A full day of hearings in Canberra of the Senate Community Affairs References Committee has heard overwhelming evidence of the dire need for more Home Care packages to be urgently released.
For the first time, the Government has revealed that 121,596 people are currently waiting for an aged care assessment. This is often described as the “hidden waiting list” or the “wait list for the wait list” and shows that the number of people waiting for aged care services has soared to unprecedented levels, as the Government continues to freeze the rollout of new packages into the system.
Contradicting statements from the Aged Care Minister, providers said they stood ready to deliver additional packages now, with government being the only obstacle to reducing the waitlist of more than 87,000 older Australians. Ageing Australia represents 80% of the market and testified that 98% of their providers that they surveyed could support additional home care packages right now.
The Inspector General of Aged Care was among numerous witnesses calling for the immediate release of 20,000 additional Home Care packages.
The committee heard testimony about the lived experience impact from older Australians of the government delaying by six months the release of 83,000 additional packages.
Almost 5,000 older Australians died waiting for a package last financial year.
ACT Independent Senator David Pocock said advocating for the care older Australians deserve is the job of all parliamentarians.
“Far from ‘weaponsing’ this issue as the Minister claims, I am doing the job people in the ACT elected me to do, standing up for their concerns and pushing to get them the care they need when they need it,” Senator Pocock said.
“People shouldn’t be made to go without a shower or forced into hospital or residential aged care early just because the government won’t release the Home Care packages they’ve already budgeted for and that could keep people living at home.
“Older Australians and their families deserve better from this government and the dignity to age at home as long as they can.”