A new registered supporter role for aged care
The registered supporter role is one of the changes under the new Act that aims to promote older peoples’ rights to be supported to make decisions.
Most representative relationships in My Aged Care went through changes when the new Act came into effect on 1 November 2025.
What older people and representatives in My Aged Care needed to do
To get ready for the new registered supporter role, older people and their representatives were encouraged to review their existing relationships in My Aged Care.
Before the commencement of the new Act, older people could have people registered with My Aged Care to support or act for them in My Aged Care. These relationships were called regular representatives and authorised representatives.
Most representative relationships in My Aged Care went through changes to come under the new Act. Regular and authorised representatives that were active in My Aged Care on 31 October 2025 became known as ‘registered supporters’ from 1 November 2025.
If an older person had a regular or authorised representative active in My Aged Care on 31 October, that regular or authorised representative became a registered supporter under the new Act. This ensured that older people seeking or receiving aged care services continued to receive decision-making support.
How a person could opt out of the registered supporter role
Regular representatives, authorised representatives, and older people with regular representatives could opt out of having or being a registered supporter.
They could opt out at any time before 31 October 2025:
- by calling My Aged Care on 1800 200 422
- through their My Aged Care Online Account.
Opting out also ended the representative relationship in My Aged Care. When opting out, the older person or representative could indicate if they wanted their representative relationship to end immediately or on 31 October 2025.
There was no financial cost to opting out of the transition.
On 1 November 2025, representative relationships that were active in My Aged Care and had not opted out transitioned to supporter relationships.
From 1 November 2025, older people and registered supporters can still ask to end their supporter relationships online or by calling My Aged Care.
What the registered supporter role replaced
The registered supporter role replaced regular and authorised representative relationships in My Aged Care.
Additionally, from 1 November 2025, representative arrangements made under the Quality of Care Principles 2014 no longer exist. These arrangements did not transition to the new Act.
Before 1 November 2025, an older person and their representative under the Quality of Care Principles 2014 were encouraged to discuss if the representative should become a registered supporter. They could do this by:
- registering a regular or authorised representative relationships in My Aged Care by 31 October 2025. These relationships then transitioned to supporter relationships on 1 November 2025
- planning to register a supporter relationship after 1 November 2025.
What did not change
Other nominee or representative relationships are unchanged by the registered supporter role. This includes nominees or representatives for Medicare, Services Australia (including Centrelink) or the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
A registered supporter may also be a representative or nominee for these other schemes – however, if you are a nominee or representative, or would like to appoint one, you will need to engage separately with the relevant agencies and appointment processes.
Pending relationships
In getting ready for the transition to the new Aged Care Act, if a person had a pending representative relationship in My Aged Care for over 30 days, this relationship lapsed by 31 October 2025. Relationships were often pending in My Aged Care if only one party had provided their consent to creating the relationship. If your relationship changed from pending to lapsed, and you still want to create this relationship, please call My Aged Care on 1800 200 422.
On 1 November 2025, if you had had a pending representative relationship in My Aged Care for not more than 30 days, the pending representative relationship in My Aged Care was treated as a pending application to establish a registered supporter relationship under the new Act.
Further information
If you would like to learn more about these transitional arrangements, the following resources are available: