The Inspector-General of Aged Care Natalie Siegel-Brown has called on the Federal Government to release additional Home Care Packages before 1 November, highlighting the devastating impacts on older people being forced to wait.
In a seven-page submission to the Senate Inquiry on Aged Care Services, Natalie commented on her Office's consultations that informed the 2025 Progress Report on Implementation of Recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care.
The contents of the actual report are not yet publicly available. The report has been handed to the Minister for Aged Care and Seniors Sam Rae and is expected to be tabled in parliament no later than 4 September, but the timing of its release is at the Minister's discretion.
On the consultations, Natalie said, "The Inspector-General received many accounts of people waiting extended periods – in some cases 12-15 months to receive care following assessment for a Home Care Package.
"Tragic instances of loved ones dying while waiting were relayed, as was consistent messaging around the deterioration of people’s physical and mental health, which saw them needing even higher levels of support than accommodated for under their original assessment."
"People with lived experience repeatedly talked of being ‘forced’ to enter residential aged care, counter to their preferences, or being hospitalised to meet their care needs, as a result of not having timely access to home care."
Natalie also shared her disappointment the Government did not release the 20,000 Home Care Packages the aged care community called for after delaying the release of promised new Packages by four months.
In June, a coalition of Independent MPs and Senators, led by ACT Senator David Pocock, wrote an open letter to Health and Ageing Minister Mark Butler and the Aged Care Minister calling for the immediate release of 20,000 Home Care Packages.
Natalie said, "The expectation that additional packages would start to be rolled out from 1 July 2025 was a source of comfort and optimism for many in the community.
"Meeting community calls for an initial 20,000 packages would have gone some way to alleviating existing, and growing, unmet demand."
Natalie called for additional Home Care Packages to be released "as a matter of priority, preferably ahead of 1 November 2025". However, she wrote that if the Government was "determined" to wait until the commencement of the Act, the release should be "front-loaded", with a disproportionately high number of Packages released as soon as possible.
The former Acting Inspector-General of Aged Care Ian Yates AM also opposed the rationing of aged care.
Natalie said the Inspector-General’s 2025-26 Annual Work Plan, expected to be released shortly, includes the Office's intention to investigate the "costs of preventive investment in aged care", given the up-front costs of delivering additional home care packages would have generated downstream savings. They also plan to investigate wait times and the implementation of co-payments under Support at Home.
Submissions to the Senate Inquiry, which was called by Senator Pocock last month to look at home care delays and the aged care reforms, close on Friday (22 August 2025). The Inquiry is due to report on 15 September 2025.