Older Australians
What We're Doing
Older Australians helped build this country. The Albanese Government values their contribution and intends on supporting them in their later years.
Aged Care
We are delivering on our commitment to return dignity, quality, security and humanity to aged care, ensuring that older Australians are treated with the respect they deserve.
The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety underscored the crisis that exists in our aged care system. The Government is legislating to fix this crisis, in line with our election commitments and recommendations made by the Royal Commission in its final report. Importantly, we are taking steps towards delivering new funding, more staff and better support to the sector, while improving transparency and accountability.
Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP)
The CHSP provides entry-level support for older people who need some help to stay at home. Service providers work with them to maintain their independence. Support can include help with daily tasks, home modifications, transport, social support and nursing care.
To find out more about the CHSP, see About the Program.
If you’re an older Australian who wants to access government-funded help at home, you need to apply for an assessment on the My Aged Care website or call the My Aged Care contact centre.
Pay rises for aged care workers
We are investing $11.3 billion to fund a 15% pay rise to aged care workers, the largest pay rise for these workers ever. This signifies real progress towards valuing the complex work they do and attracting and retaining staff.
Additionally, the Albanese Government is investing $2.194 billion to support residential aged care providers to fund the Fair Work Commissions Annual Wage Review decision, which will increase the award for aged care staff by 5.75%.
24/7 onsite nurses
We’ve legislated to require a registered nurse in every residential aged care home onsite and on duty, 24/7.
Continued COVID-19 support for aged care
The Albanese Government is providing $318 million to continue COVID-19 support for residential aged care homes.
From 1 January 2024, a new Aged Care Outbreak Management Supplement will provide support for another 12 months, replacing the current COVID-19 grants.
The supplement will help all residential aged care providers manage outbreaks. A surge workforce will continue to assist aged care homes impacted by outbreaks.
Residential aged care, Multi-Purpose Service (MPS) and National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care (NATSIFAC) providers will receive around $940 per resident in 2024 through current arrangements.
These measures highlight the Government’s ongoing commitment to support the aged care sector to manage COVID-19 and safeguard the health and wellbeing of aged care residents.
Mandatory care minutes increased
From 1 October 2023, aged care homes must deliver a sector average of 200 care minutes per resident per day, including 40 minutes of registered nurse care.
This comes following the introduction of the 24/7 registered nursing responsibility on 1 July 2023, with a registered nurse now on-site and on duty 98.08% of the time across the aged care sector.
Minimum care time standards were recommended by the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, which identified that staffing levels are vital to high-quality aged care.
Since Labor came into Government, the average number of care minutes provided per resident per day has increased from 183.53 to 193.99 - this includes the provision of 36.78 minutes of registered nurse care (Quarterly Financial Report, June 2023 quarter) - meaning in total aged care residents now receive more than 1.8 million additional minutes of direct care every day.
From 1 October 2024, mandatory care minutes will increase even further to an average of 215 minutes of care, including 44 minutes from a registered nurse.
Food standards
We’re improving food and nutrition in aged care through the introduction of new food standards, ensuring that older Australians in residential aged care are getting fresh, healthy, nutritious food that accommodates their cultural, religious, and dietary requirements.
Recognising that good nutrition is crucial to quality of life, we have also established the dedicated Food, Nutrition and Dining Unit Hotline, at 1800 844 044. This hotline provides Australians with a simple and efficient way to report food concerns in aged care. It also gives aged care providers access to food and nutrition advice, as well as support and education to deliver better services for older Australians. The hotline is now active and delivers access to experts in areas of food, nutrition, and dining, including dieticians and speech pathologists.
Strengthening provider governance
We’re changing aged care provider governance arrangements to improve quality and transparency in aged care services. These changes apply to providers of residential care, home care and flexible care, and took effect on December 1, 2022. To find out more about these changes visit the Commission’s providers page here.
Scams
The Government is committed to combating the increased risk of scams across Australia.
Our government will establish a National Anti-Scam Centre, bringing together law enforcement, banks, telecommunications providers, and consumer advocates to harden national defences. We will also double funding for identification recovery services to help Australians who have fallen prey to scammers get their stolen ID back quicker.
Currently, you can learn more about scams, report them and seek help through Scamwatch.
An industry code introduced by the ACMA (Australian Communications and Media Authority) will, for the first time, require telecommunications companies to identify, detect and stop scam texts before they go out.
Identity Theft
The Government recognises how distressing the release of sensitive personal information is for Medibank Private and Optus customers, and how important it is for them to have simple access to support. These breaches have accelerated our commitment to strengthening our privacy laws but staying vigilant is as important as ever. We recommend that you:
- Monitor all your devices and accounts for unusual activity. Report unusual activity to ReportCyber at cyber.gov.au, IDCARE (1800 595 160), and your bank.
- Update your passwords to unique passphrases. A passphrase is a string of words, longer than a password – easy to remember and difficult to crack.
- If people call posing as a credible organisation and request access to your computer, always say no.
- If there is an imminent threat to your safety call Triple Zero.
- Ensure your devices and accounts have the latest security updates. This includes ensuring your devices and accounts have multi-factor authentication enabled. Visit cyber.gov.au for help.
IDCare is Australia and New Zealand’s national identity support service. IDCare offers personalised support to individuals who are concerned about their personal information. Replacement Medicare cards are available through Centrelink, Windsor.
Pensioner Income Credit
The Albanese Government is providing pensioners with a one-off income credit designed to give older Australians the option to work more hours and retain their pension.
Previously, pensioners have been able to earn $7800 each year without compromising their pension. That threshold has been increased to $11,800 for this financial year. This measure will help alleviate our labour shortages.
We will also ensure pensioners who are working do not get removed from the social security system. Currently, pensioners whose employment income exceeds their income limit will have their social security cancelled after 12 weeks. This period will be extended to two years.
Downsizing
We will reduce the financial impact on pensioners looking to downsize their homes.
Currently, if a pensioner or other income support recipient sells their principal home and intends to use some or all of the sale proceeds to purchase or build a new home, that portion of the sale proceeds is exempt from the social security asset test for 12 months.
Under the proposed changes, the asset test exemption will be extended to 24 months, allowing more time for people to complete the sale and repurchase of their new principal home without being affected by the asset test.
Most of these proceeds are usually deemed to earn income at the upper deeming rate, currently 2.25% per annum. This can adversely affect a person’s pension. With the proposed changes, during the exemption period, only a lower deeming rate of 0.25% will apply to the sale proceeds in the income test.
Health
An additional 50,000 older Australians will become eligible for the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card, which includes a range of benefits such as:
- Cheaper medicines under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
- Bulk-billed doctor visits for participating GPs
- A refund for medical costs when you reach the Medicare Safety Net
- Discounts and concessions on utility bills, ambulance services, dental treatment, eye care, and public transport fares.
This will ease some of the cost-of-living pressures that people are facing. You can apply for the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card through Services Australia either online or in person at the Windsor office.
Additionally, millions of general patients will also save an additional $12.50 on medical scripts, by reducing the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme co-payment from the current maximum of $42.50 per script, to a maximum of $30 per script.
