get the same considerations from government.

- Frank Ward OAM is a resident of Harbourside Haven, Shoal Bay