Treasurer Jim Chalmers might have framed his 2024-25 budget around a $9.3 billion surplus, but it’s the big care deficit that concerns me.
Australians are a laidback bunch, which means we often take our health for granted. That is, until something goes wrong and then your world changes forever.
Governments are grappling with ambulance ramping, a shortage of hospital beds, an aged care sector bursting at the seams, retirement villages that have historic low vacancies, and unaffordable housing markets. This comes as Australia’s population ages, bringing with it big socio-economic challenges for government and industry to solve.
The good news is that retirement villages – often confused with aged care facilities – can reduce hospitalisations by almost 20 per cent in the first nine months after moving into one of these communities.
More than 50 per cent of retirement villages feature wellbeing facilities or visiting health professionals such as nurses, general practitioners and physiotherapists, which helps minimise some of the barriers to care Australians can face, such as long GP clinic wait times and the decreasing number of bulk-billing GPs.
But there are a few things to understand about the diverse and complex care landscape.
Aged care facilities are funded by taxpayers and so are home care packages, which fund items and services that older Australians need to remain independent and living well at home.
Retirement villages, on the other hand, are funded by residents and based around living independently.
The bad news is that the budget handed down recently doesn’t lay out a long-term plan for Australia’s care challenges, thus plunging the country into a care deficit.
While $531 million was allocated to clearing the home care backlog and $1.4 billion to aged care digital infrastructure, these are short-term responses to a problem that is decades in the making.
In June last year, the Australian Government established the Aged Care Taskforce, pulling together thought leaders and captains of industry.
While the taskforce presented its recommendations in December, we’ve heard nothing from the government about its response to review funding arrangements for aged care and develop options for a system that is fair and equitable for everyone.
To make matters even more complicated, there is currently a review of the Aged Care Act, which might yet stifle the innovation needed to keep more Australians healthier and happier for longer.
Australians aren’t getting any younger, and every day that passes without a plan to care for older Australians appropriately and affordably is an opportunity missed.
Until we see a sensible, strategic and properly funded aged care strategy, the care deficit from the federal budget should concern everyone.
Daniel Gannon is executive director of the Retirement Living Council
More stakeholder views from this edition
- Tom Symondson: Support critical aged care reforms
- Patricia Sparrow A minister for ageing is good news for seniors
- Dr Claudia Meyer A bespoke aged care pathway for First Nations people
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