About the new rights-based Aged Care Act

About the new Act

Currently, aged care is governed under many aged care laws. The new Act will replace the:

• Aged Care Act 1997
• Aged Care (Transitional Provisions) Act 1997
• Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission Act 2018.

The new Act aims to improve the ways services are delivered to older people in:

• their homes
• community settings
• approved residential aged care homes.

It will:

• outline the rights of older people who are seeking and accessing aged care services
• create a single entry point, with clear eligibility requirements
• include a fair, culturally safe single assessment framework
• support the delivery of aged care services
• establish new system oversight and accountability arrangements
• increase provider accountability through a new regulatory model
• strengthen the aged care regulator.

Why the new Act is important

The Royal Commission into Aged Care found the current Aged Care Act and its related legislation is no longer fit for purpose. This is because it is structured around providers and how to fund them, rather than around the people accessing services and what they need.

The new rights-based Act will put older people who need aged care at the centre of the system.

The new Act underpins responses to 58 Royal Commission recommendations, including:

• the Australian Government's response to the Aged Care Taskforce recommendations
• the new Support at Home program
• strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards
• stronger powers for the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission
• a Statement of Rights for older people.

The new Act will also build on priority aged care reforms that have already been delivered.

The legislative changes so far

The new Act will support the broader reforms to the aged care system. This includes some priority aged care reforms that we have already delivered by amending existing aged care legislation.

This was completed so that we could act early on some of the Royal Commission's recommendations to address urgent matters of quality and safety and enable transparency in pricing of aged care services provide an enduring and sustainable funding model for aged care.

See our reforms roadmap for a full timeline of proposed reforms.

Who will be affected

The new Act will affect everyone connected to the aged care system, including:

• older people, their families and carers
• aged care providers
• aged care workers
• the broader care sector
• the government agencies responsible for supporting, delivering, regulating and overseeing the aged care system, including:
  • the Department of Health and Aged Care
  • the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission
  • Services Australia.

Read about:

• what the new Act means for you
• our new Aged Care Act resources.

How the new Act came together

To make sure the new Act reflects the needs of older people, during its development we worked and consulted with:

• older people, their families and carers
• the Aged Care Council of Elders
• the National Aged Care Advisory Council
• aged care providers
• aged care workers
• peak aged care organisations
• consumer and sector reference groups
• other experts.

Read about the consultation on the new Act.

A new rights-based framework

The new Act includes a Statement of Rights. This outlines the rights that older people in the aged care system should expect when seeking or accessing government-funded aged care services.

This will help ensure that older people and their needs are, and remain, at the centre of the new system.

The Statement of Rights makes sure older people can:

• make their own decisions about their own life
• have their decisions not just accepted, but respected
• get information and support to help make their own decisions
• communicate their wishes needs and preferences
• feel safe and respected
• have their culture and identity respected.

The new Act will enforce obligations of aged care providers and workers through:

• stay connected with their community.
• streamlined and clarified obligations and registration conditions – including that a provider must demonstrate they understand the Statement of Rights and have practices in place to ensure the delivery of funded aged care services is compatible with the Statement of Rights.
• the Code of Conduct for Aged Care
• strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards
• ensuring providers have systems in place for complaints management and information disclosure
• new obligations to demonstrate a commitment and capability to continuous improvement towards high-quality care.

Pathways for upholding rights

Pathways will be available to uphold the rights set out in the new Act.

Complaints processes will be a primary pathway used to assist older persons to resolve concerns about their rights, as we have heard from stakeholders this is important so they can access restorative and timely outcomes.

When an older person, or someone connected to them, believes their rights are not being upheld, they should raise this with their provider in the first instance. All providers are required to have a complaints management system and process in place to address complaints and resolve issues quickly and fairly. If they don’t, older people and their supporters have the right to escalate the issue to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (the Commission) without fear of punishment.

The Commission will work with registered providers to improve performance and reduce risks to the health and safety of older people. For example, they may:

• undertake additional monitoring activities
• issue notices requiring a provider to take particular actions to address identified issues.

Enforcement pathways will also be available to fix identified issues and deter similar conduct. The Commission’s responses will be proportionate to the conduct involved, but could include:

• compelling providers to take certain actions at their own expense
• fines for providers or workers
• significant civil penalties for serious breaches.

Read more about how to raise a concern or to make a complaint.

A new registered supporter role

Under the new Act, older people must be treated with respect and are presumed to have the ability to make their own 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.

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. If an older person has a regular or authorised representative active in My Aged Care on 30 June, they will become a registered supporter under the new Act. Regular representatives, authorised representatives, and older people with regular representatives can opt out of having or being a registered supporter between now and 30 June.

On 1 July, representative relationships that are active in My Aged Care and have not opted out will transition to supporter relationships.

Find out more about this role, how to opt out, what it replaces and what is staying the same.

Protection for whistleblowers

The new Act will protect whistleblowers – people who call out issues. This is to make sure older people, people who are close to them, and aged care workers can report information without fear that they will be punished or treated unfairly.

People can make a report to:

• the Commission
• the department, or an official of the department 
• a registered provider
• a responsible person of a registered provider
• an aged care worker of a registered provider
• a police officer
• an independent aged care advocate.

People can make the report in person, over the phone or in writing. The report can also be made anonymously.

The report can be made about someone who has not followed the aged care law, or more broadly, about an organisation that hasn’t followed the aged care law.

If someone makes a report, they will:

• be protected from any negative results that come from making the report.
• have their identities or identifying information protected, with some exceptions – for example, where it is necessary to share information with the ACQSC or a lawyer, or to prevent a serious threat to a person or people.

Statement of Principles

A Statement of Principles will be included to guide decisions, actions and behaviours required under the new Act. These principles will also apply to us and the Commission. 

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