Major changes coming to aged care home support system
Labor has agreed to fast-track 20,000 home care packages within eight weeks after pressure from the Coalition and crossbench forced a backdown on delayed aged care reforms.
Thousands of older Australians waiting for home care packages will get faster access to support after Labor caved to pressure from the Coalition and Senate crossbench.
Health Minister Mark Butler announced 20,000 funding places for Australians seeking support to stay in their own homes would be brought forward in the next eight weeks to avoid further defeat in the Senate on the issue.
The Albanese Government delayed the introduction of its new in-home care system from July 1 to November this year, including the release of 83,000 extra packages funded in the budget.
The Coalition, Greens and ACT independent Senator David Pocock on Wednesday joined forces behind an amendment to bring forward 20,000 of those packages immediately, which Labor voted against only hours before Mr Butler then announced a deal had been reached on the issue.
Under that agreement with the Coalition, 20,000 packages will be released between now and the end of October, another 20,000 before the end of December and the remaining 43,000 in the first six months of next year.
Coalition health spokeswoman Anne Ruston said while she was “pleased” by the outcome, the surging waitlist for packages remained a concern.
More than 108,000 Australians are on the “priority” waiting list approved to receive care, while a further 121,000 people are on what Ms Ruston described as a “hidden waiting list” as they are yet to be assessed for a package.
“Today is a small victory … but there is much, much more work still to be done,” she said.
Labor delayed the start of the aged care reforms partly based on advice from the sector they were not prepared for a July 1 start.
Aged Care Minister Sam Rae said the government was now responding to the “evolving view” from providers that they were ready to deliver more in-home packages.
But he noted the “challenges” for the sector in attracting the workforce required to meet demand for this care were “very real”.
“That’s why we’ve invested so comprehensively, including the $17.7 billion investment … to lift wages for aged care workers,” he said.
Mr Butler said it was going to be “tough” to get the extra 20,000 packages out in the next eight weeks and “ensure that they’re all staffed”.
“It’s all well and good to put packages into the markets, it’s another thing to ensure that every hour of that entitlement that an older Australian has is filled by a qualified aged care worker,” he said.
The Retirement Living Council welcomed the decision to bring forward packages with executive director Daniel Gannon describing it as “tragically overdue”.
“For 210,000 older Australians in care limbo, this parliamentary pointscoring process didn’t cook a single meal, help someone shower or keep someone safely at home,” he said.
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Originally published as Major changes coming to aged care home support system
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