A New Aged Care Act 2025

New Aged Care Act: Winners and Losers
Hello Care 13th September 2024
The new Aged Care Act is historic for aged care in Australia. It’s the greatest change in the sector in 30 years and will define the next 30+ years for older Australians, service providers and aged care workers. How will it affect you? Here are the winners and losers of the new Aged Care Act.

What are you going to pay for your aged care? Here are all the details
ABC News 12th September 2024

A deal to reform aged care has been struck between the federal government and the Coalition, including new requirements for many elderly people to pay more for their own care.

Government Response to the Aged Care Taskforce
September 2024

The New Deal: Australia’s sweeping new aged care plans explained
Michelle Grattan - InQueensland Sept 13, 2024

Comments

I question the decision to only part fund domestic assistance and gardening with the justification that these are tasks we have paid for throughout our lives. Most of us have done these tasks ourselves! but now we can't and I question that people will have the money to pay for this now. My prediction is that we will see a lot more older people living in squalor. J.C.

I just don’t see how anyone surviving on the old age centerlink pension can afford 17% contribution for everyday living. If my mum has to pay this then she likely won’t be able to afford it. So then she will go back to not being able to have her dirty dishes washed and she will just throw them dirty in the bedroom. She will also just throw dirty clothes in the bedroom and buy 50 cent clothes from Vinnies cause she can’t afford to pay the co-contribution for support worker (to do dishes and wash clothes). Lawn will be sky high too cause won’t be able to afford the co-contribution payment for the gardener. It just spells disaster for the elderly. P.O.

As we follow the aged care minister’s Facebook page; there’s always some feel good stories highlighting the positive happenings, which is understandable and expected. However, as we all know, it’s not all warm and fuzzy, unless permanently wearing rose coloured glasses.

It’s very important not to sit back and wait for others to make decisions that will affect our lives, without having a real say. We’ve contacted all the ministers involved in aged care, we do get the generic responses and justifications from their gatekeepers, still not satisfactory, hence the following comment. We do appreciate and respect other opinions that believe that all is hunky dory, and much more is already being done, however, on behalf of the majority who are struggling with this broken system, our comments seem appropriate, and hopefully may trigger better awareness of the in-home care problems.

“Anika Wells MP thank you for posting these feel good stories reported to you about what goes on in aged care. Of course it makes it all look hunky dory and it’s another feather in the cap of the constant positives being portrayed. We all love hearing good stories, don’t we? However it doesn’t accurately illustrate the whole story, which we all know is quite different, and the reason for all these constant justification posts.

Aged care encompasses a multitude of facets all needing to be focused on, because for far too long it has been neglected, and hopefully this government will continue to live up to its promises to fix aged care, not only in facilities, but in-home as well. With the majority of older people wishing to remain at home, it’s time to focus on that side of aged care. It’s time to listen to us directly without prompts, advice or advocacy from those who well meaningly believe they can speak for us.

Too many loud stakeholders with their fingers in this big lucrative pie are still speaking for us, but not with us! Too many gatekeepers are stopping you from listening to the very people you serve as the minister for aged care. Aged care consumers and aged care workers are the essential components to keep happy for the system to be fair and sustainable. Nothing about us without us! Ready to talk…will you please listen to us directly?"

2nd January 2023
M.O.

Please listen to us directly

THE PUB TEST: THE PROPOSED AGED CARE ACT

Q. Does the proposed Aged Care Act allow me to protect my rights and the rights of my loved ones?

A. No. Appeals to courts and tribunals about the rights are excluded by the proposed Act.

Q. But does the government have to take the rights into account?

A. No. The section on rights does not apply to the government. Nor do they have to take the rights into account in planning and implementation.

Q. Is there an independent body I can go to if my rights are infringed or something goes wrong?

A. No. The proposed Complaints Commissioner will report to the Age Care Quality and Safety Commissioner. There will be no independent office with staff whose sole focus is resolving your complaint.

Q. if I or my parents need help as we get older will there be an independent person whose only interest is to sit down with us and work out what we need?

