The Australian Government’s new Support at Home program, has been promoted with a glossy new advertisement from the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.
But the video has drawn sharp criticism from aged care advocates, who have labelled it misleading, condescending, and out of touch with the realities of aged care in Australia.
Adrian Morgan, General Manager of Flexi Care, a not-for-profit aged care provider, has been one of the most vocal critics, calling for the advertisement to be referred to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for its misleading claims. In a recent LinkedIn post, Morgan slammed the ad’s assertion that “the support you need to stay at home is there when you need it,” calling it “demonstrably false” given the lengthy waiting lists for assessments and funding allocation.
In an interview, Morgan elaborated on his concerns, pointing to the significant delays faced by older Australians seeking support. “There are very long waiting lists even to be assessed, in many parts of the country, six months, up to maybe 12 months in some areas,” he said. “Even after assessment, you’ve got a further waiting period to actually get the services you need, and that could be another 12 months quite easily. So, to say the support is there when you need it is so far from accurate.”
Morgan shared a stark example of a 99-year-old client with multiple serious medical conditions who has been waiting for an assessment since January 2025. Despite repeated efforts to prioritise her case, she ended up in hospital last week due to insufficient support. “A compassionate community would not allow that to happen,” Morgan said, highlighting the real-world consequences of delays in the system. “It’s not a joke that a substantial number of people on the waiting list die before they get the services they’ve been assessed for.”
Beyond the misleading claims, the advertisement has been widely criticised for its portrayal of older Australians. Morgan described the ad’s slow-motion filming technique as “condescending” and “infantilising,” likening it to “nappy commercials for babies.” He argued that the ad fails to depict seniors as active, independent members of the community.
“It’s not respectful,” he said. “Older people move naturally, some are a bit slower, but not everybody. The assumption that everybody needs this sort of treatment is quite extraordinary from a government department responsible for setting the tone on how the community views older people.”
The ad’s omission of participant contributions, financial contributions required from some seniors, particularly those not in the grandfathered category, has also drawn ire. Morgan noted that this omission could lead to a “shock” for pensioners and others who rely on the ad for information, only to discover significant financial obligations and lengthy wait times.
“If you just watched that ad and relied on it, you could be misled,” he said. “It undermines confidence in the sector because providers like us have to tell people, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t do what that ad says.’”
Morgan’s LinkedIn post sparked a wave of agreement from other aged care advocates, who echoed his concerns about the ad’s patronising tone and lack of transparency. One commenter noted that the ad “skips the reality check,” while another described the My Aged Care system as “a complete disgrace,” citing personal experiences of delays and dismissals. Others expressed frustration at the ad’s failure to show seniors engaging actively in the community, instead portraying them as vulnerable and passive.
The backlash has prompted calls for the Department of Health to withdraw the ad and rethink its approach. Morgan suggested that future campaigns should focus on portraying older people positively, sharing accurate facts, including “uncomfortable” ones, and consulting directly with seniors to ensure their voices are heard.
“There are a growing number of older people speaking for themselves with a loud voice because they don’t see their interests being well represented,” he said. “The department could talk to them.”
Morgan also highlighted the need for truth in advertising to build trust in the aged care sector. “If you can build the sense that you won’t be lied to or misled, it’s much easier to build trust in the whole system,” he said. He pointed to strengths in the Support at Home program, such as support for end-of-life care and access to equipment like wheelchairs without needing to save up funds, but stressed that these positives must be balanced with honest acknowledgment of challenges like wait times and contributions.
As the Support at Home program’s launch looms, the controversy surrounding the advertisement underscores broader issues in aged care reform. Advocates like Morgan hope that organisations such as Ageing Australia, COTA, and OPAN will raise these concerns with the department to ensure more accurate and respectful communication. “The whole sector, including the government, should be speaking with one voice,” Morgan said.
With trust in the aged care system already fragile, the Department of Health faces a critical challenge: to deliver campaigns that reflect the realities of the system while empowering and respecting the older Australians they serve. For now, the Support at Home ad has missed the mark, leaving advocates and providers calling for change.
This article is very good.
There are many older Australians waiting for allocation of their “home care package” and in many cases the health of the person is adversely affected by the lack of help and the anxiety of not know when or if that help will be available.
Many calls to My Aged Care get no results at all. Just a message to say it is being looked into.
Would politicians wait for help on that basis? The wait period seems to be between 6months and forever and there is never any updates or help to solve the issue.
In this time many elder Australians are living in pain and unable to get help.
It seems that politicians can increase their wages on a minutes notice but not consider elderly Australians at all.
Yes. I agree with all the criticisms listed. For me – by far the greatest deceptions in this advertisement are:
1. It portrays all these kinds of support as “new” – when they have all been available through the current Home Care Package system (albeit with increasingly dysfunctional waiting periods)
and
2. It utterly omits the key fact that the new Support At Home system will massively increase the fees charged to the recipient – especially full Pensioners and part Pensioners who can least afford to pay. The house cleaning shown? Currently free for a full Pensioner, but under SAH a full pensioner will have to pay 17.5% of the cost, and a Part pensioner anything up to 80% – which is the level for a fully self funded retiree (many of whom are NOT wealthy at all). Yes – you can apply for “Financial Hardship Assistance” – but only IF you have the ability, or someone to help, to download and complete the 17 page SA462 application form, and then wait, and wait, and wait…….
