Independents unite to demand home support for 20,000 after aged care delay

In their first flex of group political muscle since the federal election, Australia's independent MPs have teamed up to call on the government to fund - within weeks - at least 20,000 extra aged care home support packages.
The government announced in early June it was delaying by five months big changes to aged care, which had been due to start mid-year, to give service providers more time to prepare.
But 10 crossbenchers have teamed up to express concern about the impact of the postponement on the nearly 83,000 elderly Australians on the waiting list for home care.
"Research shows that the longer people go without appropriate home care supports, the higher their risk of injury or hospitalisation," the MPs said in a June 10 letter to Health Minister Mark Butler and Aged Care Minister Sam Rae.
"This delay will also imperil your government's commitment that by 2027 no one will wait more than 90 days for a package.
"On behalf of people in our communities, we are calling on the Albanese government to, at a minimum, fund 20,000 new packages to commence on 1 July 2025 under the current home care packages scheme, which can then be rolled over onto the new support at home program when it eventually commences," the letter reads.
The call for bridging support to cover the delay is supported by both Council on the Ageing (COTA) and the Older Persons Advocacy Network.
"I regularly have families contacting me about the excessively long wait times for home care packages," ACT independent senator David Pocock said.
"We can't afford to delay this further."
Dr Helen Haines, the member for Indi in north-east Victoria, said waiting times were lengthened by a lack of qualified people to provide care in regional areas.
"We also can't delay the rollout of a pricing framework that fairly reflects the travel costs to deliver care in rural areas," she said.
Any setback for older people who wanted to stay at home was "unacceptable", Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie said.
"Both sides of politics have dropped the ball on this issue over the last ten years," she said.
"What the minister calls 'a brief deferral' will directly impact the lives of older Australians."
Sydney-based Allegra Spender said she had heard "heartbreaking" stories of elderly people forced into nursing homes due to the long wait for assistance at home, while Dr Monique Ryan in Melbourne said "older Australians shouldn't suffer because of the aged care system's failures".
Andrew Gee, the newly re-elected independent MP for Calare in NSW, also put his name to the letter in a sign the former National - who quit the party over its opposition to the Indigenous Voice to Parliament - will work with the so-called teals in this parliament.
The other signatories were Sydney's Dr Sophie Scamps and Zali Steggall, Andrew Wilkie from Tasmania, and Kate Chaney from Western Australia.
Given Labor's thumping majority win at the May election, the independents will have less sway in this parliament, but the letter is the first indication they will nonetheless use their numbers to lobby together.
Home care packages are a form of commonwealth assistance designed to help people aged 65 and over to stay at home longer by providing assistance with household tasks, personal care and some medical care, such as that provided by nurses.
The government has pledged to switch to a $5.6 billion "support at home" system, promising to be "the greatest improvement to aged care in 30 years" designed to slash waiting lists.
The health minister's office has been contacted for comment.
In their first flex of group political muscle since the federal election, Australia's independent MPs have teamed up to call on the government to fund - within weeks - at least 20,000 extra aged care home support packages.
The government announced in early June it was delaying by five months big changes to aged care, which had been due to start mid-year, to give service providers more time to prepare.
But 10 crossbenchers have teamed up to express concern about the impact of the postponement on the nearly 83,000 elderly Australians on the waiting list for home care.
"Research shows that the longer people go without appropriate home care supports, the higher their risk of injury or hospitalisation," the MPs said in a June 10 letter to Health Minister Mark Butler and Aged Care Minister Sam Rae.
"This delay will also imperil your government's commitment that by 2027 no one will wait more than 90 days for a package.
"On behalf of people in our communities, we are calling on the Albanese government to, at a minimum, fund 20,000 new packages to commence on 1 July 2025 under the current home care packages scheme, which can then be rolled over onto the new support at home program when it eventually commences," the letter reads.
The call for bridging support to cover the delay is supported by both Council on the Ageing (COTA) and the Older Persons Advocacy Network.
"I regularly have families contacting me about the excessively long wait times for home care packages," ACT independent senator David Pocock said.
"We can't afford to delay this further."
Dr Helen Haines, the member for Indi in north-east Victoria, said waiting times were lengthened by a lack of qualified people to provide care in regional areas.
"We also can't delay the rollout of a pricing framework that fairly reflects the travel costs to deliver care in rural areas," she said.
Any setback for older people who wanted to stay at home was "unacceptable", Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie said.
"Both sides of politics have dropped the ball on this issue over the last ten years," she said.
"What the minister calls 'a brief deferral' will directly impact the lives of older Australians."
Sydney-based Allegra Spender said she had heard "heartbreaking" stories of elderly people forced into nursing homes due to the long wait for assistance at home, while Dr Monique Ryan in Melbourne said "older Australians shouldn't suffer because of the aged care system's failures".
Andrew Gee, the newly re-elected independent MP for Calare in NSW, also put his name to the letter in a sign the former National - who quit the party over its opposition to the Indigenous Voice to Parliament - will work with the so-called teals in this parliament.
The other signatories were Sydney's Dr Sophie Scamps and Zali Steggall, Andrew Wilkie from Tasmania, and Kate Chaney from Western Australia.
Given Labor's thumping majority win at the May election, the independents will have less sway in this parliament, but the letter is the first indication they will nonetheless use their numbers to lobby together.
Home care packages are a form of commonwealth assistance designed to help people aged 65 and over to stay at home longer by providing assistance with household tasks, personal care and some medical care, such as that provided by nurses.
The government has pledged to switch to a $5.6 billion "support at home" system, promising to be "the greatest improvement to aged care in 30 years" designed to slash waiting lists.
