Supporting older people to make decisions
The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety noted the importance of supported decision-making to ensure people have control and choice over their own life and care.
The new Act puts the rights of older people first. It aims to ensure aged care services are safe and older people are treated with respect.
Everyone has the right to make decisions about their life, including the support and services they receive from aged care. A key change under the new Act is that every older person is presumed to have the ability to make decisions.
Some older people may want or need support to make these decisions. Supported decision-making is the process of providing support to older people to help them to make and communicate their own decisions and remain in control of their lives.
When the new Act starts, older people can still choose who can support them to make decisions, if they want or need support. These people can be registered supporters.
Not every older person will want or need someone to support them. Some older people might feel they are already supported by their carers and other significant people in their lives, without needing them to become registered supporters. Carers and other significant people in an older person’s life can continue to play an important role in supporting an older person.
A new registered supporter role for aged care
The registered supporter role is one of the changes under the new Act that aim to promote older people’s right to be supported to make decisions.
A registered supporter can be a trusted family member or friend of an older person’s choosing. An older person can have more than one registered supporter.
Registered supporters help older people to make and communicate their own decisions in aged care.
Some registered supporters also have guardianship, enduring power of attorney or similar. These people are appointed decision makers for the older person and can make decisions on behalf of the older person under state or territory arrangements. An appointed decision maker can only make decisions on the older person’s behalf in line with their active, legal authority.
Becoming a registered supporter does not provide a person with decision-making authority for the older person. A registered supporter’s role is to support the older person to make their own decisions.
Having a registered supporter does not stop older people from being able to receive information, make decisions, or communicate directly with others including aged care providers, My Aged Care and assessors.
The new registered supporter role will start in line with the new Act.
Transition arrangements for the new registered supporter role
To get ready for the new registered supporter role, older people and their representatives might like to review their existing relationships in My Aged Care.
Currently, older people can have people registered with My Aged Care to support or act for them in My Aged Care. These relationships are called regular representatives and authorised representatives.
Most representative relationships in My Aged Care will go through changes to come under the new Act. Regular and authorised representatives active in My Aged Care on 31 October 2025 will be known as ‘registered supporters’ from 1 November 2025.
If an older person has a regular or authorised representative active in My Aged Care on 31 October, they will become a registered supporter under the new Act. This ensures that older people seeking or receiving aged care services will continue to receive decision-making support.
Learn more about the transition arrangements , including how to opt out.
Resources
The Registered Supporter policy library sets out further detail on the role of the new registered supporter, the regulatory environment, and the responsibilities of key stakeholders.
This page also includes additional resources to support awareness of the registered supporter role.