The Aged Care Act’s delay is a timely win for providers, but is everyone happy?

The announcement that the new Aged Care Act will be delayed until at least the second half of 2024 – if not early 2025 – has resulted in mostly positive reactions from stakeholders eager to see more consultation.

This comes after the Federal Government received detailed submissions on the exposure draft of the Aged Care Act which prompted them to refine and finalise the draft legislation, according to the Aged Care Minister Anika Wells.

Key points

• Leaked documents first hinted at a major delay for the new Aged Care Act with “TBC” marked down as the implementation date after initially being penned for a mid-2024 introduction
• Minister Wells released a statement on Wednesday confirming the new Aged Care Act will not come into effect any time soon as the Government wants to improve the Act before introducing it to Parliament
• ACCPA, the peak body for aged care providers, was among the first to share their support for the decision as they believe more consultation and engagement is required

Overall, when the exposure draft of the Aged Care Act was released earlier this year the feedback was positive. Stakeholders welcomed a rights-based Act that was no longer 20 years out of date.

However, there were concerns over information gaps and sections that didn’t quite go far enough to truly protect and support consumers. Examples included no positive duty to enforce compliance with a new Statement of Rights and no explanation of proposed fees, payments and subsidies. 

Catholic Health Australia (CHA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jason Kara said they are pleased to see the Government is heading in the right direction. He added it is important to slow the process down to ensure everyone can have their say and suggested a working group be established to provide expert input.

“The Government has shown determination to act on the recommendations of the Royal Commission and we strongly support moves to ensure the rights of older Australians are enshrined in legislation as soon as possible,” Mr Kara said.

“[…] However, there are some issues with the existing draft that could cause unintended consequences and substantial parts of the new Act are not yet drafted which need to be worked through before Members of Parliament could be asked to vote on it.”

Some of the issues raised by CHA were detailed in a submission to Government, such as:

• The need for basic protections for aged care workers
• The compressed timeframes for development and consultation on the new Act
• Overlap and duplication of new provisions with existing legal protections and frameworks
• Missing chapters and details needed to assess the new Act’s impact on the sector

“These new laws impact every Australian receiving aged care and are too important to rush. We would welcome the opportunity to provide further feedback through a working group so the draft legislation can be finalised as soon as possible,” Mr Kara added.

Elsewhere, Retirement Living Council (RLC) Executive Director Daniel Gannon said the delay in considering feedback was some of the best news they’ve had regarding the Act. 

Mr Gannon acknowledged it is too important to get wrong and it’s necessary to not only examine submissions but also the recommendations from the Aged Care Taskforce.

“Genuine consultation on the Bill was a challenge from the outset and while the extended timeframe to provide submissions was welcomed, key sections of the legislation are yet to be drafted,” Mr Gannon said.

“Additionally, the delay in the release of the recommendations of the Aged Care Taskforce prevented a meaningful understanding of the holistic intentions for the future funding and provision of aged care services in Australia, which has flow-on impacts to the retirement living sector.”

“For these reasons, deferring the commencement date for the new Act is an obvious and welcome development to ensure we get it right. Frankly, it’s too important to get wrong,” he added.

There has been pushback from consumer-focused organisations, however, with COTA Austalia and the Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN) labelling a July 2025 legislation date as “simply unacceptable”. 

“Introducing the Bill for Parliamentary scrutiny by June 2024 is appropriate. Parliament provides the ideal platform for conducting the next level of public consultation on all aspects of the Bill through a senate inquiry, including the examination of consolidated rules and subordinate legislation,” COTA CEO Pat Sparrow said.

OPAN CEO Craig Gear added that older people cannot wait another 15 months. He would like to see the Act passed by the end of the year.