A history-making Bill designed to begin significant reform of Australia’s aged care sector has been the Albanese Government’s first to pass through the 47th Parliament.
Federal Member for Macquarie, Susan Templeman, said the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response) Bill 2022 would enable major improvements to aged care to begin, in line with the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.
“This is an issue very close to my heart, and my community’s,” Ms Templeman said in an August 4 speech to Parliament.
“One of the changes that we've made will lead to a more equitable funding approach. That means it'll better match the providers' costs in delivering care to residents than the previous government's regime did.
“What we'll also be expecting … is the publishing of star ratings for all residential aged-care facilities. That'll be in place by the end of this year.
“It will put a spotlight on the sector, and it will allow people to actually compare the quality and the safety performance. It will no longer just be gossip and word-of-mouth, people will be able to actually go and see the data.
“The legislation also includes measures to extend the serious incident response scheme to in-home care providers.
“I see this as a really significant start to the many issues that we face in fixing home care, which is such an important part of our aged-care services.
“All of this means greater transparency and is a really significant step forward for aged care.
“There's more to do, we're not finished with aged-care reforms. We've really only got started.”
The Bill is a critical first step in reforming the aged care sector, delivering on Labor’s pre-election commitment. It passed both houses of Parliament on August 2.
