The Aged Care Minister has reconfirmed that the Labor Government will fund a 15% wage rise for aged care staff from 1 July this year – and asked operators to commit to passing on the increase in full now.

Speaking to the sold-out audience, the Minister confirmed the rise will be made available in order to retain current staff and attract more people to the aged care sector – but added that the Government expects that the funding will be passed directly onto staff, not their bottom line.

“It is not for the cross-subsidisation of services. It is for staff. It is not for budget repair. It is for staff. And why? Because workforce is our collective hands down, unquestioned, most pressing issue for all of us.”

Minister Wells also asked the audience to commit to an open pledge to passing on the full 15% to their staff.

“As Minister, I will do whatever I can to help you facilitate this pledge,” she stated.

The Minister also agreed to fund any on costs associated with the wage increase – which as one audience member pointed out, could be as high as 30%.

The announcement was met with enthusiasm by the audience with Anglicare CEO Simon Miller standing up to make his own pledge to pass on the wage rise – and more.

“We’re working on a second goal,” he said. “We’re going to commit that every dollar you give us goes into the employment costs, and we’re going to develop a pledge and invite other providers around the sector to sign up to that pledge. We think it’s the right thing to do. We think our workers deserve it, and we’re grateful that you have support from the sector to get this money.”

We will have more on the Minister’s speech in The Weekly SOURCE next week.