Peak body Ageing Australia has called on the government to take urgent action in the upcoming Federal Budget, warning that Australia risks an unsustainable aged care system without significant investment in funding, workforce and infrastructure.
Releasing its pre-budget recommendations on Friday, Ageing Australia said reforms are needed to build a sustainable and investable aged care sector that can meet the needs of a rapidly ageing population.
Ageing Australia Chief Executive Tom Symondson said pressure on the system is intensifying, with the number of Australians aged 70 or over expected to reach 2.3 million by 2044.
“Action is needed now,” Mr Symondson said, pointing to growing wait times for in-home care as one of the most immediate challenges facing older Australians.
He said that increasing the number of Support at Home packages should be the government’s top priority, with more than 100,000 people currently waiting for a package and another 100,000 awaiting assessment.
“The issue is fast approaching a national emergency.”
Ageing Australia Chief Executive Tom Symondson
While the government announced the release of 83,000 new packages for 2025–26, Mr Symondson said the increase is falling well short of demand.
Concerns have also been heightened by new data from the Productivity Commission, which found the median wait time between approval for a home care package and the commencement of care has doubled from four months to eight months. Many older Australians are still waiting more than a year.
“The Royal Commission said nobody should wait more than a month, and we are a very long way from that,” Mr Symondson added.
He warned that delays in accessing home care are pushing older people into hospitals and residential aged care prematurely.
Ageing Australia also warned that Australia is falling behind in building enough residential aged care beds to meet future demand. The organisation estimates 10,000 new beds need to be built each year for the next two decades, but only around 800 beds were added last year.
Workforce shortages were flagged as another critical risk, with the sector projected to face a shortfall of around 400,000 workers by 2050.
“Without urgent action, Australia will not have the workers needed to support our ageing population,” Mr Symondson said.
In its submission, Ageing Australia outlined a series of funding measures, including increasing the Accommodation Supplement for supported residents, setting a price floor for the Maximum Permissible Interest Rate at eight per cent to encourage investment, and reviewing the Australian National Aged Care Classification funding model to better reflect provider costs.
The organisation is also calling for a low-interest loan scheme to support new builds and upgrades, an expansion of the Aged Care Capital Assistance Program (ACCAP), and a delay to price caps for Support at Home services until at least January 2027.
On the workforce, Ageing Australia is seeking $150 million to expand ACCAP with a dedicated worker accommodation stream, the introduction of a national Essential Skills Visa, and the removal of labour market testing for critical aged and community care roles.
