The federal government has bowed to pressure from the crossbench to release 20,000 new Home Care Packages for aged care, agreeing to amendments in the Senate on Wednesday.
Independent members and senators raised the alarm back in June that the delay of the government’s aged care reforms would leave 80,000 people stranded on the wait list for in-home support.
The parliamentarians signed an open letter calling on the government to fund, at a minimum, 20,000 new packages under the current Home Care Packages scheme, to bridge the gap until the rollout of reforms in November.
Crossbench pressure increased on the government this week, with questions from Indi MP Helen Haines to the Minister for Aged Care, a motion from Mayo MP Rebekha Sharkie, and amendments to aged care legislation from Independent Senator David Pocock and the Coalition.
This came after the federal health department revealed in a senate inquiry into aged care service delivery more than 120,000 older Australians are waiting to be assessed for support packages to help them live at home.
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Dr Haines said this was a win for older Australians and showed the impact of the crossbench in the interests of the nation.
“I think we have seen a victory today that will bring practical relief to 20,000 people waiting for a home care package,” she said.
“This is proof of the positive and effective work the crossbench does across the parliament for the good of the nation.
“The government had consistently rejected calls from the crossbench and peak bodies to release more packages that would help hold the waitlist steady.
“I’m pleased that today the government has seen sense.”
Speaking in parliament on Monday, Dr Haines seconded a motion from Ms Sharkie, highlighting the dire situation in the regional electorate of Indi, where the median age is over 45.
"Accessible age care services are vital to communities in our electorates as they are right across regional Australia," Dr Haines said.
"For many, access to home care support is often the difference between staying at home in their local community or having to pack up and leave town and go to a regional centre, uprooting their lives where residential age care is available and people are having to do that faster than they should because of this problem with age care in the home because the reality is home care is harder to access in the regions than in the cities," she said.
Dr Haines said the Department of Health and Age Care last week confirmed the wait list is now above 120,000 people an almost 50 per cent increase in six months.
"These are people," she said.
"Now, consider this with another 87,000 people approved but not yet receiving care.
"This means that there is more than 200,000 Australians, staggering numbers, are not getting the care they need and absolutely deserve."
In response to a question from Dr Haines, Minister for Aged Care and Seniors of Australia Sam Rae said last year alone, over 521,000 home support and comprehensive assessments were completed.
"We currently have more than 300,000 older Australians receiving home care packages, 99 per cent of people waiting for a home care package at their approved level are already receiving home care through a lower level home care package or have been approved for commonwealth home package support services and so are already receiving some level of care," he said.
"Median wait time for an aged care needs assessment from when a referral is issued to when the support plan is completed is currently 25 days."
