Message from the CEO, Craig Gear
The Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN) has reluctantly supported a 4-month delay to the implementation of the new rights-based Aged Care Act announced today because it was becoming increasingly apparent that older people didn’t have access to the level of detail they needed to make informed decisions about their aged care.
In the weeks leading up to the scheduled roll-out of this historic piece of legislation, on 1 July 2025, there was mounting concern and confusion. Service providers had made repeated calls for the Australian Government to delay the start of the new Support at Home program, saying they were not ready and needed more details from government to deliver it. Members of OPAN’s own National Older Persons Reference Group publicly backed this position.
Aged care advocates were reporting an increase in calls from older people who were worried they wouldn’t be able to afford the aged care services they needed to remain living independently at home. Almost 4,000 older people, family members, advocates, and service providers registered last week for OPAN’s webinar on changes to aged care costs and fees for in-home care. Between them, they submitted 400 questions.
While the macro design of the reform is solid, it has become increasingly apparent that older people don’t have the detailed information they need to give their informed consent. Last week, OPAN and COTA Australia wrote to the government to give their in-principle support for a short delay. Overall, it’s the right decision. The joint letter raised older people’s concerns around the lack of information about costs, fees and services under the new Support at Home program and the lack of appropriate systems to ensure continuity of care and services during the transition.
Until this point, OPAN had been steadfast in its call for the Act to be implemented, as promised, on 1 July 2025.
Why? Because the Act and the funding model that accompanies it are a package deal – we can’t have one without the other. And while OPAN doesn’t agree with everything that’s in that package, we believe it’s significantly better than the one we have.
Overall, the new rights-based Act:
- delivers faster services to the community
- gives older people more choice and control over their aged care
- provides stronger protections
- manages complaints in an easier and more respectful manner
- has significant consequences for providers who do the wrong thing.
While it’s not the Act the Aged Care Royal Commission recommended, OPAN supports the roll out of the new legislation on 1 November 2025 without further delay. Older people have already waited far too long for their rights to be upheld. Now is not the time to take our collective foot off the pedal. The changes push out the timeline for older people to receive more timely and rights-focused aged care. OPAN will continue to hold the government and providers to account.
We are calling for the release of a minimum 20,000 additional home care packages during the four-month delay to reduce the current 83,000 people waiting up to 11 months to receive the appropriate level of home care. Inadequate in-home care support pushes older people prematurely into residential aged care.
The extra 4-month window of time does, however, enable us to address a number of outstanding issues prior to the Act’s implementation.
Our immediate 5 key areas of focus are:
- equitable, accessible hardship provisions with an easier process that ensures a rapid response
- the removal of co-contributions on personal and respite care
- timely assessment and reassessments for aged care services and a significant reduction in waiting times for home care packages
- holding providers who are charging unreasonable prices for their services to account
- service agreements.
Government, service providers, peak bodies, older people with lived experience of aged care, and other key sector stakeholders must work together to ensure the smooth roll out of the Act on 1 November so older people get the rights-based aged care they deserve.
