In last night’s federal budget announcement, the Albanese Government unveiled a significant pay rise for aged care nurses, yet it offered no additional funding to tackle the growing crisis of more than 82,000 older Australians languishing on waiting lists for home care packages.
This omission has sparked concern among advocates and opposition figures alike, as the demand for in-home support continues to surge, leaving vulnerable individuals without the assistance they urgently need.
The budget allocates AUD 2.6 billion to boost wages for approximately 60,000 aged care nurses, a move that will see registered nurses earn an extra AUD 22,000 annually compared to pre-Labor election levels.
This investment builds on the government’s commitment to improve pay and conditions in the sector, with hopes it will stem the tide of workforce shortages by retaining existing staff and attracting new talent.
However, while this step has been welcomed as a vital recognition of nurses’ value, it does little to address the immediate needs of older Australians waiting for care in their own homes.
Latest government figures paint a stark picture. As of 31 December 2024, 82,960 individuals were on the priority waiting list for home care packages, a staggering 189 per cent increase since June 2023.
For those with the highest needs, wait times now stretch between 12 and 15 months. This dramatic rise underscores a system struggling to keep pace with an ageing population increasingly eager to remain independent at home rather than move into residential care.
Shadow Aged Care Minister Anne Ruston has labelled the situation “absolutely unacceptable,” arguing that the government’s failure to act is jeopardising the wellbeing of the next generation of older Australians.
The home care package scheme, designed to support people in maintaining their independence, appears to be buckling under pressure. Despite the clear escalation in demand, the budget contains no new funds to reduce the backlog or shorten wait times.
Critics argue this oversight risks undermining the government’s broader aged care reform agenda, which includes AUD 300 million over five years to implement recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.
While these reforms aim to enhance the sector’s long-term sustainability, they offer little immediate relief to those currently waiting.
Meanwhile, challenges persist in residential aged care. Recent data reveals that nearly half of all homes (47 per cent) are not meeting required care time targets for residents, with one in four failing to provide sufficient registered nurse hours.
The pay rise for nurses may help address staffing shortages in these facilities over time, but it does not directly alleviate the bottleneck in home care services, where the need is growing most acutely.
Anne Ruston has been vocal in her criticism, pointing out that the waiting list has nearly tripled in just 18 months under Labor’s watch.
“The Albanese Government is overseeing a home care wait list that continues to blow out,” she said, highlighting the plight of more than 82,000 vulnerable Australians assessed as needing support but left without it.
Her concerns echo a broader sentiment that while wage increases are a step forward for workers, they do not address the systemic shortfall in service provision.
For older Australians and their families, the lack of new funding in this budget represents a missed opportunity to ease a mounting crisis.
The government’s focus on workforce investment is commendable, but without parallel efforts to expand home care capacity, thousands will remain in limbo, waiting for the support they were promised.
As the population ages and preferences shift towards ageing in place, the pressure on this system will only intensify, raising questions about how long the current approach can hold before more comprehensive action is taken.
My father has been waiting 6 months, he lives in another state to all of us and now that he has a homecare support worker coming she absolutely does nothing but vaccum that’s it, she does not go through his care plan like we organised, she will go through his fridge and sit and eat his food, yet the Catholic home that he is at says nothing even after we have complained !! You can wait forever for a homecare support worker yet the one you get will raid your fridge and do Jack!!!!! And the good workers leave because the managers at these age care homes treat them terribly .. absolute joke
I continue to complain that aged care and services for people with disability are merely afterthoughts, in the minds of those who make decisions on how we live and die.
I am sorry but is it really the governments responsibility to boost the wages of anyone working for a private company? Do they boost the pay Kmart or Big W workers to ensure we have retail workers, no but they are paying Aged Care nurses, privately employed to work in aged care. The money ear marked for wages should be used to provide care for older Australians, reduce the waiting lists for home care packages and provide more fully funded beds in residential aged care. Providers like Opal HealthCare, Regis and Estia need to pay their staff wages. There must be a way. As an example, in 2023, Opal HealthCare, Australia’s largest aged care provider, reported a loss of $65 million despite revenue of $1.24 billion, with $852 million coming from government fees and subsidies and $203 million from resident fees. Do these figures make sense to anyone? I appreciate the not for profit providers may struggle to pay higher wages so perhaps that section of the market can be looked at seperately form those for profit companies.
I am not an account but how can it be, for example, that HCP providers are crying poor when they are charge 35% of the HCP for management fees and care management charges then charge a consumer $75 an hour to have assistance showering (for example) when the worker is paid $35 an hour, if they are lucky? As of June 2023, there were 923 home care package (HCP) providers, there is a reason they are in the market and it’s because they make money.
As for residential aged care, they too are saying they run at a loss despite the huge amounts of funding they receive from government. The Royal Commission was suppose to result in improvements and whilst from 1 July we will see change, it will not solve the issue as long as profit is more important than care and that, unfortunately is the reality whilst aged care services are provided by for profit organisations.
Vote labour greens and teals out of government. Use your preference wisely put them LAST get rid of the useless corrupt government!
AND the wait time for those desperately needing to be assessed and reassigned a higher package level meaning they currently receive an inadequate level of service and highly at risk of admission to permanent care.