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NBC Sports
14 hours ago
- Automotive
- NBC Sports
Good news, bad news for NASCAR Cup drivers ahead of Chicago Street Race
Could the Chicago Street Race make for a 10? As in 10 different winners in the last 10 races. Austin Cindric's victory at Talladega in late April started the stretch of nine different winners in the last nine races. Those winners after Cindric have been: Joey Logano (Texas), Kyle Larson (Kansas), Ross Chastain (Coca-Cola 600), Ryan Blaney (Nashville), Denny Hamlin (Michigan), Shane van Gisbergen (Mexico), Chase Briscoe (Pocono) and Chase Elliott (Atlanta). So, could there be a 10th consecutive different winner this weekend on the streets of Chicago? Here is a look at the good news and bad news for Cup teams heading into Sunday's race. 23XI Racing — Good news: Tyler Reddick has three road course wins in the Next Gen era, tying him with Kyle Larson for the most in the series in that time. … Reddick finished second at Chicago last year. … Reddick has seven top 10s in the last 10 road course races. … Reddick has scored the most points (614) on road courses in the Next Gen era. … Corey Heim returns to the No. 67 car this weekend for his third Cup start of the season. Bad news: Bubba Wallace holds the final playoff spot with eight races left in the regular season. … Wallace is tied with Ryan Blaney for most DNF's this year with six. … Wallace has three top-10 finishes in 34 Cup road course starts. … Riley Herbst has seven consecutive finishes of 24th or worse. Dustin Long, Front Row Motorsports — Good news: Zane Smith has finished seventh in two of the last four races. … Smith scored a season-high five stage points at Atlanta. … Noah Gragson finished eighth at COTA earlier this year for his best road course result. … Todd Gilliland has three top-10 finishes in his last six road course starts. … Gilliland was seventh last year at Chicago. Bad news: Gilliland has placed 22nd or worse in the last five races this season. Haas Factory Team — Good news: Cole Custer finished eighth at Mexico in the most recent Cup road course race. … Custer won the 2023 Chicago Xfinity race. Bad News: Custer ranks 34th in points. Hendrick Motorsports — Good news: Hendrick Motorsports drivers rank 1-2-3 in the points. … Hendrick Motorsports has won five of the last nine road course races. … William Byron leads the points and is followed by Atlanta winner Chase Elliott (-37 points) and Kyle Larson (-42 points). … Elliott has scored three consecutive top-five finishes this season. … Elliott finished third at Mexico and fourth at COTA in the two road course races this season. … Elliott leads all drivers with 10 top-five finishes on road course races in the Next Gen era. … Alex Bowman is the defending winner of the Chicago Street Race. … Larson won the pole for last year's Chicago Street Race. … Byron has five top-five finishes, including two wins, in his last nine road course starts. Bad news: Larson has not led a lap in the last five races, his longest drought since going six races without leading a lap in a stretch that included the end of the 2019 season and beginning of the 2020 season. … Byron has finished 27th or worse in three of the last four races. Hyak Motorsports — Good news: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s sixth-place finish at Atlanta tied for his second-best result this season. … Stenhouse finished sixth at Chicago last year. Bad news: Stenhouse has finished 27th or worse in three of the last five races. Joe Gibbs Racing — Good news: Denny Hamlin averaged the most points per race in June at 40.3. … Christopher Bell has a win (Circuit of the Americas) and two runner-up finishes (Mexico, Charlotte Roval last year) in the last three road course races. … Ty Gibbs has scored the most points in the two races on the streets of Chicago. … Gibbs has an average finish of 6.0 in two Chicago races, his best among all tracks. … Chase Briscoe has led 134 laps in the last five races (he had led 75 laps in the previous 59 races). Bad news: Hamlin has one top-10 finish in 18 road course starts in the Next Gen era. Kaulig Racing — Good news: Ty Dillon finished a season-best eighth last weekend at Atlanta. … As the No. 