Topic - Opinion

Our big idea: co-located retirement villages can solve hospital ‘bed occupancy’ in 16 weeks

Across Australia 2,000 hospital beds now hold 2,000 older Australians getting sicker, waiting for an aged care bed. The cost: $1,500 to $2,000 per day. Could co-located retirement villages offer a solution?

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Chris Baynes

16 Oct 2025

Opinion

The retirement village identity crisis

It is with great interest we are following the developments in South Australia regarding the planning classification of retirement villages as ‘essential infrastructure’. The catalyst? Senior Australians locked in hospital beds with no place to...

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James Wiltshire

14 Oct 2025

Opinion

Is prevention – and Hospital in the Home – the only cure for an ailing health system?

Australia needs more aged care beds and more Home Care Packages – but we also need to stop treating hospitals as the first and last resort. That means a focus on prevention – and on alternative models like Hospital in the Home.

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Lauren Broomham

09 Oct 2025

Opinion

Operators must have courage – don’t wait for accommodation review

The review into residential aged care accommodation pricing.announced by Aged Care and Seniors Minister Sam Rae is welcome but operators already have levers they aren’t pulling. Since 1 January 2025, providers have had the ability to raise Refundable Accommodation Deposits (RADs) to $750,000.

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Lauren Broomham

02 Oct 2025

Opinion

New retirement report’s golden nugget for village operators is on the final page

There is one sentence on Page 15 of the Downsizing Australia report by ASX-listed land lease community operator GemLife and the leading property website realestate.com.au that should be read by all operators: “For downsizers, the home itself must feel like an upgrade, not a compromise,?”

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Ian Horswill

29 Sep 2025

Opinion

AN-ACC funding clawback kills investor confidence – and beds

I warned of serious consequences from the Government’s decision to claw back AN-ACC funding. This week, the fallout is plain: investor confidence has been smashed, and the promise of new aged care beds is evaporating before our eyes. Regis’ shock earnings downgrade on Monday tells the story.

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Lauren Broomham

25 Sep 2025

Opinion

Loneliness will become a pandemic and there’s been a decade of warning

The sheer ineptitude of planning boffins and State Government leaders around the country is clear with a new Government-funded report stating one in four retirees in Australia are now living alone. The 20th Annual Statistical Report of the HILD...

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Ian Horswill

23 Sep 2025

Opinion

Would you invest in a business with zero margin?

The latest AN-ACC prices and weightings, released late last Friday, confirmed what many feared: after an initial uplift, the clawback has begun. Operators who saw gains since AN-ACC’s 2023 launch now face funding being stripped back.

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Lauren Broomham

18 Sep 2025

Opinion

Is the DMF model dead? Anglicare CEO Simon Miller says yes

After buying 50% of LDK Senior’s Living from Cromwell Property Group in November 2022, Anglicare CEO Simon Miller is going all in on private aged care. Speaking at the DCM Group’s Ask the Visionaries’ Anything breakfast forum at...

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Ian Horswill

16 Sep 2025

Opinion

RIP: We are seeing the death of the family-run aged care operator

It feels like I am writing an obituary to family-run aged care facilities. Once the backbone of the sector, multi-generation operators are now selling out at a pace not seen before. The sell-off is accelerating, with three landmark deals in just two...

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Lauren Broomham

11 Sep 2025

Opinion

200,000 village residents in assisted living and private aged care within 5 years? Yes

Grant Corderoy tells our private aged care breakfasts that the DMF is likely on the way out and up front membership is the only way to be able to deliver the staff and services this new customer will demand. There will 200,000 of these customers swamping village ‘beds’ in the next 60 months.

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Chris Baynes

08 Sep 2025

Opinion

Between a rock and a hard place: more Packages won’t fix home care

Aged Care and Seniors Minister Sam Rae and Health Minister Mark Butler have bowed to political pressure, announcing 20,000 additional Home Care Packages will be released before 1 November, with another 20,000 to follow by 2026. It makes for a powerful headline but the truth is uncomfortable.

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Lauren Broomham

04 Sep 2025

Opinion

Retirement villages have Canberra’s attention – now the sector must prove its value

Three years after Daniel Gannon took the reins of the Retirement Living Council (RLC), the sector has achieved something his predecessor Ben Myers was never able to: national recognition in Canberra. This is just the fist step. Retirement villages now need to capitalise on this moment. Here’s how.

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Ian Horswill

02 Sep 2025