A. No. the assessment process for entry to aged care and assessing later needs is being privatised.

Q. But there will be someone there to help us won’t there?

A. We don’t know. The Act proposes that these decisions may be made by computers based on a form with preset categories.

Q. But there will be people to help for other things and make the important decisions won’t there? Not a computer?

A. We don’t know. The Act gives the head of the Department of Health and Aged Care power to use artificial intelligence for other decisions. Working out who needs help most is already earmarked to be done in the future by computers. We don’t know what else will be added.

Q. If I need help to stay at home, will I be able decide who comes into my home?

A. We don’t know. Consumer Directed Care has been left out of the Act even though it was in the last Act. Self-management is not mentioned.

Q. But I am assumed to be able to make my own decisions aren’t I?

A. The right to an assumption of legal capacity recommended by the Royal Commission was not included in the rights in the Act.

Articles & Comments

Comment
This (recent) Webinar seemed like they were trying to sell the Draft Act to us. Sort of like a car salesman try to sell an old Holden bomb.

“Look we don’t get why you don’t want it . We heard your feedback last time we tried to sell it to you. It’s been rebuilt by a committee of experts and rebranded by our consultants. So now it’s practically brand new. It’s been painted and we put in some seat belts and spruced it up a bit. Ok we saved some money by not touching the engine, it’s a bit small for you, and it’s got a couple of dents we might knock out if you point them out to us, we took out some of the accessories especially the air-con, because you would use it too much if you were comfortable, and it’s expensive to run, but it will run for a couple of years when we might listen to any problems you’ve had.” “Trust us”

Four Fears of Aged Care
I ask all to consider:

• Will people really be better supported than they are now to remain in their own homes?

• The long-term ramifications of a program that by design fails to address individual need?

• The motivation to disregard the original decent motivation and intent that led to the recommendations of The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety?

• The reason that there have already been two major delays in start times for the program?

• Why is consultation so rushed to get this done, with so much yet to be disclosed?

• I suggest that we all consider deeply, the implications of computer programs sanctioned by an Act of Parliament to make decisions over the lives and welfare of its citizens. READ MORE .....

Home Care Packages and substandard care: A story of two Federal governments
BC February 2023

Support at Home
A Political Choice Version 2 updated 17 Jan 2024
We have long feared what’s been presented. Support at Home is not a program that will support our most vulnerable elders to have input into the supports to be received nor over how those supports will be delivered. Consumer Directed Care was a 2016 amendment to the current 1997 Aged Care Act; it is missing from the proposed bill. I fear for those who will be unable to maintain their independence and dignity in their own home. For many vulnerable people this will mean a ‘refocus’ with a further loss of their liberty in institutionalised care. READ MORE ....

RoboGov:

New Aged Care Law to empower decisions made by computer programs (A.I.)

Humanity removed from aged care assessment decisions.I don’t care whether you are from the extreme right or the extreme left or the extreme middle we will all lose our rights of appeal once computer programs decisions are protected by law. READ MORE ....

A new Aged Care Act cannot fix a broken system
Pearls & Irritations August 20th 2023

“I am appalled at what Albanese and Wells said in the news last night (our care is unsustainable), it is both what they said and how they said it. Yes, the aged population is growing exponentially, but instead of moaning about and blaming us for living longer, do something positive.
There are answers out there, just not the ones you are focusing on at the moment. Your current solutions are just going to create further problems. Viewing aged care through the lens of human rights underscores the need for systemic change. It's not just about fixing isolated problems within the sector; it's about recognising and addressing broader societal issues that impact the dignity and rights of the elderly.
By embracing a holistic approach that prioritises the human rights of the aged sector, we can work towards a more just and compassionate society for not just today's senior citizens but for future seniors as well.” L.D.

Comments

I probably wont explain this well, but this made me reflect on what it means to have boomers heading into aged care. Our values and our lives are different and the right kind of care is going to need to be different too. For me, it is best realised with self managed care at the moment. It means a feeling i can still dance to my music and sing my songs. Put in an aged care type speak, it means i can try to have culturally appropriate care. People who have some understanding of my life and language. I notice that this idea has faded away as we deal with juvenile bureaucrats , whose minds are screen shaped. B.F.

