More Aged Care Places & Home Care Package Funding Promised in 2018 Budget

The 2018-19 Budget will deliver the More Choices For a Longer Life package which will support older Australians to live longer and be better prepared, healthier, more independent and connected to their communities.

• An additional 14,000 high-level home care packages so older Australians can stay in their homes longer if they want to;
• Allowing pensioners to earn more without reducing their pension;
• Greater flexibility to use home equity to increase retirement incomes.

Since the last Budget, the Turnbull Government has delivered an extra 20,000 high-level home care packages, to support people to live at home longer.

The Turnbull Government will provide 13,500 new residential aged care places and 775 short-term restorative places to be made available where they are most needed, plus $60 million for capital investment.

The Turnbull Government will also invest $40.0 million to support aged care providers in regional, rural and remote Australia for urgent building and maintenance works.

More than $105 million will improve access to culturally safe aged care services in remote Indigenous communities.

The Turnbull Government will establish an Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission to create a tough cop on the beat to ensure older Australians receive the best possible care, with an additional $50 million to assist providers implement the new standards.

MyAged Care will be improved with an investment of $61.7 million to make it easier to use, along with simplifying the forms required to apply for aged care services, and $7.4 million to trial navigators to assist people to choose the aged care services that suit their needs.

The Turnbull Government will invest $32.8 million to improve palliative care for older Australians living in residential aged care, filling current gaps in support services, $5.3 million for innovations in managing dementia, and $102.5 million for mental health programs for older Australians.