The RLC broadly welcomes the Australian government’s aged care reforms through the draft Aged Care Bill 2023 (the Bill) and understands the government’s aim to put the individual at the centre of the aged care system through a rights-based framework.
We also support the intention of the Bill to improve flexibility in accommodation types for those receiving aged care and to allow for innovation in the aged care sector, but we are wary some onerous provisions and unintended consequences may stifle innovation and operator entry to the already undersupplied market.
Retirement communities already provide homelike environments and services that enable older Australians to age in place. Many operators have expanded their service models to care for their residents in a format akin to residential aged care, albeit under the applicable Retirement Villages Act (RV Act) and in a fee-for-service model.
The sector would welcome the opportunity to enable their residents to continue living within their communities, within their own home and with all the dignities that this affords them, while receiving the government funding that might otherwise only have been available within a residential care home (RCH).
