Gillard expresses commitment to older Australians
But ACSA says she needs to prove her commitment with a sustainable aged care policy.
The industry has urged Julia Gillard to confirm her commitment to older Australians by announcing a sustainable aged care policy.
The prime minister expressed her commitments to the nation’s older people earlier this week when it was reported that as Kevin Rudd’s deputy, she opposed a pension increase.
“I joined the Labor Party many years ago because I believe in fairness and decency for older Australians,” Ms Gillard told AAP.
But Aged and Community Services Australia (ACSA) said the older Australians who receive aged care services might question the prime minister’s commitment.
The association’s CEO, Greg Mundy, said aged care providers were hampered by an inadequate funding model.
“[Ms Gillard] needs to be prepared to commit to resources for aged care in the short term and the longer term,” he said.
“She needs to commit to reform for aged care, which she has already done – but only with a one liner.
“We would like to see a bit more detail and concrete specificity and we would also like to see a commitment to ensuring that aged care providers are positively resourced.
“We haven’t heard anything from the opposition yet either – we know they have a policy but they haven’t released it yet.”
Mr Mundy said good aged care policy could be a vote winner on election day.
“There are a million Australians receiving aged care services and if you look at the number of people who are closely connected to them, that number increases quite significantly,” he said.
“If you assume that every one of those million people, on average, has one child and every one of those children has at least one child, then that means, even with a conservative estimate, that there are three million people whose lives are directly impacted by aged care in Australia.”
