As expected, the focus is on cost-of-living relief – not aged care – in Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ fourth federal budget, which he delivered from Canberra on Tuesday evening.
Additional measures in this budget include the previously announced $2.6 billion over five years to increase the award wages of aged care nurses across the sector’s programs including residential aged care, Home Care Packages and Support at Home programs, Commonwealth Home Support Program, Multi‑Purpose Services Program and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care Program.
Elsewhere of note for the aged care sector, but not the financial and other support providers were calling for, is $291.6 million over five years – and an additional $12.7 million in 2029–30 – to continue implementing aged care reforms.
The measure (broken down below) is partially met with existing resources and includes $50 million in savings from a cancelled multidisciplinary care trial and incoming cost recovery from the regulator.
Support for providers lacking
The peak body for aged care and retirement living providers has welcomed the commitment to invest $2.6 billion dollars to support pay rises for registered and enrolled aged care nurses, with Ageing Australia chief executive executive officer Tom Symondson saying, “our sector can only afford these types of increases with matching Government funding.”
But he did not welcome providers missing out on Government investment to transition to the new Aged Care Act, particularly for critical upgrades to ICT and systems, saying the advocacy for it will continue.
“Provider systems will need to be upgraded to interface with new systems being built by government departments. The cost to providers is immense, with some already spending millions of dollars. Individual grants of $10,000 clearly aren’t enough,” he said.
“That’s why we called for $600 million in the Budget for capital and operational expenses to build the ICT infrastructure and systems we need, along with $188 million to help the sector, including some 450,000 aged care workers, to transition to the new Act.”
Providers are also again calling for more transition time and a staged approach to implementation while still waiting for all the information needed from government departments including rules for the new Act, said Mr Symondson.
“Without more time to implement such sweeping reforms, we run the very real risk that we’re going to get to 1 July without everything in place. This will have very real consequences for older people and we’re concerned that there could be disruption to services, and confusion and uncertainty for older Australians and providers alike.”
However, Ageing Australia is not calling for a delay to the start date of the Act, said Mr Symondson. Unlike the Retirement Living Council – which also represents retirement villages – who earlier this week did call for the Commonwealth to delay the rollout of the new Aged Care Act while the industry remains in the dark.
Older Persons Advocacy Network, however, is glad to see the commencement date for the new Aged Care Act unchanged.
“We strongly encourage the Government to stick to this timeline,” said OPAN CEO Craig Gear.
OPAN and fellow consumer representative Council on the Ageing Australia both said the budget failed to address the number of people waiting for Home Care Packages.
“We are increasingly concerned that this figure will continue to grow,” said Mr Gear.
Aged care reform funding breakdown
Within this $291.6 million measure, the government will provide:
- $116.1 million in 2025–26 for the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission to deliver its regulatory functions under the Aged Care Act 2024 from 1 July 2025
- $53.2 million in 2025–26 to continue implementation of the Single Assessment System and support the staged digital implementation of the new Act to ensure continuity of aged care assessment services
- $47.6 million over four years from 2025–26 – and an additional $12.7 million in 2029–30 –to support First Nations organisations deliver culturally appropriate aged care assessments
- $37.8 million in 2025–26 for the quality and safety commission to support the staged digital implementation of the new Act
- $24.4 million in 2024–25 for additional Commonwealth Home Support Program assessments to meet new requirements under the new Act
- $5.7 million in 2025–26 for the National Centre for Monitoring Dementia to provide dementia data and monitor progress with the National Dementia Action Plan
- $3.6 million in 2025–26 to support an evaluation and stakeholder engagement in a review of the Aged Care Quality Standards
- $2.4 million in 2025–26 to extend the Care Together Program to support the start‑up and development of cooperative and mutual enterprises, and deliver business resources and professional support to the aged, disability and veterans’ care sectors
- $700,000 in 2025–26 for Uniting Care to continue the operation of the Aged Care Workforce Remote Accord to support the aged care workforce in remote and very remote communities.
In addition to the cost of this measure being partially met from within the existing resources of the Department of Health and Aged Care, the budget papers show the government will save:
- $21.2 million over three years from 2024–25 by not proceeding with part of the 2022–23 March Budget measure to trial new models of multidisciplinary care in residential aged care
- $27.7 million in 2025–26 through cost recovery activities under the new charging model of the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission.
Mr Gear welcomed the $47 million for First Nations organisations to deliver culturally appropriate care but said it was not enough.
“We know that First Nations communities are particularly vulnerable, so we are glad to see tailored support for their aged care assessments – but this could have been taken further.”
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