*Check against delivery*
Good morning everyone.
I want to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the lands on which we gather today – the Kaurna people.
Together Australians stand on the shoulders of 1,600 generations of First Nations people, and that is our shared history.
Introduction
What. A. Year.
Thank you to ACCPA CEO Tom Symondson for inviting me to address you all today and thank you to our Master of Ceremonies Tony Jones.
We’ve been on a very, very long journey to get here today.
From the announcement of the Aged Care Taskforce more than a year ago…
Through precarious negotiations with the Opposition on Chapter 4…
To the introduction of the Aged Care Bill to Parliament, which is currently before the Senate Community Affairs Inquiry.
ACCPA’s advocacy has made a significant contribution to the national conversation around aged care, and how we can work together to improve the experience of older people.
With Tom at the helm in particular, I think you have seen unprecedented leadership in what I think we can all agree is one of the toughest gigs in show business.
I am grateful for your encouragement, support, and patience – though I acknowledge I may have stretched that last one – as we prepared the Bill and negotiated through sensitive aspects.
It’s no secret that negotiations took longer than we had hoped – right up to the eleventh hour – but it was worth it to get bipartisan agreement on Chapter 4 to ensure a more secure future for the sector.
Reflection
The last 2-and-a-half years have been focused on triaging our way through the aged care crisis and delivering the most urgent recommendations of the Royal Commission.
And together, we have delivered.
Right now, your homes are delivering an extra 3.9 million minutes of care every single day, with a registered nurse now onsite 99% of the time.
From 1 October of this year, average care funding will be around 58% higher than it was in September 2022.
And we have reduced the workforce gap by 66% since 2022 while investing $15.1 billion to lift the wages of your workers.
These are incredible feats which I’m sure many of you were sceptical about when I spoke to you this time 2 years ago, or even this time last year.
But…our work is not done yet.
Today, I want to talk to you about how we can turn the corner on aged care together and enter our Age of Excellence.
Reforming aged care
Creating a new Act was the very first recommendation of the Royal Commission, and something that I recognised early on as the most essential and consequential work I needed undertake during this term of Parliament.
The foundation of our proposed Aged Care Act is a statement of rights, which clearly states what all older Australians can, and should, expect from your aged care services.
Person-centred care that is culturally safe and trauma aware; dignity and respect; individuality and diversity; independence; choice and control; dignity of risk; and privacy.
The Bill also recognises the changing preferences of older Australians to live in their own home for as long as possible.
Support at Home will improve wait times for in-home care, support the increase in participants that we expect over the next decade, and create better and more tailored support with 8 ongoing classifications all the way up to almost $78,000 a year.
It will also help with home modifications up to $15,000 to make homes safer, and faster access to assistive technology like walkers or wheelchairs.
And importantly – no one will be worse off.
Providers
These reforms are important, and older people want them.
But to deliver them, we need a sustainable funding system.
The funding measures proposed in the proposed Aged Care Act were recommended by the Aged Care Taskforce, to deliver a fairer aged care system and foster quality and innovation.
Measures like the means tested contributions for new entrants, the higher maximum room price indexed over time, and the retention of a small portion of refundable accommodation deposits by providers.
We will conduct a review of accommodation pricing over the next 2 years to make sure those settings are fit for purpose.
By setting the aged care system on a more sustainable financial footing we hope to improve the sector’s financial viability and attract more private investment.
Already, I have heard providers say that they are now progressing with capital builds and refurbishments.
Opal HealthCare CEO Rachel Agarman said the reforms will enable her business to invest up to $800 million in 11 new aged care communities that will be home to more than 1,600 older Australians and create more than 2,000 new jobs.
Regis CEO Linda Mellors announced that they will commence three greenfield developments in the next financial year, which will create 323 new beds.
Mercy Health have also just announced 2 new builds while they consider how to further expand their footprint in the sector.
I welcome that investment and am glad we can now provide you with that certainty, to start planning for the future.
Next steps
I know that the majority of you support passage of the Bill, so we can realise the potential of this reform.
