We get it; it’s an election budget, and as Paul Keating used to say, ‘if you are not in power, you have no power’.
So winning the election is the primary goal for Labor.
But we are at one minute to midnight in that all services for ageing Australians are maxed out at a time when their numbers are about to triple (being the number of people turning 80 each year).
It is four years ago last month that the Aged Care Royal Commission’s Final Report was tabled in Parliament, and we find ourselves with inadequate ageing services for this year, not in five years (2030).
Our analysis below (supported by the Business Council of Australia research) shows that by 2030, there will be 1.5 people waiting for a Home Care Package for every person with a Package.
And there will be 0.87 people waiting for an aged care bed for every bed occupied.
What is desperately needed is a fresh approach to structural policy, meaning an urgent look at the structure of aged care and how it can be done smarter.
As Australian Unity CEO Rohan Mead (pictured below) stated in the Financial Review three weeks ago, it is not matter of throwing more money at the problem; it is a matter of wholesale strategic change.
The best example of this is this comment by Patrick Reid (pictured below), CEO of IRT and ex-CEO of LASA, in our Political Wishlist survey:
Paul Keating also spoke of ‘political capital’ being required drive reform (The Conversation):
Whichever major party wins will then have three years to address the structural change that is required to deliver quality support and care to advanced ageing Australians.
It is up to the sector to be the guide to where those structural changes will be best achieved, because operators like Patrick Reid are walking the floor and can see the challenges and opportunities. The Department isn’t walking the floors.
If the election delivers a minority Government, there will be no space for political capital, and the country, and in particular ageing Australians, will be in a bad place.
Last night’s Budget is a diversion. It is up to the leaders of the sector to now lead.