32 seed in the In-Season Challenge, Dillon eliminated No. 1 seed Denny Hamlin and afterward told TNT: 'All you Denny fans out there, I just knocked your favorite driver out.' … All three of AJ Allmendinger's Cup wins have come on road courses. … Will Brown, the reigning Supercars champion, will drive the No. 13 this weekend for his first Cup start of the year. Bad news: Allmendinger has finished no better than 17th in the two streets races in Chicago. … Dillon's best finish on a road course is 15th at the Charlotte Roval in 2019. Nate Ryan, Legacy Motor Club — Good news: Erik Jones ranked fourth in the series in points scored in June with 156. … Jones was 27th in points entering June and exited the month 16th in the standings after four top-15 finishes in the last five races, including a fifth-place finish last weekend at Atlanta. … John Hunter Nemechek has four top-10 finishes in the last eight races. … Nemechek was sixth at Mexico in the most recent Cup road course race. … Nemechek finished second at Chicago in the inaugural Xfinity race there in 2023. Bad news: Nemechek has four finishes of 26th or worse in the last six races. … Jones has no top-10 finishes in his last 14 road course starts. Richard Childress Racing — Good news: Kyle Busch is one of three drivers to finish in the top 10 in both Chicago Street Races, joining Ty Gibbs and Michael McDowell). … Austin Hill is back in the No. 33 car this weekend, making the second of five scheduled Cup starts this season. Bad news: Austin Dillon has two top-10 finishes in 41 Cup road course starts. … Busch is winless in his last 75 Cup starts. Rick Ware Racing — Good news: Cody Ware's 13th-place finish last weekend at Atlanta was his best of the season. … It was Ware's best finish since placing 12th at Talladega in last year's playoff race. Bad news: Ware has never finished better than 24th in 17 Cup road course starts. RFK Racing — Good news: Chris Buescher scored the most points in June with 183. … Buescher has four consecutive top-10 finishes, tied for his longest streak in Cup. … Buescher' average finish of 8.8 on road courses in the Next Gen era is the best in the series. … Buescher's average start of 10.4 is the best of all drivers this season. … Ryan Preece qualified second and won the opening stage in Mexico in the most recent Cup road course event. Bad news: Brad Keselowski has gone 17 races on a road course without a top-10 finish. … Preece is the first driver below the playoff cutline. He's 23 points out with eight races left in the regular season. Spire Motorsports — Good news: Two of Justin Haley's five career top-five finishes have come on road courses (second at Chicago Street Race in 2023 and fifth at Charlotte Roval in 2022). … Michael McDowell finished fifth last year at Chicago. … McDowell is one of three drivers (Ty Gibbs and Kyle Busch are the other two) to finish in the top 10 in both races on the streets of Chicago. … Carson Hocevar has three top-15 finishes in his last four road course starts. Bad news: McDowell has finished outside the top 20 in seven of the last 11 races this season. Team Penske — Good news: Austin Cindric has led 251 laps this season, five laps shy of his career-best total in Cup. Bad news: Ryan Blaney has gone 20 consecutive races without a top-five finish on a road course. … Blaney is tied with Bubba Wallace for most DNFs this season with six. … Joey Logano has had five finishes outside the top 15 in the last six races. … Logano has one top-10 finish in his last seven road course races. Trackhouse Racing — Good news: Shane van Gisbergen won at Mexico in the most recent road course race and has finished in the top 10 in each of the last four road course races. … He won the inaugural Chicago Street Race in 2023 in his first Cup start. Bad news: Ross Chastain's 33rd-place finish last weekend at Atlanta was his worse result since the Daytona 500 in February. … It was announced Tuesday that Daniel Suarez will not return to Trackhouse Racing after this season. Wood Brothers Racing — Good news: Josh Berry has finished in the top-12 in four of the last seven races. Bad news: Berry finished 36th at Chicago last year. … Berry has not finished better than 22nd in six Cup road course starts.
