Prepare for the worst; demand the best

Despite the tireless efforts of those who have worked long and hard for aged care reform to become a reality, whatever does end up in the budget might not be all they are hoping for.

By Yasmin Noone

The sector has a reasonable chance of getting reform included in the upcoming 2012/13 Federal Budget but, given the political atmosphere at the moment, achieving significant reform will prove a much tougher task.

These are the sentiments of one of economist, Deloitte Access Economics partner Chris Richardson, who addressed a crowd of aged care professionals at the Aged Care Queensland State Conference on the Gold Coast yesterday.

Canberra is focused on politics and achieving a budget surplus, Mr Richardson said, not policy.

There is a “reasonable chance” of getting something in the next budget but “getting significant reform on any issue, not just aged care…is difficult”.

“Canberra’s mind is elsewhere, on politics not on policy.”

Explaining why, he referred to the hung parliament, the political promise from the government to bring the next budget into surplus, and the nature of political games at play in the country’s capital – “Canberra is busy strangling each other”, he said humorously.

“Whoever is in charge in a hung parliament is in trouble. If you do something, anything, [they] will be at risk of losing votes.

“…Neither side at the moment wants to risk votes and neither side want to be seen as doing anything.”

So, the sector “may not hear sounds from Canberra this year”.

Mr Richardson presented at the conference twice yesterday – initially as a panellist in a discussion led by multi-award winning medical journalist, Dr Norman Swan, and then later on his own.

He was joined by CEO of Catholic Health Australia, Martin Laverty, on the four-person panel.

Mr Laverty spoke about aged care reform and the sector’s journey towards it.

He said the sector was now so close to achieving that reform that had previously eluded it because “we are now talking about aged care through a consumer’s perspective”.

“Where we started to get traction with the government is when we started to look at consumer’s needs,” Mr Laverty said.

“The type of reform we are [now] seeking puts the consumer first…”

Mr Laverty suggested that the sector could also be close to achieving aged care reform because it now stands united.

Fellow panellist and director of aged care reform engagement at COTA Australia, Pat Sparrow, discussed consumer issues and the outcome of recent consumer ‘conversations on ageing’, conducted by COTA Australia on behalf of the federal government.

She said the main concerns of the 3,000-strong group of consumers were that they felt undervalued; wanted to be seen as individuals and not just as a homogenous collective of ‘older people’; and wanted to be referred to in a more positive manner, not continually regarded as the cause of the ageing ‘tsunami’ or ‘crisis’ that the country now has to ‘deal with’.

According to Ms Sparrow, consumers also commented that they want to see more consumer-centric, not provider-focused services; remain in their own home, in their own community and live independently for as long as possible; and die with dignity at home. 

Tags: acq-state-conference, acqi, budget-2012, catholic-health-australia, cha, cota-australia, deloitte-access-economics, pc, productivity-commission, reform,

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