The Morrison Government has said it will not support the private Member’s Bill currently before Parliament to require aged care providers to disclose greater financial information to be available publicly, saying the usefulness of the information is not clear and pre-empts the Royal Commission findings.
As we covered here, South Australian MP Rebekha Sharkie introduced the Aged Care Legislation Amendment (Financial Transparency) Bill 2020 in October to require providers to submit annual reports on their income, costs of food and medication, staff and staff training, accommodation, administration and monies paid to parent bodies in annual financial transparency reports to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner.
Labor and Greens back greater access to providers’ financial information
In the first debate on the Bill on Monday, Centre Alliance Senator Stirling Griff (pictured above) – who introduced a similar Bill back in 2019 – argued that the current reporting systems for aged care providers are “totally inadequate”.
“Some might argue that these are private businesses and they should be able to disclose as much or as little as they like, and normally I would agree,” he said.
“But these are businesses that are receiving over $21 billion in Commonwealth funding every year for residential and home-care services—$21 billion. For that sort of money, you would expect real accountability, you would expect providers to show what that money is being used for, and you would expect the government to know how much is being spent on care. You would be wrong.”
He was backed by Labor and the Greens who agreed better access to information was necessary.
Government says data could be “misleading” to consumers
But the Government representatives said the proposed public information has the potential to be misleading to consumers.
“For example, in some instances there may be reasons why the itemised cost of medical products – for example, incontinence aids – would vary between residential aged-care services such that the information would not necessarily assist transparency for consumers,” Senator Sarah Henderson said.
It would also be inappropriate to be a step ahead of the Royal Commission Final Report, Senator Andrew McLachlan added, and raise issues about the financial impact on the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC).
“While not directly relevant to parliament’s consideration of Senator Griff’s proposed amendments, the Australian government does need to be cognisant of these issues. While no costing of the resourcing implications has occurred at this stage, the proposed amendments are likely to have resource implications in the form of report collection activity.”
Financial reporting requirements already being expanded
The Government concluded that it is already expanding the requirements on providers to provide an annual Aged Care Financial Report (ACFR) to be in place by 1 July 2021.
“The revised requirements will introduce more transparency around the operational results of the facilities that a particular provider operates. This expansion will cover some of the additional reporting requirements proposed under clause 9-2A (2) of the Bill as well as new information related to parent entity finances. The department will also undertake sector consultation before these requirements are introduced,” Senator McLachlan said.
With the reporting date for submissions on the Bill now extended to the last sitting day in March 2021, it seems the Government will get its wish to have the Royal Commission report before any further changes are made to providers’ financial reporting.
