Senior bureaucrats with responsibility for aged care policy, standards, quality and complaints will face a grilling at Budget Estimates this week, in what will be the first public hearings since the Oakden Nursing Home became front page news.
While the five-hour session is to primarily cover Budget matters, representatives from the Community Affairs Committee which has oversight of health and aged care will be able to ask questions that more broadly relate to the portfolio.
In tomorrow’s estimates the Committee, chaired by Senator Jonathon Duniam, will be covering access and information, home and support care, residential and flexible care, the Quality Agency and the Aged Care Complaints Commissioner.
Between ongoing problems with My Aged Care, continued uncertainty surrounding home care packages and – most significantly – the roles of the Quality Agency and Complaints Commissioner in contributing to the Oakden scandal along with revelations of other similar cases, the lines of questioning are likely to go beyond financial matters.
Hearings for Ageing and aged care are scheduled to commence at 3pm AEST on Tuesday 30 May and can be watched live at www.aph.gov.au/News_and_Events/Watch_Parliament
