The Manager of Government Business in the Senate and Minister for Finance, Senator Katy Gallagher, revealed that 83,000 Home Care Packages are due to be released in 2025-26, the largest number released in a single year, in response to questioning from Shadow Minister for Aged Care Anne Ruston in the Senate last Thursday.
Today (Monday 25 November), Minister for Aged Care, Anika Wells, has announced 107,000 Home Care Packages will be released over two years (2025-26 and 2026-27) as the Albanese Government tries to meet its self-imposed target of reducing the wait times to three months by 1 July 2027.
After the Albanese Government was elected in May 2022, the number of older Australians waiting for a Package at their assessed level reached a low of 28,665 in June 2023. In the previous year, an additional 40,684 people were given access to a Package (10,171 a quarter), increasing the total number of Packages held to 277,612.
But in the nine months after June 2023, the number of Packages only increased by 6,817, or 2,272 a quarter, to 284,429.
Consequently, the number of people on the wait list started increasing, with the Department of Health and Aged Care telling a Senate inquiry that around 76,000 people were on the wait list at the end of September 2024, a 47,000-strong increase in just 15 months.
Now people are currently waiting up to a year for their correct level of Home Care Package to come through, according to the Government's own data.
In response to questions from Ian Yates AM, Acting Inspector-General of Aged Care, Thea Connolly, First Assistant Secretary Home and Residential with the Department of Health and Aged Care, revealed 3,383 older Australians died waiting for their Home Care Package in 2023-24 (nearly 10 people every day).
The Government has committed to release 300,000 Home Care Packages over 10 years starting next year, which would suggest that on average only about 24,000 Packages will be released on average each year beyond 2026-27.
