The Greens have cautiously welcomed the deferral of the major parties' Aged Care Act to 1 November, which will provide a brief reprieve for older people facing increased fees to access aged care.
Labor previously joined forces with the Coalition to block Greens amendments that would have stopped older people being slugged more for their care and created criminal penalties for bad providers, a reform Labor promised before the 2022 election.
As stated by Greens spokesperson on Older People, Senator Penny Allman-Payne:
"There are serious questions for the new minister to answer, including how much more older people are going to have to pay for aged care?
"Costs are going to go up for older people because of these changes, and while a deferral is welcome, we need to see a plan from the Minister to protect older people - because right now, there is none.
"Under the reforms passed by Labor and the Coalition, many older people will now be required to pay more without any enforceable rights to quality care.
"The Royal Commission offered a blueprint to reform a broken aged care system by putting the rights of older people at its heart, but Labor instead teamed up with the Coalition and the for-profit aged care industry to pass new laws that will bolster the bottom lines of providers at the expense of older Australians.
"Despite all of the shocking witness testimony about the appalling treatment many older people have suffered in this broken market-based system, Labor is simply doubling down.
"If greater reliance on a user-pays model is the answer, then we're asking the wrong questions. Older people aren't commodities. It should be an obligation of any moral society for the Government to guarantee high-quality care for all.
"The Greens will continue to push for a phasing out of for-profit providers and for an aged care system that puts the rights of older people first."
