Budget 2026: Ageing Australia pinpoints substantial critical need

More than 100,000 older Australians are waiting for Support at Home and Ageing Australia says Tuesday's Federal Budget needs to deliver the packages.

Aged care's peak body is calling on the Federal Government to release up to 80,000 additional Support at Home packages.

The Government does still have a responsibility to ensure that older people are not languishing in hospital beds or sitting at home being cared for by an exhausted spouse because they cannot get a Package,” Chief Executive Officer Tom Symondson said.

He added the sector would be “gobsmacked” if the Government did not announce more packages, but stressed small increases would do little to address the growing backlog.

“We need them to release a lot of new packages. Not 5,000 or 10,000 or 15,000, but 50,000 or 80,000,” he told The Weekly SOURCE.

The push follows April’s $3 billion aged care funding announcement, where Federal Health and Ageing Minister Mark Butler told the National Press Club that more Support at Home places would be included in the Budget as pressure mounts on waiting lists and hospitals.

More than 100,000 older Australians have already been approved for a Support at Home package but cannot access one, while another 100,000-plus people are still waiting for assessments.

Tom said last year’s release of 83,000 packages had not resolved the issue because it followed a much smaller allocation the year before.

“Just drip-feeding a few packages out in this new Budget, we will see this problem get bigger and bigger and bigger,” he said.

Care shortages hit productivity

Tom also argued aged care spending should be viewed as economic infrastructure rather than simply social spending, saying poor access to care was increasingly pulling family members – particularly women – out of the workforce.

“What happens when an older person cannot get the care they need, and someone in the family has to look after them? It is almost always a woman who has to come out of the workforce,” Tom said.

“We’re reducing women’s ability to be economically active as they want to be. And then we increase the gender pay gap.”

While acknowledging pressure on public finances, Tom said failing to invest in home care would ultimately create larger economic and health system costs.

“You need to fund aged care properly because it’s the right thing to do, but you also need to fund aged care properly because there’s an economic benefit if you do – and an economic disbenefit if you don’t.”