Elderly get $662m boost for at-home care as royal commission hearing begins

The PM has pledged an extra $1800 to every Australian living in aged care as the country braces for some disturbing revelations.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and local Bonner MP Ross Vasta visit residents and staff of the Esida Lodge Aged Care facility in Brisbane last month.

Scott Morrison has bolstered aged-care funding by $662 million ahead of the first witness accounts in the royal commission.

But Labor has dismissed it as an election eve promise that is too little and too late for the troubled sector, while aged-care advocates say it is “disappointing” the extra cash comes with no guarantee that staffing or training will be lifted.

The Prime Minister today revealed a new package to provide $282m to help older Australians stay in their own home for longer, as well as a $320m general subsidy increase over the next five years.

The package will deliver an extra 10,000 home care packages for the elderly who want to live in their homes rather than go to an aged-care facility.

Mr Morrison on Sunday announced every Australian living in residential aged care will have an extra $1800 spent on their care by June as part of the package, with $320 million set to be rolled out to residential facilities in the coming months.

“We need to have a culture of respect and care and that’s why I announced the royal commission into aged care. It’s why as Prime Minister and treasurer I have delivered thousands of additional home care places,” Mr Morrison said.

“These places give older Australians the choice about how and where they want to live their lives.

“Older Australians have worked hard all their life, paid taxes and done their fair share, and they deserve our support.”

The nation’s leading advocacy group for seniors, COTA Australia, believes the new home-care funding will reduce the time people are waiting to receive subsidised services but it won’t ensure the number of staff at the centres will be lifted or training improved.

“It is disappointing there are no conditions attached,” COTA Australia chief executive Ian Yates said.

Labor aged care spokeswoman Julie Collins said the package did not make up for what the Opposition says has been a series of cuts from the sector by the Coalition over the past five years in government.

“Scott Morrison’s election eve announcement on aged care funding is too little too late,” Ms Collins said.

“The waiting list for home care has grown to 127,000 older Australians, with many waiting more than a year to receive the care they have been approved for.” The latest funding boost comes after the government announced $550 million in new fundingin December.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said the package will give older Australians more choice on receiving care.

“This funding ensures our older Australian have the support they need to live in their homes longer or provide significant support for the residential aged care sector,” he said.

“Our sacred task and trust is to continuously improve aged care services in Australia,” he told reporters in Melbourne.

“We’re taking steps now but we’re also taking the opportunity of planning for the next decade and the next generation.”

When he announced the royal commission in September last year in the wake of South Australia’s Oakden nursing home scandal, Mr Morrison warned Australians may be in for a shock.

“I think we should brace ourselves for some pretty bruising information about the way our loved ones, some of them have experiencedsome real mistreatment,” he said at the time.

Witness hearings in the aged-care royal commission begin tomorrow.

Two royal commissioners - Richard Tracey and Lynelle Briggs - will examine the extent of sub-standardcare and consider how services can be improved. The royal commission will be based in Adelaide but hold hearings in other states.

- with AAP