ACSA and LASA members have spoken and have voted for a single representative body that will come into being from 1 July.

The new organisation will replace ACSA (Aged and Community Services Australia), the national organisation supporting Not For Profit, church and charitable providers of retirement living, community, home and residential care, and LASA (Leading Age Services Australia), the national association for age service for profit and NFP providers.

“This decision heralds a new era for Australia’s aged care sector with a single industry association to provide a strong and united voice, as well as a helping hand, for all providers of aged care services,” said LASA Chair Dr Graeme Blackman AO FTSE FAICD (pictured).

LASA was born in 2012 when ACSA Not For Profit members voted late in the day to not proceed with a national amalgamation that would have blended private operators with not for profit members.

That objection appears to have been overcome in the interest of one voice. In that time the not for profits have also emerged as the larger, more powerful and influential operators, particularly in the aged care sector.

These large operators drove the amalgamation conversation.

As we reported in October, the Australian Aged Care Collaboration, which includes ACSA, Anglicare Australia, Baptist Care Australia, Catholic Health Australia, LASA and UnitingCare Australia (UCA) – joined with the Aged Care Reform Network (ACRN), a combination of large private and Not For Profit operators, such as Allity, Bolton Clarke, Estia, HammondCare, Opal, Regis and Uniting NSW/ACT, to form a Steering Committee and commissioned KPMG to undertake an independent analysis of the best practice representation models.

The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety recommended a unified leadership representing providers of residential care, home and community care and retirement living for seniors.

Further details about the new organisation will be announced in the coming weeks.