Election 2025: Urgent call for focus on aged care

A member of the government’s aged care transition taskforce is demanding urgent policies be unveiled to address the crisis facing the sector.

Aged Care Minister Anika Wells. Picture: Tara Croser.

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A member of the government’s aged care transition taskforce is demanding urgent policies be unveiled to address the crisis facing the sector, including millions more dollars in funding for providers to implement Labor’s once-in-a-generation reforms and streamlining migrants into jobs to fill workforce shortages.

As Labor seeks to make its commitments to health and the “care economy” central to the election campaign, Anthony Albanese is facing pressure when it comes to aged care after states including Western Australia unveiled their own funds and stand-alone ministers in an effort to plug holes in the struggling system.

The issue is set to feature heavily up until May 3, with the most recent Australian Bureau of Statistics population data showing the number of Australians aged 75 and over increased by more than 9 per cent – or 181,339 extra people – from the same time last year.

Peak body and task force member Ageing Australia warned the waitlist of those hoping to get a home care package risked blowing out without serious intervention and called for aged care to be a priority for both major parties ahead of election day.

“We know that people are sometimes waiting over a year for the home care package they need,” Ageing Australia chief executive Tom Symondson said.

“Many are also waiting for higher value packages to support their increasing needs. With increasing demand, the official waitlist of 81,000 packages is set to blow out over the coming months and we’ll need many, many more.

“We need the right number of packages, at the right level, for the people who need them. Staying in your own home isn’t just a preference, it’s a fundamental part of maintaining their independence, dignity and connections to their own communities, close to family and friends.”

Under the Coalition, that waitlist was down to fewer than 30,000 with people waiting no more than 90 days for a package.

Mr Symondson added that workforce shortages were at crisis levels, with the current gap of 4043 nurses expected to blow out to 17,550 by 2035, while there was also an expected shortfall of up to 35,000 direct aged care workers.

“To address the workforce crisis we’re calling for streamlined migration, strengthened education and training, and a boost to incentives for regional providers to attract the workers needed,” Mr Symondson said.

Although the government sought to address some of the sector’s workforce shortages by introducing the Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement, the scheme fast-tracked fewer than a dozen visas since May 2023, The Australian revealed in February.

When quizzed on whether Labor had dropped the ball on aged care, prompting states to step in, Mr Albanese said the government had made the biggest reforms to the sector in a century.

“We inherited an aged care crisis. It was inherited in every state, every territory, every city, every region of the country,” the Prime Minister said in Perth on Monday.

“There was not enough investment. The aged care workforce was underpaid. The Aged Care royal commission that was established under pressure by the former government described the state of aged care in its interim report in one word – ‘neglect’.”

But despite welcoming the $5.6bn reforms, Ageing Australia and aged care providers have raised the alarm over the pace of the changes – due to come into effect on July 1 – and the cost of the transition.

“Entire computer systems will need to be upgraded or replaced at massive expense to providers, yet we still don’t have the information or funds to get on with the job,” Mr Symondson said.

“We have the chance to build an aged care sector that all Australians can be proud of, but we need a measured approach to reforms of such magnitude and that means more time to get them right.”