37,000 new aged care places announced

The federal government will create more than 37,000 new aged care places during the next three years to meet the demands of Australia's ageing population.
But aged care providers say there is no need for the increase because 10,000 existing places have not been taken up by the sector.
About 13 per cent of the population, or 2.8 million people, are presently aged over 65 years, with the number expected to triple during the next 40 years.
The new aged care and community care places are part of the government's $41.6 billion commitment to the sector.
About 10,000 places will be allocated for the 2008-09 year, with the largest number going to Queensland to meet growing demand.
Applications for places and capital grants, which equate to about $41,500 a year for each resident, open this weekend.
"This is about planning for Australia's future and meeting the challenges of our ageing nation," Minister for Ageing Justine Elliot said in a statement.
The aged care sector said there was a large vacancy rate under the scheme of about 10,000 places because there was not enough incentive for aged care providers, the Aged Care Association said.
"We have some major concerns about the government's current planning formula," association CEO Rod Young said.
"The government needs to take a review of it because the industry has about 10,000 vacant places, there isn't sufficient demand.
"We can't afford to be spending a billion and a half dollars a year on building stock if a proportion is going to remain empty."
There needed to be greater correlation between the number of places, demand and cost, Mr Young said.
Creating a new high-care place costs about $200,000 per year.
"Many of our high-care providers have been sending a signal for sometime that they simply can't afford to build high-care places under the scheme that is running."