Not forgetting:
3. Support At Home is ridiculously complex. The current system already confuses most Clients – not just care recipients, but also their adult children and advisors. SAH is so complicated that even the Home Care Providers are struggling to understand how to make it work – especially given the fact that the Government IT systems required for that are not yet ready and show no signs of becoming ready for 1 November.
Support At Home is deceitful, poorly thought through, overly complex and destined for failure.
It is a nightmare trying to navigate for assistance particularly for my very sick mum 89 who can barely walk. 18mths to get a cognitive test then another one if my sister wants to be Power of attorney. Mum lives in a housing commission unit. Dark and cold in winter. She won’t use her heater and doesn’t eat properly but my sister takes her out twice a week with her wheels walker for fish and chips. Blue care come in the mornings to give her her meds and there are alot of meds but she forgets to take the night time ones. It was too expensive to have bluecare come again in the afternoons so sister would phone every evening to remind mum to take her meds. In and out of hospital recently for Pneumonia. Make sure your parents have a good understanding of who is going to be power of attorney as there are some horrible family members out there who make it harder for decent kids who just want the best for their parents. Cost more than you will know! Nothing is free!!
Advertising Agencies are great at selling advertising, particularly to overworked and understaffed Government Departments and Politicians.
The advertisements are primarily to sell the advertising to Government.
Thankyou Jakob and Adrian Morgan.
Many older Australians are independently advocating to their peers and to the govt, Council of Elders,OPAN and COTA to inform and educate the negative impact SaH will have on seniors. This add is so misleading. There are over 80000 older Australians waiting to receive support to live healthily with joy at home. There are older Australians in hospital unable to return home until services are in place. Unfortunately some may prematurely enter RAC before they want as lack of in home services lead to longer stays in hospital and bed block requires older people to be moved on. Then we, as Adrian, know many aged pensioners will not afford their contributions to SaH, cut back on services as cost of living bites deeper into their meagre resources.
The human rights of older Australians to have equitable access to timely and appropriate in home health care have not been met by the proposed SaH program and the new Aged Care Act and the delay until Nov 1 has placed many in stressful situations as they wait and wait and wait for assessment and then wait and wait to be assigned support.
Listen to the voices who are living this reality. We have a wealth of living experience to guide and inform meaningful change Minister Rae.
I cannot wait to tell my participants that, as part of this new system that delivers care when and how they would like, they cannot have the carers they prefer since they’re too expensive, they cannot have the care advisor they would like since anyone non-clinical is being made redundant, and that they will only be able to use the funding they are allocated for what it has been allocated for, taking away their choice and control.
But hey, just re-watch the slow-motion ad to feel better about what’s essentially a push to get more people into residential care.
I have recently sent an email to Senator Pocock pointing out that the government is missing the mark entirely with these changes, presenting an image that does not reflect me or my peer group when the providers themselves are in need of an overhaul. I have had 7 years of appalling representation by providers as have other people. Our lives should be made easier but we find outselves being questioned and not understood constantly with providers not understanding our needs. Every provider has a different interpretation on how they deliver services and not to our advantage. But no wonder if this is the attitude of the current and former Minister. I have been saying since this government was first elected that it was clear the PM did not understand the aged care community at all especially appointing Ministers without real life experience and not giving the portfolio the attention it actually needed. As pointed out in this article I don’t recognise myself in what the government is saying and I am wondering who is advising them and providing such ridiculous and outdated information. It seems we have gone back 50 or 100 years in the way we are described. It is insulting and not helpful at all. Thank goodness for articles such as this.
Yes,as an Aged Pensioner who has a Plan.
When I saw this I knew that it was not true and many would think
that under the New Gov.Funding & rules to get Packages in Nov.
which was of course meant to start in July.1st 2025.
There was no way that those who require an Aged Care Package would still be on a Waiting List and would NOT get all this Advert.promised.
Sad to see such misleading Advertising.
The article is a very accurate account, from someone who works in aged care we come across Clients all the time who are desperate for a package upgrade and by the time they get it, its too late. They end up in hospital or respite never to return home.
We rely on the families to provide top up support but sadly in many cases the support is not there so the Client is dependent solely on the Community and what we can provide that is in line with their budget.
There are not enough support workers to service the current numbers of HCP recipients. i meet people on a regular basis who are Level 3 & 4 packages but only receiving Level 2 supports as there are no workers to attend the services. With the government adding another 20000 HCP’s where will all the workers come from to support them? This ad gives a false picture of what the real situation is.
What a great article which spells it out honestly and accurately. Thank you Mr. Morgan.
Trouble is, I have yet to hear or see ANY government, public servant, bureaucrat, politician et al who has the necessary grey cells or interest to listen to those that do. THAT is why we have a broken and pathetic system that gets rorted, is full of opportunists and fails those providers who really want to and can supply the services than an aged person may need.
The only thing the govt. does well, particularly the current one, is run a well oiled hype PR machine that excells in smoke, mirrors and hubris that insults anyone’s intelligence.
Very well said Bridgette!
I agree with all of this article. The website My Aged Care is a joke. Talking to them on the phone, from my experience, is, they can’t answer some questions unless it’s scripted for them.
The government sees aged care as a bother. The people who make the rules are unrealistic about the real needs of the ageing population. The slashing of funds for meals on wheels in some shires is making it really difficult. The Federal Government doesn’t really give a hoot.