Senator Richard Colbeck, who was Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services before the Labor Party came to power in May 2022, has said little about the sector of note since Labor won the Federal Election.
The Senate censured the then Minister in September 2020 for his performance during the COVID-19 outbreak in Victoria and he was relentlessly attacked in Senate Estimates.
With Minister for Aged Care and Sport Anika Wells publicly stating at The Dementia Centre's International Dementia Conference 2024 on 5 September she was "hopeful" that bipartisan support for reforms recommended by the Aged Care Taskforce was "very close", the Tasmanian Senator has gone public dousing the Minister's optimism.
He is concerned about part pensioners entering aged care being considered as “wealthy” and being made to pay more.
“Since the release of the Aged Care Taskforce report, the repeated mantra from the government has been ‘the wealthy will pay more for their aged care’,” he said. “The question that hasn’t been answered is, how do we define the wealthy?”
Reforms not an attack on wealthy: StewartBrown
Grant Corderoy, Senior Partner at StewartBrown, and a member of the Government's Aged Care Taskforce, told The SOURCE, "There is no need to delay the implementation of the reforms on grounds of equity or inheritance."
The funding reforms are not an attack on the wealth of older Australians; they will only affect those who can afford to pay more to meet the cost of non-care services in a residential aged care home, he said.
The Aged Care Taskforce recommended older people make a fair co-contribution to the cost of their aged care based on their means, with "a strong safety net for low means participants".
The former Minister for Aged Care Services pointed to figures showing about half of people in aged care were pensioners, with “the clear inference being that the other 45% are wealthy” and would be expected to pay more under the government’s reforms. The deception is that according to the Census, about 75% of those in residential aged care are in receipt of a pension, Colbeck said.
“So who are the (extra) 20%? The answer to that question is those who receive a part pension. I’m sure those Australians who receive a part pension will be delighted to hear of their newly found status as wealthy – that is what the government is saying with its statements," the Tasmanian Senator said.
“Redefining who is wealthy so they can be charged more isn’t part of the deal."