Its Executive Director Daniel Gannon has listed six reasons why the Albanese Government should delay the 1 July introduction of the new Aged Care Act.
“Australia is ageing, retirement villages and aged care facilities are operating at full capacity, ambulances are ramping at hospitals bursting at the seams, and housing supply is in deficit,” Daniel said.
“Rushing these important reforms at such a critical time is a risk we shouldn’t be prepared to take.”
The Labor Government, which went to to the last election promising to fix the crisis in aged care, had pledged a new Aged Care Act in 2024, but delayed the Act to 1 July 2025 amid concerns that the sector was not ready to implement the new legislation.
"We heard strong feedback that the proposed new Aged Care Act is a once in a generation opportunity for systemic reform that we must get right," Aged Care Minister Anika Wells (pictured top) said in April 2024 when delaying the Act.
With the new Aged Care Act now to be enacted 100 days from today, the Retirement Living Council (RLC) said its implementation should be delayed because:
- Liquidity standards: Requirement for retirement villages that also offer aged care services to hold sizeable cash reserves. If left unchanged, this reform will halt future housing supply.
- Client anxiety: Almost 300,000 current and soon-to-be elderly clients are anxious due to insufficient information about the changes. It is unclear what contributions they will need to make to fund their care and how much services will cost because of Act changes.
- Unprepared staff: Thousands of care staff need urgent training, but the rushed rollout leaves them unprepared to support clients effectively before July 1, 2025.
- System overhaul: Providers need time to update, test, and train staff in the new systems and technology. The lack of guidance and testing time poses a risk to service delivery.
- Financial strain: Without clear guidance on new charge rates and certainty about how to bill for services, providers face financial strain, risking their ability to pay staff and deliver services to older Australians.
- Unknown policy: The Government is yet to provide the new Aged Care Act Policy Manual, as well as important frameworks, forms and guidelines.
Ageing Australia, whose CEO Tom Symondson sits on the Aged Care Transition Taskforce, said it had been calling for realistic timeframes and a staged approach to implementing reforms of such magnitude.
"Aged care is not fixed. It was never going to be fixed in three years; that was unrealistic," Tom told the LEADERS SUMMIT last week.
Tom warned The Weekly SOURCE on 6 March that the timelines for the implementation of the Support at Home reforms were so tight that "they border on the impossible".
“With only months to prepare, providers need to overhaul entire systems, replacing complex ICT infrastructure. And yet all of the information to complete this process is still not available.
“Without more time, we’re likely to see confusion for both older people and providers."