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Heat advisory extended to June 27 as series of pop-up storms move through central Ohio
As a series of pop-up storms move through central Ohio this afternoon and evening, the National Weather Service has extended a heat advisory until 8 p.m. Friday, June 27, because of forecasted high daytime heat indexes and overnight lows. The storms had knocked out power to more than 1,225 AEP Ohio customers in Upper Arlington and Columbus' Northwest Side, as well as more than 350 in Reynoldsburg and another 225 in Columbus' German Village area as of 4:45 p.m., according to the utility's outage map. While power was restored to all but a few customers in Upper Arlington and Columbus' Northwest Side as of 5:20 p.m., the outage map indicated the outages in German Village and Reynoldsburg continued. Meanwhile, the weather service has also issued a flood advisory for Delaware and Franklin counties as the passing storms are expected to dump heavy rain, potentially causing minor flooding. The advisory is scheduled to expire at 6:30 p.m. Some areas that may experience minor flooding include Columbus, Dublin, Westerville, Upper Arlington, Hilliard, Worthington, Polaris, and Clintonville. The storms have already dumped between 1½ and 3 inches of rain, the weather service said. Additional rainfall amounts of up to an inch are also possible. The weather service also extended the heat advisory until 8 p.m. June 27, as heat index values are expected to be in the upper 90s to the lower 100s the next two days, the weather service said. In addition, central Ohioans can expect no relief after the sun goes down as nighttime air temperatures ar not expected to drop below 75 degrees. The heat advisory began Sunday, June 22, and was originally supposed to end at 8 p.m. Wednesday, June 25 until it was extended to Friday. The Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) announced late afternoon on June 25 that it will continue to suspend fares system-wide through Friday, June 27, as a result of the weather service extending the heat advisory in Franklin County. Fares have been suspended since Sunday, June 22 when the heat advisory first began. COTA suspends fares on all transit vehicles on all routes when the weather service issues either a heat or cold advisory or warning due to extreme temperatures. The extension of the heat advisory comes as more than 100 people in Columbus have become sick from heat-related illnesses, The Dispatch previously reported. On June 24, more than 2,100 residents living on parts of the city's Northeast and North Central sides were affected by power outages. Power was eventually restored around 11 a.m. on June 25 to a majority of customers, though over 200 remained without power at that time. That figure was down to 14 customers as of 4:45 p.m., according to AEP Ohio's online outage map. Reporter Shahid Meighan can be reached at smeighan@ at ShahidMeighan on X, and at on Bluesky. Public Safety and Breaking News Reporter Bailey Gallion can be reached at bagallion@ This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Despite passing storms, heat advisory extended to 8 p.m. June 27
NBC Sports
25-06-2025
- Automotive
- NBC Sports
Good news, bad news for NASCAR Cup drivers ahead of Atlanta weekend
Nine races remain before the playoffs begin, as the NASCAR Cup Series goes to EchoPark Speedway in Hampton, Georgia, this weekend. Saturday night's race has the chance to disrupt the playoff standings. Four times in the seven races since the track was reconfigured, there have been at least 26 cars involved in a crash in a race. Twenty-eight cars were involved in accidents in February's event. Here is a look at the good news and bad news for Cup drivers heading into the weekend. 23XI Racing — Good news: Tyler Reddick makes his 200th career Cup start this weekend. Bad news: Bubba Wallace has finished 33rd or worse in four of the last seven races, dropping him to 29 points above the playoff cutline. … Wallace's six DNFs leads the series. … Since starting the season with three consecutive 17th-place finishes (Daytona 500, Atlanta and COTA), Riley Herbst has only one finish better than 17th in the last 14 races. … Tyler Reddick has three top-five finishes this season. He's on pace for his fewest number of top-five finishes in a season since 2021 (also the last time he went winless in a season). Front Row Motorsports — Good news: The organization has won the pole for six of the last eight races at drafting tracks. … Noah Gragson's best finish of the season came at a drafting track when he placed fourth at Talladega. … Gragson has gone a series-best 60 consecutive races without a pit road speeding penalty. … Todd Gilliland ranked third in passing in the Atlanta race in February. … He has started in the top 10 in each of the last four Atlanta Cup races. … Zane Smith has five top-20 finishes in the last eight races. … Smith finished 11th in February, his best Cup finish there. Bad news: Gilliland has finished 22nd or worse in each of the