Aged care to benefit from Abbott's repeal of bills

THE duplication of certification process for aged care providers including retirement home operators will be removed as part of the repeal of bills.

THE duplication of certification process for aged care providers including retirement home operators will be removed as part of the Abbott Government's package of repeal bills.

And the government's plan to remove the double up between state and federal agencies in the certification process has bipartisan support.

The changes were introduced on Wednesday in the government's "omnibus" repeal legislation, and will essentially remove the Commonwealth's role in registering aged care providers.

But Opposition ageing spokesman, Blair MP Shayne Neumann, said the changes were largely administrative and had Labor's support.

The Labor frontbencher said as he understood it there was generally a bipartisan approach between the nation's two major parties on aged care, with the government effectively endorsing Labor's reforms in the last parliament.

He said the removal of the duplication was also a welcome one for sector, which, once the bills pass the Senate, should only need to register with state governments'.

But he also hit out at the government's moves in December to strip Labor's $1.1 billion boost to workforce payments to low-paid employees in the aged care industry, branding the removal of the funds "retrograde and regressive".

The government at the time said the move would save the federal budget, while also prevent the large-scale recruitment of the aged care workforce into unions.

But Mr Neumann said the workforce was already "heavily-unionised", and the employees in the sector deserved a substantial pay rise.

Originally published as Aged care to benefit from Abbott's repeal of bills