Delays to aged care reforms fuels concern care agenda neglected

Anthony Albanese is being urged to overhaul the aged care system and give new rights to protect residents after reforms were pushed out, igniting concerns the government’s care agenda had been derailed.

Delays to aged care reforms fuels concern care agenda neglected.

Anthony Albanese is being urged to immediately overhaul the nation’s aged care system and give new rights to protect elderly residents after crucial reforms were pushed out indefinitely, igniting concerns the government’s care agenda for older Australians had been derailed.

Older persons’ advocates are sounding the alarm that the commencement of key reforms to aged care could be pushed out to as late as July next year, warning the elderly “shouldn’t have to wait another 15 months before these new rights protect them in aged care”.

The calls come after Aged Care Minister Anika Wells revealed Labor’s push to amend the Aged Care Act was set to be delayed, saying the government needed to “update the commencement date of the legislation” before the bill was introduced to parliament at an undisclosed date.

Government sources said it was unlikely Labor would be able to get the legislation passed as promised by July 1 but that it would try to change the laws before the end of the year.

Minister for Aged Care Anika Wells. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Martin Ollman

The delay comes after it took Labor almost three months to release the final report from Ms Well’s Aged Care Taskforce which was handed to government in December but not released until last month.

Industry experts have also attacked the government delays in enacting new aged care reforms with swathes of the new aged care act remaining undrafted and contingent on Labor’s response to the taskforce, which recommended wealthy older Australians pay more for their own care.

The Coalition has warned the government’s aged care agenda is at risk of being derailed by the sweeping delays, saying Labor was presiding over a “rushed half-drafted act” which was “another example of the litany of ministerial failures to deliver for the sector”.

Opposition health and aged care spokeswoman Anne Ruston said it was “astonishing” Ms Wells had taken so long to inform the sector of the delay, warning stakeholders were “rightly anxious about what changes lie ahead as they still don’t have all the details”.

“The Minister must urgently explain to the sector, consumers, and families what the Labor Party’s intentions are regarding the future of aged care and when we will actually see the full exposure draft of the new Act,” Senator Ruston said.

The government is seeking to implement a new rights based aged care act giving older Australians new powers to raise concerns with providers in circumstances when they believe their rights have been breached, following the recommendations of the aged care royal commission.

Opposition health and aged care spokeswoman Anne Ruston. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Martin Ollman

Council on the Ageing chief executive Patricia Sparrow urged the government to move “swiftly” to introduce legislation before the end of the year and ensure older Australians were protected.

“Older Australians have already waited three long years since the Royal Commission’s top recommendation for a new rights-based Act. Further delays could push the commencement of this crucial legislation to as late as July 2025,” Ms Sparrow said.

“Proper scrutiny by Parliament is important which is why we welcome a bill being introduced to start this process swiftly, including scrutiny of sections not included in the Exposure Draft.”

Older Persons Advocacy Network chief executive Craig Gear said it was important the government moved forward with its legislation this year, with elderly people wanting their rights to be enshrined in legislation.

Under the new act, board members of residential aged care facilities face criminal penalties of up to five years in prison if they are found to be negligent.

According to the government’s exposure draft for its new aged care act, board members will be liable for up to five years in prison in cases where an aged care provider has failed to take reasonable steps to prevent death, serious illness or injury.

The overhaul of the federal aged care act comes as the sector scrambles to implement a suite of reforms including mandated minutes of care per resident, quality and safety standards, and full-time nursing requirements, as it adjusts to a new funding model brought in last year as recommended by the royal commission.

The sector is plagued with financial troubles, with the latest figures from the Quarterly Financial Snapshot of the Aged Care Sector revealing 66 per cent of private providers were operating at losses.