Labor is facing a backlash over aged care services as a delay to landmark reforms prompts calls for urgent funding for 20,000 additional home packages. Source: The Guardian.
The Albanese Government lost its first parliamentary vote of the new term yesterday afternoon, when the Senate voted to establish an inquiry into delays for home care packages, including unmet needs and the wellbeing of seniors waiting for assistance.
Proposed by the ACT independent David Pocock, the vote was supported by the Greens and the Coalition, and comes after Aged Care Minister Sam Rae rejected calls to bring forward an additional 20,000 home care packages.
Labor’s reforms to the sector, originally slated to come into force from July 1, have been pushed back to November, delaying the release of more than 80,000 home care packages.
More than 87,000 elderly people are on the waitlist for care at home, with wait times up to 15 months.
Labor has promised an end to lengthy delays by 2027, with maximum wait times of 90 days.
“There is a huge human cost to delaying the release of more home care packages,” Senator Pocock said.
“For some people that means being stuck in hospital longer because they can’t get the support they need to return home safely. For others it means entering residential aged care earlier than they otherwise would have, others are struggling at home without the help they need.”
The push follows warnings from the sector that Labor’s changes risk squeezing out elderly people with limited financial means.
Tracey Burton, chief executive of Uniting NSW and ACT, said earlier this month that equitable access for poorer Australians remains an unmet promise of changes passed by parliament last year.
In a letter to crossbench MPs, Mr Rae said the Government acknowledged high demand for home care places, and said it was expected to continue up to November. But he rebuffed calls for bringing forward extra places.
FULL STORY
‘A huge human cost’: Labor criticised over delays to aged care reforms as waitlist grows (By Tom McIlroy, The Guardian)
