Labor to remove limits on aged care costs to get Coalition support

Labor has scrapped its proposed caps on gardening and cleaning for elderly Australians with home care packages as part of its efforts to lock in the Coalition’s support for its $5.2bn bill.

Aged Care Minister Anika Wells said Labor will scrap the proposed cap on cleaning and gardening services for elderly Australians with home care packages. Picture: Martin Ollman/NewsWire

Labor has scrapped its proposed caps on gardening and cleaning for elderly Australians with home care packages, in a move to lock in the Coalition’s support to pass its landmark aged care bill through parliament in the final sitting fortnight of the year.

While the Coalition promised not to amend the government’s financial framework of the bill, which will see wealthier older Australians pay more for everyday care costs, it has made clear it will seek a raft of other changes to the legislation.

Among them was the call for the government to review its determination to cap cleaning and gardening services, set at one hour a week and 18 hours a year respectively.

Aged Care Minister Anika Wells told The Australian that Labor had listened to the concerns raised as part the committee process and would scrap the proposed cap, in a move that would likely raise the cost of the $5.6bn reform.

“We heard clear feedback during the community affairs inquiry that older Australians want greater flexibility in the aged care they receive,” Ms Wells said.

“We are listening to the voices of older Australians to make sure we build an aged care system they can trust.”

According to platforms such as Airtasker, the average house-cleaning cost for a standard three-bedroom home ranges between $70 and $140 an hour, while a gardener would charge between $50 and $220 an hour depending on the size of the property.

The funding for such services would come through the new support-at-home program to be set up as part of Labor’s legislation, for which a pensioner, part-pensioner or fully funded retiree can apply and be given a package based on a needs assessment.

Appearing before a community affairs inquiry this year, Uniting NSW/ACT chief executive Tracy Burton raised concern with the fact there had been no consultation over the caps.

“We haven’t had any consultation and we hadn’t anticipated that change that’s come through,” Ms Burton said.

Despite agreeing to shift on the caps, the government still faces pressure from the Coalition to make a number of other changes to its bill, due to come into force from mid-next year. These include revising the time­frame for commencement of the support-at-home program to allow sufficient time for implementation, and for a public acknowledgment that it will no longer pursue a union-endorsed “workers’ voice” scheme it had previously proposed to mandate in every aged-care home.

The opposition has also ­demanded that other relevant legislative rules and subordinate legislation be released for scrutiny before the bill is debated.

The aged care bill is one of the key pieces of legislation the government hopes to pass with Coalition support in the final sitting fortnight of the year, along with its electoral reforms. While the Coalition agrees with the need for electoral reforms, which the teals have declared are designed to stop more independents entering parliament, the exemption of union fees under donation caps is a sticking point.

“It effectively props up the union – I don’t like that at all,” a senior Coalition source said.

Should the Coalition seek to amend the legislation to strike the exemption from the bill, it would likely enjoy support from crossbenchers including Jacqui Lambie, who derided the measure on Tuesday. However, a number of Coalition MPs predicted that, despite concern on union fees, the opposition would support the bill in its current form. “I don’t think it’s a red line. And Labor would never introduce the bill if we don’t agree to pass all of it … so I think it will just get the tick off,” a source said.

A Coalition spokeswoman said no formal position would be announced until the bill went through the party room, due to be held on Tuesday morning.

Other pieces of stalled legislation that could pass this fortnight include housing and environmental bills – all of which the Greens have agreed to support in exchange for watered down demands.

Rather than calling for a climate trigger as part of new environmental protection laws, the Greens have now called for an end of native logging.

And in place of demands for negative gearing to be phased out in order to pass the two pieces of housing legislation, the Greens have instead asked for more social housing to be built.

The government has not given an indication of whether it will accept the Greens updated terms on any of the legislation.