the Aged Care Today magazine featured articles

We can’t ignore the challenges facing Government. Every portfolio and sector will be making its case, and balancing competing priorities is never simple – particularly in a tight economic environment.

But budgets are more than economic statements. They are reflections of national priorities.

And as our ageing population grows rapidly, support for older Australians must remain a central focus.

Over the past several years, we have seen significant and welcome investment in aged care. The Aged Care Act 2024 marked a genuine turning point. Funding has flowed into long-overdue wage increases for our dedicated and professional workforce. Additional home care packages have been released. Structural reform is underway.

These were essential steps to repair deep cracks in a system that had been under strain for years. Steps that made much-needed progress on longstanding pressures and laid the foundations for a stronger, rights-based system.

But repair of yesterday’s problems is not the same as preparation for tomorrow’s. Demand for care, services and support across the system continues to grow – and grow quickly.

Today, more than 100,000 older Australians are waiting for home care support. Another 100,000 are waiting simply to be assessed. The median time between approval of funding and receiving support has doubled in recent years. The Royal Commission set an ambition that no one should wait more than a month. That remains an important benchmark for the system to work toward.

We also know that residential aged care capacity is nowhere near keeping pace with demand. Last year, around 800 new beds were built. To meet projected need, we should be building closer to 10,000 each year.

This is not unique to Australia – it reflects the complexity of coordinating health, aged care and housing systems – but it does reinforce the importance of forward planning and coordinated investment.

The Australian Government has signalled the fiscal environment is tight. That makes prioritisation even more important. Investment in aged care is not discretionary spending, it provides long-term social infrastructure that supports families, communities and the broader health system in an ageing society.

And reform does not end with the passage of an Act.

In recent months, I have been speaking with parliamentarians across all parties. Our message is consistent: implementation matters. Sustainability matters. Capacity matters. The job is not done simply because legislation is in place.

None of this diminishes the progress that has been made. Rather, it highlights the scale of demographic change already underway.

If we do not invest now – in home care capacity, in residential infrastructure and in workforce growth – the pressures will compound across both the aged care and hospital systems.

Ageing policy has traditionally been seen as primarily a Commonwealth responsibility. Increasingly, however, it is clear that effective responses require collaboration across all levels of government.

One issue that continues to illustrate the need for coordination is the growing number of older people experiencing delayed discharge from hospital. This is not a problem owned by one level of government. It sits at the intersection of Commonwealth aged care policy and state-run health systems. It touches housing supply, local planning decisions and community infrastructure.

When an older person cannot leave hospital because there is no residential place available, or because home care support cannot be mobilised quickly enough, that is a shared systems challenge. When housing design and planning decisions do not account for an ageing population, that too has consequences.

There are encouraging green shoots. Western Australia and South Australia have introduced zero and low-interest loan schemes to support residential development. Victoria has a long history of direct state involvement in aged care services for those with higher clinical needs. These are positive examples of what can happen when ageing is treated as a shared responsibility.

At Ageing Australia, we are responding to this by strengthening our engagement at the state and territory level – to reflect this shared responsibility. Our federal advocacy remains critical, but we are investing additional time and effort into ensuring ageing policy has influence in every state capital – particularly where it intersects with hospitals, housing, planning and community services.

This is not a change of direction for our organisation. It is an operational uplift – ensuring we are fully aligned to the issues our members are facing on the ground.

Three and a half years on from our establishment as a unified national peak, our role and influence have grown considerably. Expectations from members, governments and partners have grown too. That is a positive sign of trust and influence. But it also requires us to continually sharpen our focus so we can deliver where it matters most.

Our consistent message at every level remains clear: ageing is everyone’s responsibility.

The aged care sector has shown extraordinary resilience through years of reform and scrutiny. Providers continue to deliver care with professionalism, compassion and commitment, despite financial and regulatory pressures.

The Federal Budget is an opportunity for government to match that commitment with sustained, forward-looking investment – not just to stabilise today’s system, but to prepare for tomorrow’s demographic reality.

Older Australians have contributed to our nation for decades. Ensuring they can access timely care and appropriate housing is not simply a policy challenge – it is a measure of how we value that contribution.

In a constrained environment, priorities matter even more.

This is the moment to show that ensuring everyone in this country is able to age well remains one of them.