The Guardian is reporting the emergency food supplies program has only provided 38 boxes in the six weeks since it was announced by the Government at the start of April as part of its $444.6 million aged care stimulus program.

“This result indicates that referrals to, and take up of referrals by providers is working very well, but that demand is low for this form of emergency assistance,” the Department of Health revealed, in response to a question on notice

The program – accessed through My Aged Care – was meant to provide supplies to people aged over 70 in need after the National Cabinet recommended that they self-isolate during the pandemic and supermarkets were stripped bare by panic buying.

$50 million was also given to Meals on Wheels to provide 3.4 million meals to 41,000 older people over six weeks.

Julie Collins, Labor’s Shadow Minister for Ageing, says she believes older Australians were having issues requesting the service and called for the unspent funds to be reinvested in the sector.

“We know other policies that support older Australians are massively oversubscribed, including the Commonwealth Home Support Programme, so any savings from this failure must go back into supporting these programs,” she said.

Aged Care Minister, Senator Richard Colbeck, says the funding could be spent up to 30 June 2021.

Asked about the Labor proposal, he said the use of COVID-19 funding “remains a matter for Australian Government consideration”.