Seriously this conversation was happening 30 years ago…and no government has addressed it..and boom here we are..struggling to provide adequate services. JL

They might us well let us die they will be happy but they forgot baby boomers paid up to 49% tax never had childcare and had a miserable 6% in super. A.H.

"The boomers are coming" may well be true to mean that an age group is now needing attention and care. I would like a few to think about how much care the boomers provided. Not one of my cohort had a parent to assist and do grandma duty, no home delivery of groceries, no internet to order them on, virtually no child care after school or holidays, no or poor super etc etc. Yes...many of us are coming with virtually empty bank accounts because we gave her parents and her a chance to be entitled. I know no one now who worked the mad hours I did to cobble together child care and not one of us was worried about whether the new suburb we moved to had decent coffee. International Roast was standard and Moccona was for "best". I get angry some days. K.A

About 2 or 3 years ago I was invited to speak at a seminar forum that brought all stakeholders together in order to prepare a roadmap for the future of aged care. I explained then that baby boomers aren’t all as perceived to be wealthy and “entitled”! And that we’re going to flood the aged care market with people who amongst other things have marched against the Vietnam War, participated in a revolution in thoughts, behaviours and mindsets, burnt their bras and whatever social shackles they were supposed to abide by, queried everyone and everything, argued with authorities and constantly debated about their human rights! We as the first wave of baby boomers are not sitting down idly and conforming to authoritarianism that’s bordering on dictatorship, just because we’re older! No way Jose! The world is still our oyster, and will be so for years to come as more baby boomers enter the aged care market. Watch out all you decision makers, listen to us, trouble is brewing if you don’t, and everything you do about us or for us without properly consulting us, will fall in a heap, a mess that will last for your generation and others to come! It will become your enduring legacy, and you’ll be blamed forever! NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US M.O.

I did wonder when she said “the boomers are coming”. She hasn’t been checking her ministerial boxes. We are already here and pretty cross. As I said to a carer this week, we are likely to reshape ageing as we have so much else. Let’s hope we can make it a fabulous and really kind way to grow older. B.F.

Some days I just say to myself, I'm too frustrated and tired to fight on. THEN, I say to myself I must, if not for me, then for the next generation of us older persons; there is no one on this task force who "walks in our shoes" They are not listening to us yet again. C.A.

All the committees, task forces and throwing money at it will not fix the system without involving us in the decisions. P.S.

Unless one has walked in the shoes of experience they have no depth of knowledge of what they are representing. How about some of us who have cared for their loved ones and are still in there fighting for those who are not able to do so. We have been through the system and fought the fight against providers and the government and suffered with our dear ones. We know what is going on with the lack of empathy from all sides of government and their middle men. Money rules. People don't matter in this system. B.D.