last four races. … Gilliland has never scored a top-five finish in 21 Cup races on drafting tracks. Haas Factory Team — Good news: All four of Cole Custer's top-20 finishes have come in the past eight races. … Custer started a season-best fifth last weekend at Pocono. Bad News: Custer has made 134 Cup starts since his win at Kentucky in July 2020. Hendrick Motorsports — Good news: Chase Elliott heads into this weekend with back-to-back top-five finishes, the first time he's done that this season. … Elliott has the best average finish this season at 10.8. … Kyle Larson has won 13 of his last 82 Cup starts for a 15.9 percent winning percentage. … William Byron has two wins on the reconfigured Atlanta track. … Byron's four drafting track wins (two Daytona 500s and two at Atlanta) are the most in the Next Gen car. … Alex Bowman has six top-10 finishes in the last 11 races on drafting tracks. Bad news: Bowman dropped one spot in the playoff standings and now holds the final playoff spot with nine races left in the regular season. … Larson has failed to finish five of the last seven races at Atlanta due to accidents. … Larson has not won in 50 starts at drafting tracks. … Larson's five-race winless streak matches his longest of the season. Dustin Long, Hyak Motorsports — Good news: All four of Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s Cup wins have come on drafting tracks. … He finished fifth at Atlanta in February. … Stenhouse ranked second in passing in the February Atlanta race. Bad news: Stenhouse has placed 27th or worse in three of the last four races this season. Joe Gibbs Racing — Good news: Christopher Bell won the most recent Atlanta race in February. … Bell has three top-five finishes in his last five Atlanta starts. … Chase Briscoe is coming off his first Cup win with JGR, taking the checkered flag at Pocono. … Briscoe has four finishes of seventh or better in the last six races. … Denny Hamlin has won nine of his last 77 Cup starts for an 11.7 percent winning percentage. … With eight top-five finishes in his first 16 races, Hamlin is on pace to have his most top-five finishes in a season since 2021. … Ty Gibbs led a race-high 32 laps at Talladega in the most recent race on a drafting track. Bad news: Hamlin's average finish in the last seven races at Atlanta is 18th. … Hamlin is winless in 21 starts on drafting tracks in the Next Gen era (since 2022). … Briscoe has one top-10 finish in the last eight races at drafting tracks. Kaulig Racing — Good news: AJ Allmendinger has an 11.0 average finish at the reconfigured Atlanta track, a total that is tied for third among drivers who have made at least three starts at that track. Bad news: Ty Dillon has not finished better than 19th in five Cup starts at the reconfigured Atlanta track. … Allmendinger has finished 20th or worse in five of the last eight races. … Allmendinger is winless in 48 career Cup starts on drafting tracks. Legacy Motor Club — Good news: John Hunter Nemechek has finished sixth in each of the last two Cup races. … Nemechek has four top 10s in the last seven races. … Nemechek's six top 10s this season are a career high in Cup. …He finished 10th at Atlanta in February. … Nemechek ranked fourth in passing in that Atlanta race. … Erik Jones has five top-15 finishes in the last seven races. Bad news: Jones has two top-10 finishes in his last 12 starts on drafting tracks. Richard Childress Racing — Good news: Kyle Busch has finished in the top 10 in all five races at Atlanta with Richard Childress Racing, his most at a track since moving to the team. … Busch ranks second in the series in passing at drafting tracks this season. … Busch has eight top-10 finishes in his last 14 Cup starts at drafting tracks. Bad news: Austin Dillon has finished 19th or worse in six consecutive races. … Dillon has only two top-10 finishes in his last 16 starts at drafting tracks. … Busch has one top-10 result in the last nine races this season. … Busch has lost 63 points to the playoff cutline in the past two races. Rick Ware Racing — Good news: Corey LaJoie is back with the team this weekend in the No. 01 car. … LaJoie has two top-five finishes in the last seven Atlanta races. … Nine of LaJoie's 11 career top-10 finishes in Cup have come on drafting tracks. … Both of Cody Ware's two top-10 Cup finishes have come at drafting tracks. Bad news: Ware has finished 30th or worse in six of the last nine races. RFK Racing — Good news: Chris Buescher has finished in the top 10 in each of the last three races. … Buescher has nine top-10 finishes this season, his most through 17 races in a Cup season. … Brad Keselowski has three top-10 finishes in the last five races. … Ryan Preece has five top 15s in the last six races, including four top 10s. Bad news: A penalty for pitting when pit road was closed (a team miscommunication) and then a caution coming out before he had pitted prevented Keselowski from having a chance to win last week at Pocono and claim a playoff spot. … Keselowski, who has seven drafting track wins, last