Aged in ‘limbo’ as care reforms stall

Time is running out for the Albanese government to deliver its aged care reform agenda in this term, advocates warn.

Aged care reform has become a political football, advocates warn.

Labor must strike a deal with the Coalition to reform aged care funding by next month or risk more nursing homes going to the wall and leaving vulnerable older Australians in care limbo, members of the Albanese government’s own taskforce warn.

The current political standoff also means Labor’s promise of a new aged care act in this parliamentary term “dangles precariously”, a key advocate for older Australians says.

Sector voices, both providers and consumers, are increasingly fearful that aged-care reform has descended into a political battle for advantage at the expense of sound policy, improved safety and care quality for older Australians and the financial sustainability of the sector.

The key taskforce recommendation was for better-off older Australians to pay more of the non-care elements of their aged care such as accommodation, food and cleaning, saving the taxpayer billions of dollars, but its detail is contested between the major parties.

The government had been hoping to negotiate a bipartisan response on this and broader aged-care reform, but talks with the Coalition have dragged on for months. Sticking points include whether the means-tested cap on the lifetime contributions older Australians make to their care should be substantially increased or removed altogether, and increased penalties, including jail time for directors and office holders of care providers for breaches of legislation.

Taskforce member Tom Symondson, CEO of Aged and Community Care Providers Association, said it was time for ­“urgent action” in Canberra to ­deliver the reforms ahead of the federal election.

“That means the new aged care act must be introduced to parliament in August,” he said.

“If this means the government needs to give more ground they should give more ground. And if it needs the opposition to come to the table, then they must come to the table.”

Mr Symondson said half the nation’s 2600 nursing homes were losing money. Rural and regional areas were worse. And the pipeline was drying up.

“We know our population is ageing and we are going to need hundreds of thousands of new beds in the coming decades,” he said. “However, the parlous ­financial state of the sector has meant banks have been reluctant to lend. We’re building a fraction of the capacity we are going to need.”

Council on the Ageing CEO Pat Sparrow said older people had already waited too long for a new aged care act to enshrine rights and protections recommended by the aged care royal commission.

Council on the Ageing chief executive Patricia Sparrow.

“It’s time we opened the important issue up to parliamentary scrutiny,” said Ms Sparrow, who is also a taskforce member.

“While we’ve seen more money for aged-care providers and workers in recent times, the single most important reform for older people – a new rights-based aged care act – dangles precariously at risk of not being delivered this term, as promised.”

Aged care is one of the government’s top five spending programs, costing more than $30bn a year, a number projected to grow with the ageing of the population.

Aged Care Minister Anika Wells’ financial sustainability taskforce reported to the government in late 2023, with recommendations published in March.