The 61-year-old Tasmanian Senator (pictured above, left) was announced as the new Minister for both Australia’s oldest and youngest citizens on Sunday as part of the re-elected Coalition Government’s new-look Cabinet. Mr Colbeck was previously Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources.
He will be taking over from Ken Wyatt (pictured above, right), who has served as Aged Care Minister since January 2017 and has now been appointed Minister for Indigenous Affairs – the first Indigenous person to serve in the role and the first Indigenous person serve in Cabinet.
Leading Aged Services Australia (LASA) CEO, Sean Rooney, has congratulated Senator Colbeck on his new appointment, saying the improvement of the aged care system must be an urgent priority for the Morrison Government.
LASA is looking to both the new Minister and Prime Minister to address the following issues:
- Fixing the funding emergency in residential care and commit to ensuring funding meets the growing costs of delivering high quality care;
- Fixing the unacceptable impact on older Australians by legislating maximum wait times of no more than three months for home care services;
- Investing in workforce growth and development; and
- Developing a comprehensive national ageing well strategy
