Natalie Siegel-Brown marks last day on Friday
- Prevention agenda: Natalie Siegel-Brown put prevention to the centre of aged care debate
- Economic modelling: The Office has commissioned prevention analysis
- Independent scrutiny: The Office has published major review
- Lasting influence: Inspector-General an influential independent voice
In just 18 months in the role, the Inspector-General of Aged Care became one of the sector’s most respected voices.
Natalie Siegel-Brown steps down on Friday 31 July, leaving a significant body of work that will have a lasting impact on the sector. She has decided to take up an expanded role with the UNICEF, where she works on child protection and justice.
Earlier this month, Natalie’s National Press Club address restated one of her most powerful claims that the Commonwealth’s annual $40 billion aged care budget is being spent in the wrong places.
She proposed that more spending should be focused on prevention, and that prevention and supporting people earlier slows decline, delays entry into residential aged care, and ultimately saves taxpayers billions.
The comments, which echoed those made at DCM Group’s LEADERS SUMMIT 2026 in March, received national media coverage.
To support her claims, under Natalie’s leadership, the Office of the Inspector-General has begun economic analysis of the impact of increased investment in preventive aged care and supports.
The modelling queries if increased spending on prevention could reduce downstream demand for higher-cost and more intensive forms of aged care, such as residential care, and enable the overall aged care budget to support more people sooner.
“[Early findings indicate that] the avoided expenditure from delaying entry into residential aged care, even just from redesigning home care around timely, coordinated assessment-led support, delivers savings to the taxpayer, measured in the billions,” Natalie said in her National Press Club address.
The modelling is expected to be released by the end of the year, according to the Inspector-General’s Annual Work Plan 2026-27.
The Office has also published numerous submissions and reports, including the 2025 Progress Report on the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, and produced a review of My Aged Care.
The office of the Inspector-General of Aged Care’s role is to operate independently of the Government and providers to provide frank advice and public scrutiny of the aged care system.
Natalie was appointed to the role in January 2025, ultimately completing 18 months of a four-and-a-half year term that was set to conclude in October 2029.
