17 prominent Australians have been appointed to the new National Aged Care Advisory Council, which will guide the implementation of the Federal Government’s $17.7 billion aged care reforms – led by a former Victorian Shadow Minister for Ageing and Carers.
Andrea Coote (pictured), the inaugural Chair of the Aged Care Quality and Safety Advisory Council and a member of the Aged Care Sector Committee, will chair the Advisory Council. A Victorian Member of Parliament from 1999 until she resigned in 2015, Ms Coote served as Parliamentary Secretary for Families and Community Services between 2010 and 2014, as well as Shadow Minister for Ageing and Carers.
She will advise the Government alongside a number of well-known and not-so-well-known faces:
- Andrea Coote (National Advisory Council Chair)
- Ian Yates AM (Council of Elders Chair) – COTA Australia Chief Executive
- Rachel Argaman – Opal HealthCare CEO
- Michael Baird AO – HammondCare CEO
- Jennene Buckley – aged care consultant and former Feros Care CEO
- Elizabeth Callaghan – Carers Australia CEO
- Andrew Condon – RSL LifeCare Board Chair
- Jill Gallagher AO – Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) CEO
- Emma Hossack – Medical Software Information Association CEO and Australian Digital Health Agency Director
- Dr Sandra Iuliano – Nutritionist and Senior Research Fellow, Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne
- Claerwen Little – UnitingCare Australia National Director
- Libby Lyons – Aged Care Workforce Industry Council (ACWIC) Chair
- Maree McCabe AM – Dementia Australia CEO
- Gail Mulcair – Speech Pathology Australia CEO
- Prof. Michael Murray - National Ageing Research Institute (NARI) Board President and Continence Foundation of Australia National President
- Mary Patetsos – ACH Group Chair
- Graeme Prior – Hall & Prior CEO
Ian Yates will also serve as the inaugural Chair for the Council of Elders, with its membership due to be announced later this year.
Three working groups will be established to support the Advisory Council:
- the Workforce Advisory Working Group;
- the Quality Advisory Working Group; and
- the Financing and Markets Advisory Working Group.
The Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services, Senator Richard Colbeck, noted that the new Council is a departure from the previous principal aged care advisory group – the Aged Care Sector Committee, which ended in June – as it includes operators with direct experience within the sector.
“Our intention is to ensure we have strong representation across five consumer groups, including Indigenous, culturally and linguistically diverse, carers and advocacy groups,” he said.
The members also include health and allied health experts, as well as IT systems, finance and workforce professionals.
Only one member – Claerwen Little – is a member of the Australian Aged Care Collaboration (AACC).
