Aged Care Act postponed to November: Can government mend its failings?

The Australian Government has deferred the new Aged Care Act from 1 July 2025 to 1 November 2025, a decision announced by Minister for Aged Care and Seniors Sam Rae at the Ageing Australia Victoria State Conference to cheers of support earlier today.

The four-month delay, prompted by urgent concerns from providers, seniors, and advocates, aims to address significant gaps in readiness for the Act and its flagship Support at Home program, which critics have called a “ticking time bomb” due to its punitive design and lack of clarity.

The Act, a cornerstone of the Albanese Government’s aged care reforms, seeks to deliver a rights-based framework for over 1.4 million older Australians, with strengthened quality standards, enhanced transparency, and the replacement of Home Care Packages with Support at Home.

However, with just weeks until the original start date, providers like Adrian Morgan of Flexi Care Inc. warned that the program’s flaws, high co-contributions, inflexible funding, and delayed reassessments could push vulnerable seniors into neglect, hospitalisation, or premature residential care.

Support at Home, set to offer eight funding levels from $11,000 to $78,000 annually, requires pensioners and retirees to pay up to 50% for “Independence” services like personal care and 80% for “Everyday Living” services like cleaning or shopping.

For a pensioner earning $29,874 a year, costs could exceed $10,000 annually, forcing many to skip essentials like showers or social outings. “People could develop infections, suffer falls, or face isolation,” Morgan cautioned, citing risks of declining health and mobility.

Professor Kathy Eagar, an aged care financing expert, slammed the funding model as deceptive, noting that the top $78,000 package includes consumer contributions, not additional funds, potentially driving seniors to unregulated “black market” care.

Seniors self-managing home care, like Paul Absalom and Sue Watts, echoed these concerns in an open letter to ministers, warning that the “user pays” system could destitute vulnerable pensioners.

With 88% of current Home Care Package recipients financially struggling, they argue that contributions of 20% or more of income—such as $198.60 weekly for a part-pensioner like “Sue” with $40,000 income – will force cuts to critical services, pushing people into residential care at $120,000 per resident, far costlier than home support.

“The maths don’t work,” they wrote, urging a delay to 2026 and consultation with those directly affected.

The program’s rigidity exacerbates these issues. Reassessments for new services can take six months to a year, leaving seniors like an elderly woman Morgan cited – whose carer daughter was hospitalised – vulnerable to malnutrition or falls.

A 10% cap on unspent funds and a four-month limit on palliative care funding, branded “cruel,” further threaten care continuity. Morgan’s proposals, including reclassifying personal care as contribution-free and raising the carry-over limit to 25%, aim to prevent such crises without breaking the budget.

In open letters to providers and older Australians, Minister Rae acknowledged these concerns, citing feedback from his first three weeks in the role. “You have told us you need more time to prepare your clients, support your workers, and get your systems ready,” he wrote.

“We will use this extra time to finalise operational and digital processes, provide guidance, and train staff.” The delay also postpones Support at Home to 1 November, with existing programs like the Commonwealth Home Support Programme continuing in the interim.

Minister for Health and Ageing Mark Butler stressed that the deferral ensures “all operational, digital, and legislative pieces are in place” for an orderly rollout.

Ageing Australia welcomed the decision, with CEO Tom Symondson calling it a “win” for older Australians.

“Rushed reforms could jeopardise care quality,” he said. “Providers have been working flat out but lack the information needed to proceed.”

The Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN) supported the delay but urged 20,000 additional Home Care Packages to clear the 83,000-person waitlist, warning that inadequate support risks premature institutionalisation. Catholic Health Australia’s CEO Jason Kara noted that the delay avoids risks like unsigned service agreements due to unclear co-contribution rules.

Public frustration remains high. Pensioners like Beverley Wilson, struggling with basic tasks, fear unaffordable costs, while others, like Carolyn Packer, argue that means-testing Home Care Packages for already-assessed pensioners is unfair.

Workers, stretched by existing demands under the 1997 Act, express mixed relief and exasperation. “We’re ready for change, but the waiting is tough,” one carer said.

Eagar disputes the government’s $18.8 billion savings projection, predicting a surge in hospitalisations – already clogging 20% of public hospital beds – that could erase any fiscal gains.

Minister Rae reaffirmed the commitment to a “high-quality, sustainable aged care system,” with amendments to the Aged Care Rules expected before November. Updates will be shared on the Department of Health website.

While the delay offers hope to address these “curable flaws,” as Morgan calls them, the sector awaits concrete changes to ensure the reforms deliver for older Australians without pushing them over a financial cliff.