Aged Care

When we came to Government, the Aged Care system was in crisis. In 2019, the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety handed down a report which described Australia’s aged care system as ‘woefully inadequate’ and a ‘shocking tale of neglect’. Since coming to Government, we have been working to reform this broken system - delivering older Australians the care and dignity they deserve.

The Royal Commission into Aged Care found that the previous Aged Care Act was no longer fit for purpose, and not centred around the people it was designed for.

In 2024, we introduced a new rights-based Aged Care Act, with a greater focus on older Australians’ rights, dignity and choice.

The new Act aims to improve the ways services are delivered to older people in their homes, communities and approved residential aged care homes.

Our new $4.3 billion Support at Home program is helping around 1.4 million seniors by 2035 stay in their homes as they age.

To meet growing demand, we’re delivered 83,000 additional Support at Home places.

We've introduced a requirement for 24/7 nurses in nursing homes and increased the minimum amount of care per day to 215 minutes.

Under these reforms, older Australians are getting 7.1 million extra minutes of care every day compared to the last Government.

And we’ve invested $18 billion to fund a 23% pay rise for aged care workers.

In the 2026 Budget, we’ve invested $3.7 billion to deliver more beds, more packages and better care for older Australians.

That includes $1.7 billion to incentivise construction of up to 5,000 aged care beds a year to meet growing demand.

And it includes $1.1 billion to increase and restructure the Accommodation Supplement to better support lower-means residents.