Pensioners Warn New Aged Care Bill Could Erode Rights of Older People

A Senate Committee has been told that the new aged care bill will take away older people’s rights while giving service providers more control over their lives.
Hannah and her husband, from regional South Australia, drove 800 kilometres to attend an inquiry hearing on Oct. 15, where they presented the views of people in their community about the Aged Care Bill 2024.
Key reforms include an enforceable Code of Conduct for providers, a new national funding model for residential aged care, revised restrictive practices arrangements to prevent harm to aged care residents, as well as the establishment of a new regulation body.
It also introduces higher quality standards for some categories of providers and mandatory reporting requirements.
However, the bill also permits providers to charge higher fees, and a portion of residents will have to pay more for things such as cleaning and shopping.
Hannah said the current laws allowed older people to have more rights and the ability to stay in their own homes rather than going into a nursing home, which she said would be impossible under the new legislation.
“Our rights will be eroded. The new bill appears to give providers more rights than the consumer,” she said.
“They even have the right to step in and petition the guardianship board to be allowed to take over the full care and financial management of a person over and above family members.
She explained that each resident might receive one hour of cleaning per week and 18 hours of gardening per year, which she said were far from sufficient.
“Our houses will progressively become dirtier. Our gardens are more and more unmanageable, and for those who live in rural areas, we’re going to have snakes in the garden,” she said.
“It’s just going to be totally unsafe, the elderly will become more isolated too, because who is going to invite people into their homes when they are dirty?
“There should not be any cap on any service. Everyone is an individual and has different needs.”
Hannah cited a comment by Aged Care Minister Anika Wells that “a cap on cleaning and gardening was to ensure that supported home recipients have enough funding in their budget for clinical care and other supports for independence, including social supports, personal care, and meal preparation.”
Hannah countered that most older members of her community could take care of themselves, needing help only with heavier tasks like cleaning.
“What we can’t do is gardening and heavy cleaning. Therefore, we need gardening and cleaning support,” she said.
She also raised concerns about the higher co-payment requirement under the new bill, which would require pensioners to contribute 17.5 percent of the costs of services related to everyday living.
“How are the elderly supposed to fund co-payments of 17.5 percent for cleaning and gardening out of their age pensions, which are already below the poverty line?” she questioned.
“We support reforms that give our residents more control, more independence, and more support to stay in their home in a retirement village setting for longer,” he said.