‘A huge human cost': Labor criticised over delays to aged care reforms as waitlist grows
The Albanese government lost its first parliamentary vote of the new term on Monday afternoon, when the Senate voted to establish an inquiry into delays for home care packages, including unmet needs and the wellbeing of seniors waiting for assistance.
Proposed by the ACT independent David Pocock, the vote was supported by the Greens and the Coalition, and comes after the aged care minister, Sam Rae, rejected calls to bring forward an additional 20,000 home care packages.
Labor's reforms to the sector, originally slated to come into force from 1 July, have been pushed back to November, delaying the release of more than 80,000 home care packages.
More than 87,000 elderly people are on the waitlist for care at home, with wait times up to 15 months.
Labor has promised an end to lengthy delays by 2027, with maximum wait times of 90 days.
Sign up: AU Breaking News email
'There is a huge human cost to delaying the release of more home care packages,' Pocock said.
'For some people that means being stuck in hospital longer because they can't get the support they need to return home safely. For others it means entering residential aged care earlier than they otherwise would have, others are struggling at home without the help they need.'
The push follows warnings from the sector that Labor's changes risk squeezing out elderly people with limited financial means.
Tracey Burton, chief executive of Uniting NSW and ACT, told Guardian Australia early this month equitable access for poorer Australians remains an unmet promise of changes passed by parliament last year.
After a royal commission and a taskforce report to the federal government, Labor introduced new rules requiring wealthier people to pay more for their care and boosting access to support services for people who choose to stay in their own home.
Residents who can afford to pay for their own care do so using a payment known as a refundable accommodation deposit (RAD). The average RAD is $470,000, with the lump sum refunded to family members when a resident dies.
Elderly people whose care is paid for by the government rely on a supported accommodation supplement, worth $70 per day.
The Greens aged care spokesperson, Penny Allman-Payne, is set to chair the Senate inquiry. She said the difference in value between RADs and supported placements, combined with a shortage of available residential beds and a rationing of home care packages, has led to fears of a two-tier system.
'You shouldn't have to be a millionaire just to guarantee care in your old age, but that's exactly what's at risk from Labor's new aged care system.
'Far from fixing the residential aged care system, Labor's changes coming this November mean wealthier homeowners may soon be worth twice as much in revenue to an aged care facility as an older person who lives week to week.'
In a letter to crossbench MPs, Rae said the government acknowledged high demand for home care places, and said it was expected to continue up to November.
But he rebuffed calls for bringing forward extra places.
'We also recognise that waiting to access a [home care package] has a real impact on older people and their families, as well as on the care providers.
'The Support at Home program is designed to bring down wait times for care and deliver more tailored support, giving older people the flexibility and choice to stay at home for longer.'
Demand for aged care services is expected to surge, with the country on track for a doubling of people over 65 and a tripling of those aged over 85 within 40 years.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Erin is a gentle and beloved single mum in Melbourne. She's just been diagnosed with Alzheimer's at 29
At just 29, Melbourne mum Erin Kelly is facing the heartbreaking reality that she's living on borrowed time. A single parent to her eight-year-old daughter Evie, Erin has recently been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's - a devastating blow made even more cruel by its rare genetic cause. Now she's in a race against the clock to fund the one treatment that could slow it down. 'There's no chance of me reaching retirement age so I'm doing everything I can now, while I still can,' Erin told the Daily Mail. Alzheimer's typically strikes later in life, but for Erin, it's deeply personal, and terrifyingly genetic. In May 2024, the young mum discovered she carries a rare mutation of the PSEN1 gene, one that guarantees she will develop Alzheimer's earlier than normal. Only about 200 families worldwide carry it. 'With young onset Alzheimer's, they (the specialists) said only 1 per cent of young onset Alzheimer's cases are caused by a genetic mutation,' Erin said. 'I always knew there was a 50/50 chance I'd develop it later in life. But even with my family history, I never imagined it would happen to me this early.' Erin lost her mum to Alzheimer's when she was just 17. Her mum was only 50. After further digging, she's now found out that eight members of her extended family have battled the disease too. However, the PSEN1 mutation is what makes Erin's diagnosis so rare and so aggressive. Doctors can't say much without more tests, but have told Erin that her life expectacny is between another eight to 15 years. The official diagnosis came in July, following a year-long journey of MRIs, specialist consultations and anxious waiting. It was Erin's father who first urged her to get tested for the mutation in May 2024, after she began noticing small lapses and mixed-up words, which she initially dismissed. 'A year ago I contacted Alzheimer's Australia, but they originally said they couldn't help because I didn't have a confirmed diagnosis yet,' she said. 