Paul Keating and Peter Costello to give evidence to aged care royal commission next week
Australia’s two highest profile federal treasurers of the last 50 years will give evidence to the aged care royal commission.
Paul Keating and Peter Costello will both front the aged care royal commission next week to speak about how to fund the nation’s ageing population.
The two highest profile federal treasurers of the last 50 years will look at long-term financing options as the commission examines new sustainable funding models to support the delivery of higher-quality aged care services.
Mr Keating, who drove the compulsory superannuation reforms that will now be a factor in deliberations about aged care financing, will be the first witness on Monday.
Mr Costello, who delivered the first Intergenerational Report in 2002 which dealt extensively with the ageing of the population, will appear on Wednesday.
Former treasury secretary Ken Henry will also give evidence on options for reform of the aged care sector.
The seven-day hearing will examine whether aged care providers are sufficiently funded to provide quality care, and how government and private funding may be recast to deliver the appropriate level of services for older Australians.
Improving competition is another area for discussion.
This week the commission released a Deloitte Access Economics study that found it would cost an additional one percentage point of income tax for all taxpayers to bring aged care up to “four star” standards.
That additional funding would provide more nurses, uncap the provision of aged care in a person’s own home, improve access to GPs, dentistry and rehab, and give respite to family members providing care to the elderly.
Such a funding boost is not out of the question, with the commission receiving a separate study from Flinders University that found the average taxpayer is willing to pay an additional 3.1 percentage points in tax so all Australians can access high-quality aged care.
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