Sussan Ley claims win as Labor ‘defeated’ after caving on delay to 20,000 aged care home packages

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has marked her first big win of the term after Labor bowed to pressure to fast track the delivery of 20,0000 aged care home care packages.

The Coalition, Greens and the crossbench had teamed up to force Labor’s hand after it decided in June to push the rollout back to November 1.

Health Minister Mark Butler and Aged Care Minister Sam Rae had argued that the sector was not prepared for their release due to workforce shortages along with pricing and IT system challenges.

But after intense Senate security and days of targeting Mr Rae – the youngest minister on Labor’s frontbench – in Question Time, Labor caved.

Minutes after rejecting an amendment bill by Independent Senator David Pocock calling on the fast tracking of 20,000 packages to help clear the ballooning backlog for more than 80,000 people, Labor called a snap press conference and announced it would act.

Mr Butler and Mr Rae fronted cameras in Canberra to claim they had struck a deal with opposition health spokeswoman Anne Ruston to meet their demands.

They also expressed new confidence that the sector was prepared to deliver the care.

Ms Ley was quick to claim it as a win for the Coalition.

“This is not a deal, Prime Minister. This is a defeat, because Labor has been dragged kicking and screaming to implement what we have spent this week demanding that they do,” she said.

Despite Mr Butler’s continued praise of Senator Ruston pressing the matter, she later told Sky News the hastily prepared press conference has come as a “surprise.”

“While it has come at the last minute, we are pleased that we actually have been able to deliver this for the 83,000 older Australians who have been left in limbo over the last few months,” Senator Ruston said.

“I would point out that this government has not released one new home care package this financial year.”

The Government has now committed to release the first trace of 20,000 packages immediately, then a further 20,000 before December 31, before working to provide the remaining 43,000 by June 30, 2026.

Mr Rae appeared more upbeat in the press conference than on the floor of the House in recent days, where the 38-year-old Minister had faced a barrage of questioning.

He claimed that Labor had taken a “principle approach” to aged care despite the backflip.

Mr Rae had previously said that it was a “difficult decision” to defer the start date” but that the government had done so to ensure providers, clients and staff working in the sector were ready for the transition and would be monitoring the impacts of the deferral.

“There are also a range of public commentaries made, which are on the record from various providers across the sector, indicating that they were not yet ready for the full implementation of the new Aged Care Act and support home arrangements,” he said on Wednesday.

“The workforce challenges are very real here. There’s no doubt about it.”

Ms Ley still used Question Time on Wednesday to hit Mr Rae with further questions, while also asking Mr Butler why he had sidelined his junior minister in the Coalition talks.

When Mr Rae returned to the floor on Wednesday, he claimed that fast tracking the 20,000 packages was the “final piece of the puzzle” in Labor’s $5.6bn aged care reforms.

Despite blaming the sector’s preparedness, several sector bodies on Wednesday said that they were ready.

“Providers are ready to act immediately and deliver more packages across Australia,” Ageing Australia boss Tom Symondson said.

“As we heard recently, 98 per cent of members tell us they have the capacity and are ready to go.”

Catholic Health Australia’s aged care director Alex Lynch said the body which represents 20 per cent of home care providers said their members were also ready.

Council on the Ageing Australia boss Patricia Sparrow said the leading advocacy organisation for older people had told the government in June there shouldn’t be a delay.

“Home care packages should never have been tied up in that delay. We told the government that at the time, and we’re pleased to see action now to rectify it,” Ms Sparrow said.

Retirement Living Council’s Daniel Gannon described the politicking of the past few days as “ugly” but welcomed the “tragically overdue” action on aged care.

“For 210,000 older Australians in care limbo, this parliamentary point-scoring process didn’t cook a single meal, help someone shower or keep someone safely at home,” he said.

“It’s been an ugly few days where budget impacts have seemingly been more important than caring for older people.”

Greens older people spokeswoman Penny Allman Payne said that some elderly Australians were waiting up to 15 months for care when they had already been deemed eligible.

“Make no mistake, the immediate release of 20,000 Home Care Packages would not have happened without the greens and the crossbench,” she said.

It had been a personal fight for Senator Allman Payne, whose mother died while waiting.

It comes as figures showing 5000 people died waiting for care in the last financial year.

Senator Allman Payne said there’s also 121,000 waiting to get assessed after acknowledging they need help.

“The wait time isn’t just the time it takes from someone to get assessed and receive their package. They’re waiting months and months and months to even get assessed,” she said.

Speaking at a press conference after the dual Labor Minister’s press conference, Senator Pocock welcomed the release of packages but questioned why Labor voted down his amendment just moments earlier.

It’s understood the government had been in talks overnight to urgently seek a compromise rather than face the Senate defeat and then forced Labor Senators to filibuster on Wednesday morning as the Minister sought to strike a deal.

Liberal Senator Jessica Collins had accused Labor of “broken promises” and labelled the delay “inexcusable” while there was a “skyrocketing waitlist.”

Senate pressure had also managed to squeeze out updated waitlist data, after Mr Rae had been citing statistics from March 31.

Minister Jenny McAllister begrudgingly confirmed that by July 31, the list had grown to 108,000.

She had initially blamed the delay on the standard processes of quality assurance checks but then later told the Senate the new figure “hasn’t been screened” could change.

WA Aged Care Minister Simone McGurk claimed the fast tracking of packages as a win after the State Government’s delegation to Canberra last Wednesday.

She said the Federal government had “listened” to WA concerns that the State hadn’t received its fair share of packages.

“We appreciate the Commonwealth listening to our concerns and acting to fast track 20,000 home care packages,” Ms McGurk said.

“As the Minister I have argued that WA deserves our fair share when it comes to aged care.

“Despite having over 10 percent of the nation’s older population, Western Australia receives just 7.7 percent of home care packages.”

Mr Rae is expected to travel to WA after the parliamentary sitting week to speak with State representative about the issues.