The health minister's office has been contacted for comment.
In their first flex of group political muscle since the federal election, Australia's independent MPs have teamed up to call on the government to fund - within weeks - at least 20,000 extra aged care home support packages.
The government announced in early June it was delaying by five months big changes to aged care, which had been due to start mid-year, to give service providers more time to prepare.
But 10 crossbenchers have teamed up to express concern about the impact of the postponement on the nearly 83,000 elderly Australians on the waiting list for home care.
"Research shows that the longer people go without appropriate home care supports, the higher their risk of injury or hospitalisation," the MPs said in a June 10 letter to Health Minister Mark Butler and Aged Care Minister Sam Rae.
"This delay will also imperil your government's commitment that by 2027 no one will wait more than 90 days for a package.
"On behalf of people in our communities, we are calling on the Albanese government to, at a minimum, fund 20,000 new packages to commence on 1 July 2025 under the current home care packages scheme, which can then be rolled over onto the new support at home program when it eventually commences," the letter reads.
The call for bridging support to cover the delay is supported by both Council on the Ageing (COTA) and the Older Persons Advocacy Network.
"I regularly have families contacting me about the excessively long wait times for home care packages," ACT independent senator David Pocock said.
"We can't afford to delay this further."
Dr Helen Haines, the member for Indi in north-east Victoria, said waiting times were lengthened by a lack of qualified people to provide care in regional areas.
"We also can't delay the rollout of a pricing framework that fairly reflects the travel costs to deliver care in rural areas," she said.
Any setback for older people who wanted to stay at home was "unacceptable", Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie said.
"Both sides of politics have dropped the ball on this issue over the last ten years," she said.
"What the minister calls 'a brief deferral' will directly impact the lives of older Australians."
Sydney-based Allegra Spender said she had heard "heartbreaking" stories of elderly people forced into nursing homes due to the long wait for assistance at home, while Dr Monique Ryan in Melbourne said "older Australians shouldn't suffer because of the aged care system's failures".
Andrew Gee, the newly re-elected independent MP for Calare in NSW, also put his name to the letter in a sign the former National - who quit the party over its opposition to the Indigenous Voice to Parliament - will work with the so-called teals in this parliament.
The other signatories were Sydney's Dr Sophie Scamps and Zali Steggall, Andrew Wilkie from Tasmania, and Kate Chaney from Western Australia.
Given Labor's thumping majority win at the May election, the independents will have less sway in this parliament, but the letter is the first indication they will nonetheless use their numbers to lobby together.
Home care packages are a form of commonwealth assistance designed to help people aged 65 and over to stay at home longer by providing assistance with household tasks, personal care and some medical care, such as that provided by nurses.
The government has pledged to switch to a $5.6 billion "support at home" system, promising to be "the greatest improvement to aged care in 30 years" designed to slash waiting lists.
The health minister's office has been contacted for comment.
In their first flex of group political muscle since the federal election, Australia's independent MPs have teamed up to call on the government to fund - within weeks - at least 20,000 extra aged care home support packages.
The government announced in early June it was delaying by five months big changes to aged care, which had been due to start mid-year, to give service providers more time to prepare.
But 10 crossbenchers have teamed up to express concern about the impact of the postponement on the nearly 83,000 elderly Australians on the waiting list for home care.
"Research shows that the longer people go without appropriate home care supports, the higher their risk of injury or hospitalisation," the MPs said in a June 10 letter to Health Minister Mark Butler and Aged Care Minister Sam Rae.
"This delay will also imperil your government's commitment that by 2027 no one will wait more than 90 days for a package.
"On behalf of people in our communities, we are calling on the Albanese government to, at a minimum, fund 20,000 new packages to commence on 1 July 2025 under the current home care packages scheme, which can then be rolled over onto the new support at home program when it eventually commences," the letter reads.
The call for bridging support to cover the delay is supported by both Council on the Ageing (COTA) and the Older Persons Advocacy Network.
"I regularly have families contacting me about the excessively long wait times for home care packages," ACT independent senator David Pocock said.
"We can't afford to delay this further."
Dr Helen Haines, the member for Indi in north-east Victoria, said waiting times were lengthened by a lack of qualified people to provide care in regional areas.
"We also can't delay the rollout of a pricing framework that fairly reflects the travel costs to deliver care in rural areas," she said.
Any setback for older people who wanted to stay at home was "unacceptable", Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie said.
"Both sides of politics have dropped the ball on this issue over the last ten years," she said.
"What the minister calls 'a brief deferral' will directly impact the lives of older Australians."
Sydney-based Allegra Spender said she had heard "heartbreaking" stories of elderly people forced into nursing homes due to the long wait for assistance at home, while Dr Monique Ryan in Melbourne said "older Australians shouldn't suffer because of the aged care system's failures".
Andrew Gee, the newly re-elected independent MP for Calare in NSW, also put his name to the letter in a sign the former National - who quit the party over its opposition to the Indigenous Voice to Parliament - will work with the so-called teals in this parliament.
The other signatories were Sydney's Dr Sophie Scamps and Zali Steggall, Andrew Wilkie from Tasmania, and Kate Chaney from Western Australia.
Given Labor's thumping majority win at the May election, the independents will have less sway in this parliament, but the letter is the first indication they will nonetheless use their numbers to lobby together.
Home care packages are a form of commonwealth assistance designed to help people aged 65 and over to stay at home longer by providing assistance with household tasks, personal care and some medical care, such as that provided by nurses.
The government has pledged to switch to a $5.6 billion "support at home" system, promising to be "the greatest improvement to aged care in 30 years" designed to slash waiting lists.
The health minister's office has been contacted for comment.

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