won on such a track in 2021. … Preece finished second at Talladega in the most recent race on a drafting track but was disqualified when his car failed post-race inspection. Spire Motorsports — Good news: Carson Hocevar finished second in the most recent Atlanta race in February. … He ranked first in passing in that race, via Racing Insights. … Hocevar has finished in the top 10 in the last two races on drafting tracks, placing second at Atlanta and sixth at Talladega. Bad news: It has been 158 starts since Justin Haley's lone Cup win at Daytona in July 2019. … Michael McDowell has placed 21st or worse in seven of the last 10 races. Team Penske — Good news: The organization led 131 of 266 laps at Atlanta in February. … The team has won seven of the 14 stages since the Atlanta track was redone. … Ryan Blaney has six consecutive top 10s at Atlanta, his longest streak at any track. … He has led in all seven Atlanta races on the reconfigured track. … Blaney has four wins on drafting tracks. … Blaney has six top-five finishes in the last 10 races this season. … Since the track's reconfiguration, Austin Cindric has led 193 laps at Atlanta (second most among all drivers). … Joey Logano has two wins on the reconfigured Atlanta track. Bad news: Logano's Atlanta win during last year's playoffs is his only top-10 finish in the last 10 races on a drafting track. Trackhouse Racing — Good news: Daniel Suarez has placed in the top two, including a win, in three of the last four Atlanta races. … Suarez is tied with Ryan Blaney for the most top-five finishes at the reconfigured Atlanta track with four. … Ross Chastain has four top 10s in his last seven Atlanta starts. … Connor Zilisch will make his third career Cup start this weekend, driving the No. 87 car. Bad news: Shane van Gisbergen's 31st-place finish last week at Pocono was his lowest since Bristol in April. Wood Brothers Racing — Good news: Josh Berry led a career-high 56 laps at Atlanta in February. … Berry ranked second in defense in the Atlanta race, according to Racing Insights. … Berry started third at Atlanta and won the opening stage in February. Bad news: Berry has one top-10 finish in the 12 races since his Las Vegas win.
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
NASCAR takeaways: Shane van Gisbergen gets sick — and makes history in Mexico City
There's something about Shane van Gisbergen and being the first. Two years ago, he made his NASCAR Cup Series debut at the first-ever Chicago Street Race — and won it. Sunday, as the circuit ran its first international points race since 1958 and the inaugural Cup event in Mexico, he prevailed again. He started on the pole and cleared the field by 16 seconds at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. Advertisement Oh, and he did so while sick. 'What a week,' van Gisbergen said. 'I'm really enjoying myself here. I felt pretty rubbish today, leaking out both holes. That wasn't fun ... But our car was amazing ... What a pleasure just ripping lap after lap and watching them get smaller in the mirror. Unreal.' Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman and Michael McDowell filled out the rest of the top five. Here are three takeaways: 1. Shane van Gisbergen wins as Mexico City favorite June 15: Shane Van Gisbergen celebrates winning the Viva Mexico 250 at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City. SVG had to have this one circled on the calendar. The 36-year-old Cup Series rookie had earned only one top-10 this season, and it happened 13 races ago at COTA. This was the first road course since then. Advertisement He entered the weekend 33rd in the standings, 130 points below the playoff cutline. Now, he's in. He's the 10th driver to clinch a postseason spot this year. SVG arrived in Mexico as the betting favorite, backed that up in qualifying with the fastest lap time, and then led a race-high and career-high 60 laps in his No. 88 Trackhouse Chevrolet. 'I was just trying to stay in a rhythm and a routine,' van Gisbergen said. 'Man, that was epic.' And guess what. He will compete on road courses three of the next eight weeks. 2. Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman race into top five MEXICO CITY, MEXICO - JUNE 15: NASCAR Cup Series driver, Chase Elliott signs autographs for NASCAR fans in the garage area the NASCAR Cup Series Viva Mexico 250 at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on June 15, 2025 in Mexico City, Mexico. (Photo by) Not a bad day for two of the Hendrick Motorsports boys. Advertisement Elliott sped to third. Bowman ranked fourth. For Elliott, it was his best finish of the season. He had slotted 15th in back-to-back races and had not produced a top-five result since Talladega in April. His performance Sunday also proved his old road-course magic still lingers within that No. 9 Chevy. He'll continue to stand near the top of the odds boards when NASCAR hits the road. Bowman surely hopes his fourth-place mark ends his prolonged slump. Prior to Mexico City, he stumbled to three straight finishes of 29th or worse. He placed better than 27th only twice in the previous nine races. 