Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health and Member for Mallee Dr Anne Webster says the regional aged care sector is yet another victim of the Albanese Labor Government’s scorched earth approach to regional Australia, with regional aged care in crisis.

“Labor have given no consideration to regional aged care’s workforce challenges to meet imminent legislated targets. On the momentous occasion of the Aged Care Bill passing parliament in November I warned the government’s failure to specifically focus on regional aged care’s unique and dire workforce challenges were an existential threat to the sector,” Dr Webster said today.

Ageing Australia, the nation’s peak aged-care body, has declared a transition to Labor’s new system of care for older Australians is officially “impossible”, after Labor ignored their pleas for the government to delay the reforms’ July 1 start date.

In November, Dr Webster urged “We need an adequate transition period and arrangements so that this significant reform package can be implemented without perverse impacts for older Australians and the sector.  We also need greater flexibility in the Government’s Registered Nurse workforce requirements, to reflect the ongoing workforce crisis and protect aged care homes in rural and regional areas.”

During the passage of the Bill, the Coalition secured:

·         removal of the Government’s arbitrary caps on cleaning and gardening services in the home care system,

·         greater scrutiny of the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission’s use of their powers and

·         more transparency on the work of the Aged Care Complaints Commissioner.

The Coalition also ensured Australians who worked hard all their lives saving for retirement got a fairer deal through the legislated reforms, securing grandfathering arrangements, lifetime contribution caps, a much lower taper rate, and an assurance that the Federal Government will remain the majority funder of aged care.

“Minister Wells continued the calamitous management of the reform process when, last month, she made a cruel eleventh-hour pre-election announcement of funding for rural regional and remote aged care services with another impossible timeline.”

Further, in recent days providers have discovered they need to sign individual service agreements with all 830,000 elderly Australians who are receiving some form of care at home, which Ageing Australia described as an “11th hour decision” that put “surprise new obligations” onto providers. Providers have been warning Labor’s once-in-a-­generation aged-care reforms, including the introduction of an aged-care act from July 1, were being rushed.

“Being ready for the new act was already near impossible, but this new decision crosses the line, making it truly impossible,” Ageing Australia chief executive Tom Symondson said.

“The goalposts have been moved. This new requirement has come out of nowhere, was called for by nobody and there has been no consultation. More than 830,000 older Australians will be left in limbo unless something changes urgently.

“There will be widespread confusion for community care recipients, their families and providers alike, with a very real risk that hundreds of thousands of older people will miss out on the vital services they require.”

Dr Webster said at every turn the Albanese Labor Government has been out of its depth on aged care - and regional aged care would suffer the most.

“I convened the Regional Aged Care Summit in Mildura with representatives from all over Australia in July 2023 and I sent the Summit Communique to the Government. The Communique outlined considerable areas for improvement, particularly to ensure a specific focus on the regional aged care’s unique and dire workforce challenges, yet I have seen no official engagement with those recommendations,” Dr Webster said.

“The Opposition has sought to work collaboratively with the Albanese government on important reform in the aged care sector, but time and again they have shown an unwillingness to listen and then making eleventh-hour decisions that rip away confidence within the sector.”

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