But I know that also know that many of you still have questions – the principal among them being “how do we get to 1 July 2025?”
Here’s how.
First, we must pass the Aged Care Bill this year to allow a timely transition.
I cannot be clearer than this – if the Aged Care Bill does not pass the Parliament this year, the sector will remain in limbo for the foreseeable future.
Second, the Department of Health and Aged Care will consult on all of the Rules before they are tabled in Parliament, to make sure you can have your say – just like you did with the Bill.
The first tranche of the Rules are out for consultation now, with the Rules regarding Chapter 4 to follow soon.
I hear your feedback that reform cannot just happen to you, and that you need to be brought along the journey. I am working with the Department to see how we can do this better.
Third, we will deliver urgent investment to ensure older people in Australia can access quality safe aged care services, no matter where they live.
As part of the $5.6 billion aged care reform package announced in September, $600 million will be invested in Support at Home and an additional $300 million in infrastructure funding will be made available to support providers operating in thin markets.
We also recently awarded $134.9 million in capital grant funding under the Aged Care Capital Assistance Program to support 76 projects around the country—with most located in outer regional and remote communities.
These grants are for improving aged care infrastructure and building new homes or staff accommodation in thin markets where access to quality aged care services is limited or workforce challenges exist.
Workforce
The cornerstone of the government’s mission to lift the standard of aged care in Australia has been to recognise the value of all aged care workers.
We are committed to unleashing the potential of health and aged care professionals to provide every ounce of care that they can, according to their skills, training, and experience.
Our work has been guided by a simple principle – to build a valued, skilled and supported workforce that meets the needs and rights of older people.
While there has been significant progress in delivering better pay, conditions, and opportunities for the aged care workforce, there continues to be a range of longer‑term challenges.
These challenges require balanced and coordinated approaches from everyone involved in the aged care sector.
Today, I want to share with you our Professional Framework to build and strengthen the aged care workforce.
Our Professional Framework prioritises 8 goals:
- Uplifting pay and conditions
- Boosting education and training
- Improving culture
- Encouraging innovation
- Increasing career pathways
- Improving workforce planning,
- Building evidence base
- And boosting leadership capability.
To support the progression of these goals, we have taken a whole-of-government approach and invested $17.5 billion across health, training and immigration to help build the aged care workforce.
I encourage all of you to go online and see how you can take full advantage of the Framework on the Department’s website.
Conclusion
The Aged Care Act has the potential to make the aged care system better and more capable of delivering the quality, respectful and person-centric aged care services that older people in Australia deserve.
Now that the Bill has been tabled and providers can see what is in it and what differs from the initial exposure draft you can begin the real work of preparing to implement the major reforms within as the Parliamentary process continues up to the vote later this year.
And make no mistake there is real work to be done by providers.
The new Act and the investment that comes with it represents a grand bargain between the government, older people and providers.
We are doing our part by acting on the Royal Commission and the Taskforce’s recommendations, by legislating a new Act, and making sure it is all funded in the Budget.
Older people recognise the need for fairer consumer co-contributions, so that the sector can keep up with growing demand for not only more services, but higher quality services. And they have given up policies which were important to them, like criminal penalties.
But I need you to hold up your end of the bargain.
Now it is up to the sector to deliver a much higher overall standard of care for the older people who receive your services.
To uphold the statement of rights as a condition of your registration.
To fulfil your new duty of care as responsible persons.
To deliver all of the mandatory care minutes you are funded to deliver.
That is your part of the bargain. It is what we expect, and it is what older people deserve.
In my first speech to ACCPA, I promised to be ambitious for aged care, and to do my best to ensure kindness, respect and dignity were embedded in the aged care system and I am confident the new Aged Care Act will do exactly that.
There is more to do in aged care and so the mission continues.
However, we have now introduced the legislation that will allow us to take the next steps with confidence, and venture into the Age of Excellence.
It’s been a long, long journey and I want to thank you again for sticking with us.
The destination will be worth the endeavour.
Thank you.