Labor is moving to encourage superannuation funds to invest in the aged care sector to help fund huge growth in demand for services due to an ageing population. Source: The Australian.
The move comes amid warnings that an eight-fold increase in government spending on home care packages over the past decade is unsustainable.
Aged Care Minister Sam Rae said the next step for reform in the sector was securing more private sector investment, with super funds targeted to “attract the capital investment required to meet population demand and demand of an ageing population”.
In an interview with The Australian ahead of the Aged Care Act going live on Saturday, Mr Rae also declared wages in the sector were at the right level, with pay increases to be grounded in productivity gains.
The Albanese Government has funded $18 billion of wage rises since being elected, including a 15 per cent increase in 2023.
Mr Rae said the Government would consider how to “de-risk” investments in the sector for institutional investors, using the example of the Commonwealth’s Affordable Housing Bond Aggregator as successfully raising capital for affordable homes.
With the Government talking up the potential of superannuation funds to invest in housing and the renewables rollout, Mr Rae said the same could happen with aged care.
The Aged Care Act will see a major overhaul of how the sector is administered, including more support for people to receive care at home and co-payments up to $13,000 a year higher for people in residential care.
It also makes quality care a right for all older Australians while funding positions based on people’s needs rather than the availability provided by nursing home operators.
The new regime – delayed by four months over sector concerns it was unprepared – is the Albanese Government’s response to a number of elements of the aged care royal commission, and to its own taskforce that examined the financial sustainability of a sector with many nursing homes running at a loss.
FULL STORY
Labor’s push for superannuation capital in aged care (By Greg Brown, The Australian)