3. NASCAR's back-and-forth schedule continues this week Since leaving Nashville two weeks ago, the NASCAR caravan went north to Michigan, way south to Mexico and now goes way back north to Pocono, where all three major circuits will race next weekend — Truck Series on Friday, Xfinity on Saturday, Cup on Sunday. Advertisement After that, it's back south to Atlanta and north again to Chicago before breaking things up in mid-July with a westward journey to Sonoma. Got all that? — Ken Willis contributed to this report (This story was updated to add a gallery.) This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR results: Shane van Gisbergen is Mexico City race winner
The Advertiser
10-06-2025
- Health
- The Advertiser
Independents unite to demand home support for 20,000 after aged care delay
In their first flex of group political muscle since the federal election, Australia's independent MPs have teamed up to call on the government to fund - within weeks - at least 20,000 extra aged care home support packages. The government announced in early June it was delaying by five months big changes to aged care, which had been due to start mid-year, to give service providers more time to prepare. But 10 crossbenchers have teamed up to express concern about the impact of the postponement on the nearly 83,000 elderly Australians on the waiting list for home care. "Research shows that the longer people go without appropriate home care supports, the higher their risk of injury or hospitalisation," the MPs said in a June 10 letter to Health Minister Mark Butler and Aged Care Minister Sam Rae. "This delay will also imperil your government's commitment that by 2027 no one will wait more than 90 days for a package. "On behalf of people in our communities, we are calling on the Albanese government to, at a minimum, fund 20,000 new packages to commence on 1 July 2025 under the current home care packages scheme, which can then be rolled over onto the new support at home program when it eventually commences," the letter reads. The call for bridging support to cover the delay is supported by both Council on the Ageing (COTA) and the Older Persons Advocacy Network. "I regularly have families contacting me about the excessively long wait times for home care packages," ACT independent senator David Pocock said. "We can't afford to delay this further." Dr Helen Haines, the member for Indi in north-east Victoria, said waiting times were lengthened by a lack of qualified people to provide care in regional areas. "We also can't delay the rollout of a pricing framework that fairly reflects the travel costs to deliver care in rural areas," she said. Any setback for older people who wanted to stay at home was "unacceptable", Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie said. "Both sides of politics have dropped the ball on this issue over the last ten years," she said. "What the minister calls 'a brief deferral' will directly impact the lives of older Australians." Sydney-based Allegra Spender said she had heard "heartbreaking" stories of elderly people forced into nursing homes due to the long wait for assistance at home, while Dr Monique Ryan in Melbourne said "older Australians shouldn't suffer because of the aged care system's failures". Andrew Gee, the newly re-elected independent MP for Calare in NSW, also put his name to the letter in a sign the former National - who quit the party over its opposition to the Indigenous Voice to Parliament - will work with the so-called teals in this parliament. The other signatories were Sydney's Dr Sophie Scamps and Zali Steggall, Andrew Wilkie from Tasmania, and Kate Chaney from Western Australia. Given Labor's thumping majority win at the May election, the independents will have less sway in this parliament, but the letter is the first indication they will nonetheless use their numbers to lobby together. Home care packages are a form of commonwealth assistance designed to help people aged 65 and over to stay at home longer by providing assistance with household tasks, personal care and some medical care, such as that provided by nurses. The government has pledged to switch to a $5.6 billion "support at home" system, promising to be "the greatest improvement to aged care in 30 years" designed to slash waiting lists. The health minister's office has been contacted for comment. In their first flex of group political muscle since the federal election, Australia's independent MPs have teamed up to call on the government to fund - within weeks - at least 20,000 extra aged care home support packages. The government announced in early June it was delaying by five months big changes to aged care, which had been due to start mid-year, to give service providers more time to prepare. But 10 crossbenchers have teamed up to express concern about the impact of the postponement on the nearly 83,000 elderly Australians on the waiting list for home care. "Research shows that the