No Prime Minister, 99% of aged care homes do not have 24/7 RNs

It was only a few weeks ago that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese repeated the often-quoted statistic.

“We committed to putting nurses back into nursing homes,” he said at a Canberra press conference last month. “We have that 99% of the time. People said that wasn’t possible.”

But new data from the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing for April 2026 shows the quoted statistic inflates the true situation.

There are just under 2,600 aged care homes in Australia in total, including homes that did not report 24/7 RN compliance and homes with exemptions.

Of those homes, 2,423 achieved 24/7 RN coverage – only 93%.

In the last year or so, politicians, including Health Minister Mark Butler and Aged Care Minister Sam Rae, as well as the PM, have regularly stated that 99% of aged care homes now have an RN on duty and on site 24 hours a day. We have previously reported this is not the case.

The 24/7 RN policy

The Labor Government came to power in 2022 in part on the promise to fix aged care, including a commitment to introduce 24/7 RNs – a recommendation that arose from the Aged Care Royal Commission. New laws introducing the mandatory RN requirement came into effect on 1 July 2023.

All aged care homes must report compliance through the Government Provider Management System (GPMS).

Homes in MMM 5, 6 or 7 (rural or remote areas) with no more than 30 beds and able to show resident needs are still being met, are entitled to exemptions.

Smaller aged care homes (50 beds or fewer) are eligible for a 24/7 RN supplement to help offset the additional costs (this is not paid to homes with exemptions).

Government-operated Multi-Purpose Services will be required to comply with new 24/7 RN rules from 1 July 2026.