The Australian Government introduced the Aged Care Bill 2024 (Bill) to Parliament on 12 September 2024.
The Bill brings together work on the new Support at Home program, recommendations of the Aged Care Taskforce (Taskforce) and responds to around 60 recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety (Royal Commission).
The Bill replaces the Aged Care Act 1997 (Cth) (1997 Act) and the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission Act 2018 (Cth), and brings together the funding and regulatory arrangements for multiple existing and new aged care programs including:
• residential care,
• the Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP),
• the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care (NATSIFAC Program),
• the Multi-purpose Services (MPS) Program,
• the Transition Care Program (TCP), and
• the new Support at Home program.
As the Rules contain operational detail, drafting will take time, and stakeholders will also need time to consider them before they are finalised.
While it is difficult to commit to providing a defined set of Rules by a given time due to the complexity that can arise during drafting, the Department of Health and Aged Care (department) has released the Service List and we are prioritising the development of Rules for Chapter 4 relating to aged care funding arrangements.
Our intention is to have as many Rules as possible for Chapter 4 ready to support this Committee inquiry process, with a view to providing key aspects of them in October
Read more:
New Aged Care Act Rules consultation – Release 1 – Service list (.pdf)
New regulatory model for aged care – Unpacking the new model for providers (.pdf)
About the Aged Care Bill 2024 fact sheet – Easy Read (.pdf)
About the Aged Care Bill 2024 plain language fact sheet (.pdf)