Today, Shadow Minister for Aged Care Senator Anne Ruston on behalf of the Opposition has submitted 10 amendments to the Aged Care Bill 2024 in the Senate.
Her office told The Weekly SOURCE they expect the amendments to be debated in the Senate this afternoon.
The amendments sought by the Opposition are as follows:
- Remove the section of the Bill that prevents providers from asking individuals before their official start day to pay higher everyday living fees or enter into a higher everyday living agreement.
- Ensure there are appropriate transition arrangements in place so that providers can implement the changes without perverse impacts with insertion of a clause saying the Minister must make rules "prescribing matters of a transitional nature relating to the enactment of this Act".
- Allow for more flexibility in the RN workforce requirements by allowing clinical care provided by Enrolled Nurses or via telehealth consultations with RNs to protect, in particular, aged care homes in rural areas that cannot access the necessary workforce.
- Make sure the powers of the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission are subject to the scrutiny of the Parliament, to maintain the sovereignty of the Parliament, with insertion of a clause stating "the Commissioner must not impose a condition unless the condition is of a kind that is prescribed by the rules".
- The insertion of a clause allowing for exemptions from worker screening requirements.
- The addition of eligibility for persons under 65 when the person has "care needs that can be met in the most effective way by a funded aged care service".
- A clause giving residents access a designated person with insertion of the clause "An individual has a right to access, at any time the individual chooses, a person designated by the individual, or a person designated by an appropriate authority".
- When a complaint is revolved by the Complaints Commissioner, they must prepare a written statement outlining the action that the Complaints Commissioner will take to deal with and resolve the complaint, what action another person should take to deal with and resolve the complaint, information relating to a review of the decision, and give the person who made the complaint a copy of the decision.
- Changes to the authorised recipients of whistleblower disclosures to include only aged care workers who have "agreed, in writing, to receive disclosures that qualify for protection".
- The insertion at the end of the Bill of a call for additional inquiries into the rules/subordinate legislation within three months from when they are tabled in the Senate because the rules contain key details about the reforms and to allow "older Australians and the sector ongoing opportunities to have their say".
The Government yesterday announced it had removed its own Support at Home caps on cleaning and gardening.
On Tuesday, Senator Ruston submitted in the Senate another document outlining broader issues the Opposition has with the Bill, which included additional matters to these 10 amendments such as:
- calling for more consultation on care management caps
- reviewing the risks related to unrecoverable debts, and
- bringing forward the redesign of the Commonwealth Home Support Program, which is not mentioned in the Bill despite having more than 800,000 users.