Although I really didn’t want to subject myself to listen to more of the same from this minister, knowing full well that it’s just another opportunity to boast about how much has debatably been achieved in one year after a decade of neglect by the previous government, I took a big breath an watched and listened with great attention to every word and every gesticulation! Just unbelievable! Such a great orator as someone pointed out, what perfect rendition! Not one word out of place…free flowing speech, so many cliches, obligatory repetitions very well planned, each and every gesture, facial expression so thoroughly rehearsed! Must have taken days to memorise this speech and perfect it! Perhaps in front of a mirror to project the most desirable reflection of a self enamoured persona. Those unaware of the reality and who don’t have to grapple with the inefficiencies and lack of understanding or empathy, were expectedly bamboozled by such a spectacle. Those of us who have been trying to get heard for so long and are still being ignored know better, and this was confirmed when the audience at the press club was assured with perceived modesty that the minister is so open to discussion and disagreements that she’s listening to anything even criticism! That in itself we all know is not true! How many of us have had comments deleted, been blocked from her social media pages, and received nothing more than generic blah blah blah in reply to our heartfelt communications to her??? Sure, some of you will say defiantly…but it’s not her, it’s her minions who do that! Well, she’s ultimately responsible, and if that’s the case, it’s more proof that aged care is much too big a responsibility for a junior minister who claims to be so in tune with this sector because she washed dishes in a facility when she was 19, and her mother worked in aged care for 15 years! I worked in aged care, I’m an aged care recipient now, I have no doubt that many of us know so much more about how to fix this broken system! And by the way, just because my mother may have been an opera singer, doesn’t qualify me to claim being one too! So how is this relevant at all hmmm minister? We are also quite capable to be fully aware of the enormous amount of funds being misdirected in all the so called reforms, like the so called quality standards and star ratings which are quite effective in the biggest cover up of the reality that actually is happening. Government needs providers to do the job of taking care of the ageing population, so they’re all trying to convince us that it’s all for and about us while in reality they’re buttering their own bread, and all the other associated mushrooming industries profiteering from the sector’s ever increasing budget funding! We’re not fooled! We know that we’ll keep getting the leftover crumbs! Just you wait when you get to our age and need the support we’re not getting, we’ll be watching from above! M.O.

18th August 2023

The following story was written by an anonymous writer who has given permission for us to share it. It is not about home care, but it is a timely reminder of why we persist to stay at home for as long as possible and delay or better still avoid having to go into an Aged Care Facility if possible.

I felt an enormous sadness reading what happened, and it’s been described so well, that I just had to share it, and would like to encourage everyone to use this kind of example whenever attending consultations requiring feedback about our situation, and that will further justify the importance of home care to be provided as it should, which is to put recipients of aged care whether at home or in an ACF front and centre all the time…every time…always, and for the government to not just pander to the very powerful providers’ lobby group and any other profiteering business and/organisation.

The situation as described so articulately by this anonymous poster is absolutely preposterous, but so accurate and true! Go ahead read and weep like I did, but please do something about it, by continuing to stand up for yourself or your loved one, otherwise nothing will happen if left to the decision makers to decide for us instead of listening to us. The people who are supposed to to fix this but don’t must be exposed! “the questions that are not being asked often enough though are:-

• Who allows this to happen?

• Why is it still happening in spite of all the money and resources wasted in constant useless consultations?

• Why is the system still so unfit for purpose?

• Why is the responsible government department and the minister for that department still not really listening to and acting for the people this system is supposed to be for?

• Why have so many funded/paid other stakeholders who are supposedly initiated to “care” for the ageing population, and those stakeholders include reference groups, advocacy organisations, steering committees and councils etc etc not been able to achieve much at all for so long and still now???

Something is very fishy, it stinks to high heaven, all this profiteering off the back of vulnerable people! With all the forthcoming opportunities availed to us to be consulted, it’s crucial to make our voices not just heard but to insist that the aged care system is based on a new aged care act that puts recipients front and centre every step of the way for now and generations to come. M.O.

“I write as a newly bereaved daughter. My father has passed away aged 97.

You might say that 97 is a fair innings but my wish was that his life would draw to its natural conclusion rather than have it accelerated by lack of timely care and incompetence.

Dad was transported to hospital from the care facility arriving in filthy pyjamas, excrement under his fingernails, drowning in mucous and had not had a bowel motion for 8 days. There are many things I wished that I had done. Most particularly, I wished I had stood my ground, overruled them all and done what I knew to be right.

For those contemplating care for themselves or loved ones - I can only offer the following “lessons learnt” from my own experience so it might provide some awareness around what to look out for.

Remember that aged care facilities are profit making agencies, nothing more. Avoid them if you can. Investigate Government subsidies to keep yourselves at home or within the family fold. Do your homework. Ask around. Every aged care facility has a Government star rating - go to “Find a Provider’ on the Aged Care website. If ‘residents’ experience’ and “staffing” have a low star rating, it’s a huge red flag. Don’t be dazzled by a glossy exterior or attractive decor - look past that to the ‘end of life care.’ That’s what matters most and it must be everything you need it to be. Ignore the words ‘respect’ and ‘dignity.’ These are current industry buzz words - the feel good words that invite trust. For the most part, neither exist.