'So, I reached out to many others including neurologists, and they all said they didn't really know what to do with me. But then I ended up with a geriatrician [a doctor specialising in the care of the elderly], and he is helping.' Despite early symptoms and a clear family history, getting answers has been slow and costly. Specialists charged up to $500 a visit. Each scan costs her hundreds more. She has since been referred to a neuropsychologist, speech therapist and dietitian - but couldn't afford to see any of them. Even a medical drink called Souvenaid, formulated to support memory in Alzheimer's patients, was too expensive at $100 a month. 'I've had to pick and choose what I can pay for. I just can't justify that as well, given the position we're in,' she said. Despite her diagnosis, Erin was told she is too young to qualify for Australian clinical trials or subsidised treatment. 'It's like they don't know what to do with me,' she said. But there is a treatment that could help, which is a breakthrough infusion drug called Leqembi. Leqembi, which is administered as an infusion every two weeks, has been shown to slow the progression of Alzheimer's by up to 30 per cent. It works by targeting and removing the sticky amyloid plaques that kill brain cells and cause cognitive decline. There's just one problem - it's only available on a case-by-case basis for people aged 50 to 90, and at a staggering cost of $90,000. 'My doctor basically said that I don't cover a lot of the criteria. But if I can supply the money, then I've got a much higher chance of being accepted,' she said. Since Evie was six weeks old, it's been just the two of them. Erin has poured every ounce of her energy into raising her daughter and building a stable life. Now, she's fighting to hold onto that life and the precious time she has left. She's started creating photo books and writing letters for Evie, capturing memories and family stories she fears she won't be able to tell one day. 'I want her to remember who I was. Who her grandmother was, too, as I'm the only one who can tell her that,' she said. A breakthrough infusion drug called Leqembi could delay Erin's symptoms by up to 30 per cent, but she is too young to qualify for it - unless she can pay $90,000 Erin's family hopes to raise the full $90,000 to cover ongoing treatments and give her a fighting chance at slowing the disease in its tracks. If treatment becomes impossible, the funds will help create lasting memories with Evie too, as well as special time together, and the chance to simply live while she still can. 'She's not asking for a miracle,' her stepsister Jessica said. 'She's just asking for more time.'
Spectator
3 hours ago
- Spectator
Green party leadership contest heats up as ballot opens
Today, Green party members can begin voting for their next party leader – or leaders – as ballots in the leadership contest have now opened. Voting will take place across the month before ballots close on 30 August with the result to be announced on 2 September, just a month before the party heads to Bournemouth for a three-day conference. The choice is between current co-leader Adrian Ramsay who is running on a joint ticket with North Herefordshire MP Ellie Chowns (after Bristol Central MP Carla Denyer announced she wouldn't be running again) and the party's current deputy leader Zack Polanski. Yet despite the competitors having worked closely together for years, the race has got off to a pretty disagreeable start. Ramsay and Polanski were pitted against each other on Iain Dale's LBC show last week. Over the course of 90 minutes, each made their case for the leadership and quizzed the other on their diverging proposals. Things got frosty when Dale asked Ramsay if he liked his deputy – at which point the co-leader became strangely tongue-tied. In a later hustings, Ramsay went on to compare Polanski to, er, Liz Truss. The Green co-leader worries that Polanski's proposals will break from a strategy that has in recent years seen the Greens quadruple their seats in Westminster (albeit from one to four), ousting a shadow cabinet member in the process. Polanski is less bothered about persuading soft Conservative voters to back the environmentalists, and instead has pushed a more radical 'eco-populism' campaign using social media platforms and prominent voices on them to help draw people to his cause. While not quite at Nigel Farage levels of TikTok followers, he has 45 times more followers than Ramsay. Left-wing media outlet Novara Media has suggested that the Green party membership has grown by 'at least 8 per cent' since Polanski launched his campaign – while the deputy leader himself recently boasted he had secured the backing of election campaign organisers and managers. Yet recent YouGov polling suggests that the Green leadership team remains relatively unknown not just among the wider population, but their own voters – with more than 84 per cent unaware of Ramsay, Chowns or Polanski. The creation of the as-yet-nameless Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana party also poses identity problems for the environmentalists. Polling has shown that those stuck on whether they should back Corbyn's group or the Greens have expressed a desire to see the latter outfit become more left-wing than environment-focused. This is where Polanski may win out over Ramsay and Chowns: he is widely seen as being more progressive on culture war issues and has shared social media clips of Corbyn and left-wing commentator Owen Jones heaping praise on him. Where Polanski is open to an electoral pact with the new left-wing party, Ramsay has warned against the Greens becoming a 'Jeremy Corbyn support act'. For his part, Jezza has this week ruled out an alliance with the Greens – saying that the group is 'not a socialist organisation' – but admitted his new party wouldn't rule out working with them 'on social justice issues'. The matter is already dividing those on the left, with some taking aim at James Schneider, the former director of communications for Corbyn's Labour party, over his support for a left-wing pact with the Greens on the background he is married to Keir Starmer's press secretary. If there's one thing on which the left is unrivalled, it's fighting amongst itself. It certainly seems unlikely that the Green party will emerge from this leadership contest unscathed.
