With the Aged Care Taskforce due to hand over its Final Report any day now, there is a real sense of optimism across the sector that – after years of underfunding and closed doors – aged care has finally earned the respect of Government – and change is coming.

This sense of hope is best captured by HammondCare CEO Mike Baird – who appears on the cover of this issue with his daughters Cate and Laura, who work as disability carers.

As a member of the Taskforce, Mike told SATURDAY: