With the cost of a new bed sitting at around $500,000 per bed for For Profit and Not For Profit operators, the Victorian Government has completed the $57.1 million construction of a 50-bed aged care home in Rutherglen, located 300km northeast of Melbourne – population 3,000 – at the eye-watering cost of $1 million a bed.
Construction began in August 2023, taking nearly two years. Funding for the project, which is part of the state's Rural and Regional Public Sector Residential Aged Care Services Revitalisation Strategy, was allocated in the 2021-22 State Budget.
The project involved relocating the current Glenview Community Care Nursing Home, operated by Indigo North Health, to a new site in Rutherglen, and expanding the home from its original 40 beds.
The new home includes a purpose-built facility for residents living with dementia, as well as common rooms, a kitchen, dining rooms, and is based on a small household model of care.
In 2023-24, the Victorian Budget allocated $162 million to build three public sector aged care homes in Victoria, on top of the almost $700 million that had already been invested since 2016.
The Victorian Government has since begun construction on an aged care home in Cohuna, 275km north of Melbourne, in March 2025, Mansfield, 180km northeast of Melbourne, in December 2024, and Orbost, 375km east of Melbourne, in November 2024, all as part of the revitalisation strategy.
In the 2024-25 Budget, the Victorian Government allocated $34.6 million for public sector residential aged care services and $7.5 million to improve facilities across the sector.
Victoria currently has 171 public sector residential aged care facilities, more than any other state.
The builders on the project were Zauner Construction and the architects were ClarkeHopkinsClarke.
