Australia’s seniors are varied and dynamic, policy response for aged care must mirror that – ex-minister Christopher Payne warns against older people tropes

In front of a room full of members of parliament, media personnel and various industry leaders, ex-minister Christopher Payne challenged tropes. Polarising seniors to extremes, in either only wealthy siloes or dependent vulnerability was to divert away from difficult conversations that must be had over how to meet Australia’s aged care needs, for all. At this year’s National Press Club, Payne spoke on behalf of advocacy group Council on the Ageing, to encourage the nuance that must be brought to the conversations and solutions surrounding aged care’s next steps. As the fracture points of new legislation and programs become more known, for both seniors and sector providers, Payne advocates to see the bigger picture. Understanding the framing limitations of the nation’s seniors, that of assumed and rigid structures of what it is to be old, and what that means for policy means stepping into need uncomfortable conversations. On behalf of seniors, and the many sincere staff in the sector, government and leaders seeing the dynamic spectrum of seniors must mean entering into hard conversations, to lead towards dynamically-led policy for a sustainable sector.

Naming problems

Payne, in his recent speech to audience members at this year’s National Press Club, highlighted fracture points this side of the new act. From conversations with seniors in his role as chairman of the advocacy group Council on the Ageing, he laid it bare. Seniors across Australia have been contending with, in many cases, extreme price hikes for services from providers, as well as longer waiting lists for care.

Bringing to the national stage the pattern of price hikes is an important step in acknowledging, as he notes, the repercussions of recent major reforms. He said that it would take time to iron out the kinks in the current administration’s new aged care act, and in so doing, frankly acknowledged there were kinks.

But in noting the kinks to be smoothed out, Payne has cautioned against the tendency of a duality of debate that has been roiling in and outside of aged care. In his speech Payne warned against the narrow stereotyping of Australia’s seniors, as either wealthy baby boomers or vulnerable and fragile retirees, noting that both siloes are “crude caricatures”.

A full spectrum

Since November 2025 the push for a new and improved sector, through a fresh act and still evolving rules and programs, has meant numerous changes for seniors and the sector at large. Core to the new push is changes to home services, particularly through the Support at Home program.

In noting the pressures of future funding, government messaging highlighted that shaping new policy was to answer questions about sector sustainability. Wealthier retirees would pay more for care in some instances, with restructured payment models for services. Far from resisting this, many provider leadership, sector leaders and seniors understood the need to embed financial models to support a strong and enduring sector. Yet it is in seeing only the very wealthy or financially vulnerable that policy has become blinkered. 

As advocates have increasingly noted, with large numbers of seniors not falling in the rich boomer cohort, there have been concerns about obstacles to receiving services key to staying at home longer and healthier. Further yet, advocates have called on the government to understand that many in the middle, those not fully meeting eligibility for hardship payments are caught in a predicament of not being wealthy enough to shoulder co-payments but in the same breath, not being eligible for hardship payments.

Pivot to nuance

Payne addressed some of these nuanced concerns, as well as shining a light on consequences of rigid categorising, particularly with the growing concern that the government has deemed key services “non-clinical”, such as showering. His language has been welcomed by other advocacy groups and members, in sharing that seniors have been “forced” to contribute to showering.

In launching the advocacy group’s State of the Older Nation report, the former cabinet minister said that in the few months since reforms have been rolled out, seniors in care, both in RAC and at home, had raised a considerable number of complaints.

When it comes to the concern over needing to pay for assistance showering he says he understands why it’s well known, “that’s such a big thing, of course, it gets a lot of coverage and a lot of complaints.”

However, while his messaging put the longer wait for home care packages front and center, and worry over obstacles to accessing showering services, he also raised up a trend that has not made it to mainstream channels. Payne highlighted that seniors were increasingly telling his group of the pressure that some providers were putting them under to sign care agreements at speed, alongside steep price rises.

Outside of program provisions according to assets, advocate groups such as Payne’s are noting that there are more nuanced issues playing out. While funding is vitally important, so is the need to safeguard against pressures against seeking clarity, transparency and the time needed to do so.

Placing these concerns before government members, Payne shared the keen awareness that many advocates, loved-ones and seniors are looking for, government response, “we expect the government will react to those over time.”

Age-based discrimination

Payne also pulled to a macro-view in terms of the conversations about discussing aged care services, reform and policy changes. The report that Payne released through his speech showed profoundly worrying figures about how many seniors in Australia face aged based discrimination, many of whom experience it well before needing aged care services.

In broadening the vision of age and when discriminatory thinking starts and is perpetuated, Payne and Council on the Ageing have sought to highlight further room for reflection and reform at the political and societal levels.

The report found that 38 per cent of seniors had experienced ageism after turning 50, with 36 per cent sharing that they were hesitant to return to the labour-force because of fears of age-based discrimination.

Within the report, new research showed that the rich boomer stereotype should be seen as a misnomer, with 1 in 4 seniors Australians living in poverty.

Payne noted, “Too often, the story of older Australians is reduced to one of two basic plot lines.”

“The first goes like this: older people – often framed as baby boomers – are wealthy, secure, asset rich, sitting on housing, insulated from economic pressure and blocking opportunities for younger generations”, he says.

“The second sits at the opposite extreme. Older people, often those in their late 70s and 80s are portrayed as frail dependent in nursing homes, clogging hospital beds and placing an unsustainable burden on public resources.”

Payne challenged that these tropes continue due to convenience from all corners of aged care and society, not from a close proximity to accuracy and the facts of the varied spectrum of the nation’s seniors.

“They ignore the community and economic contribution of older people, simplify complex policy changes and allow us to avoid uncomfortable conversations about inequality and disadvantage.”

Far from making the reform conversation ‘easy’, Payne’s message invites all stakeholders to enter into the nuance of Australia’s seniors, their backgrounds, and needs, to in turn dynamically shape a nuanced and agile sector that can thrive.