Listen to your loved ones already in care. If they complain, take it seriously. Aged care facilities quite deliberately cultivate you into believing “their” version of your mother or father. Go with what you know. If your intuition tells you it’s wrong - it’s wrong. Stand your ground, don’t be frightened to rock the boat for fear of retribution.

Commit your complaints to email and formalise them if you need to with the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission and the Australian Human Rights Commission. Formal, repeated complaints are the only things that will force aged care facilities to provide consistent, quality care.

Aged Care Facilities can't blame all of their problems on lack of Government funding. Kind, responsive care and dedication costs nothing. Lastly, my thanks to the staff who really do care and do their best working within a truly broken system. Huge respect!”

Both peak advocacy organisations for the aged have provided details of their opinions on the budget in their press releases. Over all they seem quite comfortable about what is now being offered, but they expressed their disappointment on further delays to the Support at Home program implementation.

We the recipients and/or our families and informal carers, particularly in this group, have been quite vocal about the new program not being ready and that DHAC seemed to be more focused on meeting deadlines without proper adequate real consultations with us the end users.

Providers as well have expressed their concerns about the feasibility to implement the changes on time, they’d simply not be ready!

Contrary to OPAN and COTA’s CEOs opinions regarding the delay to 1st of July 2025, most if not all HCP recipients and their families/ informal carers applaud this decision, in the hope that the new program will better address the needs of older people in need of support at home… which remains to be seen!

Meanwhile we must get those guidelines right, since we are subjected to their latest autocratic “ clarifications”, which will remain for the next couple of years at least! Please register, attend every webinar offered on the subject of home care, participate at every occasion, whether on line, face to face, asking questions, writing to whoever will listen to what needs to be said NOW BEFORE ITS TOO LATE! M.O.

I, for one, am very happy they’ve pushed the date back as the Commonwealth are nowhere near ready to roll out a new program. Would rather wait and maybe they will get it right. They certainly are nowhere near having the assistive technologies area right and they need to get people working in that area who know what they are doing. K.K.

The delay in the commencement of the Support at Home Program is good news. The Government were nowhere near ready to bring in the proposed changes. In relation to home care packages, the Government released 9,500 additional home care packages for 2023/24, intending to offset temporary changes to the residential aged care provision ratio from 78.0 places per 1,000 people over the age of 70 to 60.1 places. The Government will also postpone the commencement of the Support at Home Program by 12 months to 1 July 2025 – a move welcomed by many! L.F.

The Governments past and present are ABSOLUTELY USELESS along with the Aged Care Commission. PURE NEGLIGENCE. I have lodged complaint after complaint all left without a response. THEY DON'T CARE. I honestly believe they would prefer the elderly to die. A HUGE CLASS ACTION is needed but unfortunately all the elderly want is a happy peaceful existence which the providers and the Government refuse to provide. Its money, money, money NOT CLIENT WELFARE ... IT'S A NATIONAL DISGRACE! Many have no family to act on their behalf or are so elderly and have no energy for the HUGE fight for their rights ... and those that should be rectifying this NEGLIGENCE could not care less ..." S.O.

"The medical and nursing profession must advocate for their recognition as a professional body. It's concerning to see the risk of devaluation or disregard for their job roles when undertrained individuals receive pay for roles that normally require years of study. There exists a significant disparity between the training of registered nurses and enrolled nurses/certified carers, and each role holds its significance. Decisions regarding medical care should solely rest with registered nurses or doctors but often, their recommendations are ignored. This extends to ACAT assessors who often seem to focus on procedural checkboxes rather than genuine care needs. Unfortunately, there appears to be a trend of rejecting applications and redirecting individuals to underfunded community organisations. Similar challenges arise with NDIS applications, creating unnecessary hurdles for deserving applicants. Both systems are flawed and potentially in violation of human rights laws." L.D.

The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum. That gives people the sense that there's free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate. ~Noam Chomsky

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