longer people go without appropriate home care supports, the higher their risk of injury or hospitalisation," the MPs said in a June 10 letter to Health Minister Mark Butler and Aged Care Minister Sam Rae. "This delay will also imperil your government's commitment that by 2027 no one will wait more than 90 days for a package. "On behalf of people in our communities, we are calling on the Albanese government to, at a minimum, fund 20,000 new packages to commence on 1 July 2025 under the current home care packages scheme, which can then be rolled over onto the new support at home program when it eventually commences," the letter reads. The call for bridging support to cover the delay is supported by both Council on the Ageing (COTA) and the Older Persons Advocacy Network. "I regularly have families contacting me about the excessively long wait times for home care packages," ACT independent senator David Pocock said. "We can't afford to delay this further." Dr Helen Haines, the member for Indi in north-east Victoria, said waiting times were lengthened by a lack of qualified people to provide care in regional areas. "We also can't delay the rollout of a pricing framework that fairly reflects the travel costs to deliver care in rural areas," she said. Any setback for older people who wanted to stay at home was "unacceptable", Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie said. "Both sides of politics have dropped the ball on this issue over the last ten years," she said. "What the minister calls 'a brief deferral' will directly impact the lives of older Australians." Sydney-based Allegra Spender said she had heard "heartbreaking" stories of elderly people forced into nursing homes due to the long wait for assistance at home, while Dr Monique Ryan in Melbourne said "older Australians shouldn't suffer because of the aged care system's failures". Andrew Gee, the newly re-elected independent MP for Calare in NSW, also put his name to the letter in a sign the former National - who quit the party over its opposition to the Indigenous Voice to Parliament - will work with the so-called teals in this parliament. The other signatories were Sydney's Dr Sophie Scamps and Zali Steggall, Andrew Wilkie from Tasmania, and Kate Chaney from Western Australia. Given Labor's thumping majority win at the May election, the independents will have less sway in this parliament, but the letter is the first indication they will nonetheless use their numbers to lobby together. Home care packages are a form of commonwealth assistance designed to help people aged 65 and over to stay at home longer by providing assistance with household tasks, personal care and some medical care, such as that provided by nurses. The government has pledged to switch to a $5.6 billion "support at home" system, promising to be "the greatest improvement to aged care in 30 years" designed to slash waiting lists. The health minister's office has been contacted for comment. In their first flex of group political muscle since the federal election, Australia's independent MPs have teamed up to call on the government to fund - within weeks - at least 20,000 extra aged care home support packages. The government announced in early June it was delaying by five months big changes to aged care, which had been due to start mid-year, to give service providers more time to prepare. But 10 crossbenchers have teamed up to express concern about the impact of the postponement on the nearly 83,000 elderly Australians on the waiting list for home care. "Research shows that the longer people go without appropriate home care supports, the higher their risk of injury or hospitalisation," the MPs said in a June 10 letter to Health Minister Mark Butler and Aged Care Minister Sam Rae. "This delay will also imperil your government's commitment that by 2027 no one will wait more than 90 days for a package. "On behalf of people in our communities, we are calling on the Albanese government to, at a minimum, fund 20,000 new packages to commence on 1 July 2025 under the current home care packages scheme, which can then be rolled over onto the new support at home program when it eventually commences," the letter reads. The call for bridging support to cover the delay is supported by both Council on the Ageing (COTA) and the Older Persons Advocacy Network. "I regularly have families contacting me about the excessively long wait times for home care packages," ACT independent senator David Pocock said. "We can't afford to delay this further." Dr Helen Haines, the member for Indi in north-east Victoria, said waiting times were lengthened by a lack of qualified people to provide care in regional areas. "We also can't delay the rollout of a pricing framework that fairly reflects the travel costs to deliver care in rural areas," she said. Any setback for older people who wanted to stay at home was "unacceptable", Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie said. "Both sides of politics have dropped the ball on this issue over the last ten years," she