10 Independent MPs and Senators have written an open letter to Health and Ageing Minister Mark Butler and Aged Care and Seniors Minister Sam Rae, calling for the immediate release of 20,000 Home Care Packages. The plea follows last week’s announcement that the Government will delay the rollout of 83,000 Packages by four months.
"On behalf of people in our communities, we are calling on the Albanese Government to, at a minimum, fund 20,000 new Packages to commence on 1 July 2025 under the current Home Care Packages scheme," the letter states.
Minister Butler shocked the sector last Thursday by announcing that the 83,000 Home Care Packages promised for 1 July would be delayed until 1 November. The Weekly SOURCE has since revealed that a 91-year-old woman had been told she will not get a Package for 13 months.
The signatories to the letter are:
- Senator David Pocock,
- Senator Jacqui Lambie,
- Dr Helen Haines MP,
- Dr Sophie Scamps MP,
- Dr Monique Ryan MP,
- Allegra Spender MP,
- Andrew Gee MP,
- Andrew Wilkie MP,
- Zali Steggall MP, and
- Kate Chaney MP.
ACT Independent Senator David Pocock said older Australians and their families are already waiting too long for home care. “I regularly have families contacting me about the excessively long wait times for Home Care Packages," he said.
"The 1,400 Canberrans currently on the waitlist need help now, and each day we delay is another day they are put at risk of injury or of going into permanent care well ahead of their time.”
On 4 June, less than a month before the 1 July rollout, the Government announced it would delay the implementation of the new Aged Care Act and Support at Home program by four months, postponing the start date until 1 November.
Read the letter signed by the 10 MPs and Senators here.
