Aged Care Minister: "major focus of my work going forward"

The Minister for Aged Care and Seniors, Sam Rae, said he was both relieved and excited that the new Aged Care Act is now in place.

In an expansive speech at the Committee for Economic Development of Australia's Charing the Future of Aged Care event on Monday, the Minister said a key test of the reforms will be whether enough high-quality aged care accommodation is built to meet the incoming demand – pointing out that within a decade, one in five Australians will be over 65.

“Our infrastructure hasn’t kept up for too long,” he said. “We need to create and foster the stability and transparency that give investors the confidence to build again.

“And things are already progressing. Viability is improved. Confidence is returning, and structural reforms are embedding long-term resilience after the disruption of COVID.

“We want to work with the sector to see more developers and financiers step forward. The capital base needs to be diversified and sophisticated.”

The Government’s independent review of accommodation pricing, led by policy expert Nigel Ray PSM and academic Associate Professor Nicole Sutton, aims to ensure the system is “fair, future-proof and reflects real costs”.

“Too many providers ... are expected to deliver modern, safe facilities while operating under outdated pricing assumptions that no longer reflect construction costs, land values or the true cost of capital,” the Minister said.

The Minister also stressed the importance of community and reablement as key elements of ageing well, and intrinsically connected to aged care.

“A major focus of my work going forward is positive ageing supporting Australians to stay healthy, independent and connected for as long as possible.

“We know the evidence: staying active, eating well, and caring for mental health can help prevent disease and promote health in later life. But we also know that social connection is just as powerful a predictor of health and longevity as physical wellbeing.

“Governments can’t legislate social connection, but we can build the conditions that make it easier – strong local communities, accessible transport, inclusive digital technology and lifelong learning programs that keep people intellectually engaged.”

Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner Liz Hefren-Webb provided an insightful assessment of three "core challenges" she sees to the future of aged care.

She highlighted the huge range in scale of aged care providers, with a majority operating only one or two homes, providing community-embedded, tailored services, compared with large providers which can afford large compliance teams and consultancy services.

“If Australia wants to preserve the local and small scale and help the community-controlled sector to thrive, what does this look like in terms of regulatory posture?” she asked the audience.

"We cannot lessen our standards, but we can do more to ensure that we enable sufficient flexibility in how providers meet those standards."

Second, she highlighted high levels of resident-on-resident violence and sexual assault. 

“The fact that our most vulnerable older people are entering into congregate living arrangements where we struggle to keep them safe from physical and sexual assault is an issue that keeps many of us up at night,” she said.

These behaviours can be a "barrier to access to residential care", she said. The Commission is developing sexual safety framework aimed at providing better guidance and support to providers on this topic.

The third issue Hefren-Webb highlighted was productivity. She said technology will be critical to productivity in the aged care sector. “We’re very keen to explore the opportunities of automation and artificial intelligence, not least in order to make the work of our staff more efficient and enjoyable,” the Commissioner said.

The need to “reduce unnecessary regulatory burden” is “an important part of improving the sector."