said. "What the minister calls 'a brief deferral' will directly impact the lives of older Australians." Sydney-based Allegra Spender said she had heard "heartbreaking" stories of elderly people forced into nursing homes due to the long wait for assistance at home, while Dr Monique Ryan in Melbourne said "older Australians shouldn't suffer because of the aged care system's failures". Andrew Gee, the newly re-elected independent MP for Calare in NSW, also put his name to the letter in a sign the former National - who quit the party over its opposition to the Indigenous Voice to Parliament - will work with the so-called teals in this parliament. The other signatories were Sydney's Dr Sophie Scamps and Zali Steggall, Andrew Wilkie from Tasmania, and Kate Chaney from Western Australia. Given Labor's thumping majority win at the May election, the independents will have less sway in this parliament, but the letter is the first indication they will nonetheless use their numbers to lobby together. Home care packages are a form of commonwealth assistance designed to help people aged 65 and over to stay at home longer by providing assistance with household tasks, personal care and some medical care, such as that provided by nurses. The government has pledged to switch to a $5.6 billion "support at home" system, promising to be "the greatest improvement to aged care in 30 years" designed to slash waiting lists. The health minister's office has been contacted for comment. In their first flex of group political muscle since the federal election, Australia's independent MPs have teamed up to call on the government to fund - within weeks - at least 20,000 extra aged care home support packages. The government announced in early June it was delaying by five months big changes to aged care, which had been due to start mid-year, to give service providers more time to prepare. But 10 crossbenchers have teamed up to express concern about the impact of the postponement on the nearly 83,000 elderly Australians on the waiting list for home care. "Research shows that the longer people go without appropriate home care supports, the higher their risk of injury or hospitalisation," the MPs said in a June 10 letter to Health Minister Mark Butler and Aged Care Minister Sam Rae. "This delay will also imperil your government's commitment that by 2027 no one will wait more than 90 days for a package. "On behalf of people in our communities, we are calling on the Albanese government to, at a minimum, fund 20,000 new packages to commence on 1 July 2025 under the current home care packages scheme, which can then be rolled over onto the new support at home program when it eventually commences," the letter reads. The call for bridging support to cover the delay is supported by both Council on the Ageing (COTA) and the Older Persons Advocacy Network. "I regularly have families contacting me about the excessively long wait times for home care packages," ACT independent senator David Pocock said. "We can't afford to delay this further." Dr Helen Haines, the member for Indi in north-east Victoria, said waiting times were lengthened by a lack of qualified people to provide care in regional areas. "We also can't delay the rollout of a pricing framework that fairly reflects the travel costs to deliver care in rural areas," she said. Any setback for older people who wanted to stay at home was "unacceptable", Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie said. "Both sides of politics have dropped the ball on this issue over the last ten years," she said. "What the minister calls 'a brief deferral' will directly impact the lives of older Australians." Sydney-based Allegra Spender said she had heard "heartbreaking" stories of elderly people forced into nursing homes due to the long wait for assistance at home, while Dr Monique Ryan in Melbourne said "older Australians shouldn't suffer because of the aged care system's failures". Andrew Gee, the newly re-elected independent MP for Calare in NSW, also put his name to the letter in a sign the former National - who quit the party over its opposition to the Indigenous Voice to Parliament - will work with the so-called teals in this parliament. The other signatories were Sydney's Dr Sophie Scamps and Zali Steggall, Andrew Wilkie from Tasmania, and Kate Chaney from Western Australia. Given Labor's thumping majority win at the May election, the independents will have less sway in this parliament, but the letter is the first indication they will nonetheless use their numbers to lobby together. Home care packages are a form of commonwealth assistance designed to help people aged 65 and over to stay at home longer by providing assistance with household tasks, personal care and some medical care, such as that provided by nurses. The government has pledged to switch to a $5.6 billion "support at home" system, promising to be "the greatest improvement to aged care in 30 years" designed to slash waiting lists. The health minister's office has been contacted for comment.