The Independent
3 hours ago
- The Independent
Freedom Flotilla activists say they were ‘brutalised psychologically' by Israeli military after aid boat boarded
Two Australian activists have claimed they were 'brutalised psychologically' by the Israeli military, strip-searched and shackled, after their Freedom Flotilla boat was intercepted. Journalist Tania Safi and activist Robert Martin were detained while onboard the Handala, which was seeking to deliver aid to Gaza as part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition. After their arrest alongside 19 other activists on Sunday, the pair were transported to Israel and spent days in Israeli custody, where they allege they were manhandled and treated like criminals. The Handala was carrying 21 civilians representing 12 countries - including the UK - with parliamentarians, lawyers, journalists, environmentalists, and other human rights defenders among them. It was carrying aid including baby formula, nappies, food, and medicine for the Gaza strip, where a starvation crisis has prompted international outcry after dozens of Palestinians died from hunger-related causes in recent weeks. Experts, the UN, and other countries say Israeli blockades caused the crisis. The Israeli government says Hamas is at fault and has accused the Palestinian militants of stealing food from aid trucks. The two Australian activists landed back in Sydney on Friday morning, where they spoke to reporters about their ordeal. Ms Safi said at least 30 IDF members boarded Handala when it was intercepted, and claimed all were armed, some with four guns. 'They knocked me in the leg with one of their machine guns,' Ms Safi said of the moment around 30 IDF soldiers boarded the Handala after it was intercepted, speaking to The Guardian. After being taken to the port of Ashdod south of Tel Aviv, the group was taken to interrogation rooms. Ms Safi supported earlier allegations by the group that Chris Smalls, the former president of the Amazon Labour Union who was onboard the Handala, was physically assaulted by IDF troops. 'Chris was pinned down by seven or eight men,' she told the outlet. 'When I asked about him they came into the room and dragged me out by my arms, I'm still bruised from it. 'They pulled me out and threw me down on the floor, they made me take off all my clothes, they strip-searched me right there, made me squat up and down … they treated us like we were criminals.' Ms Safi, who said she witnessed 'the soullessness and the cruelty and brutality' of Israeli detention, added that soldiers would 'handcuff me and grab the handcuffs and just throw me against the wall'. She said the military tried to get the Handala activists to sign documents which said they had entered Israel illegally, which Ms Safi says is 'not true… we were taken completely against our will and brutalised psychologically in every way'. Mr Martin alleged he was not allowed any of the medication that he required, nor was he allowed to make any phone calls to loved ones and 'anybody else' - despite the Australian government demanding to Israel that they were allowed to do so. They were eventually transported to Jordan, where they were assisted by the Australian embassy and taken to hospital, he added. The Handala incident came nearly two months after the Madleen, a Freedom Flotilla with Swedish activist Greta Thunberg on board, was intercepted by the Israeli army on 9 June. The IDF has been contacted for comment. In a statement on X after the boat was seized, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said the military had prevented the boat from 'illegally entering the maritime zone of the coast of Gaza'. It added: 'The vessel is safely making its way to the shores of Israel. All passengers are safe. Unauthorized attempts to breach the blockade are dangerous, unlawful, and undermine ongoing humanitarian efforts.' Regarding the alleged assault on Mr Smalls, the Israeli foreign ministry told The Guardian on Thursday: 'Contrary to the claims made, the passenger violently resisted. This was a planned provocation intended to create media attention.'
