Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment

“Therefore, this bill will provide further support for the Albanese Labor government's ambition to transform the experience of older Australians receiving care, wherever they reside across the country.”

Labor • Senator • 01 Sept 2025

“We know that the need is urgent, and it's not acceptable to have older Australians dying at home, as we heard last week, while waiting for a care package. We know that. It is not acceptable. It reflects how broken this system is and why it is so urgent that this parliament and the Senate pass the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025 and the associated bill. We are completely overhauling this system. At the heart of it is the wishes of older Australians. It is a generational reform that we will reap the benefits of for years to come.”

Labor • Senator • 03 Sept 2025

“This Bill provides further support for our ambition to transform the experience of older Australians receiving care.”

Labor • Senator • 31 July 2025

“Across this chamber, I hope that we can all agree on this single point: that aged-care reform is a priority, so that we can ensure our older Australians are supported, and that this reform must proceed without delay.”

Labor • Senator • 03 Sept 2025

“These bills ensure the new rights based system starts well on 1 November. They protect people during transition, strengthen accountability and keep the focus on quality. This is another practical step in putting the care back into aged care and in giving families the confidence that the system will be there for them when they need it. I commend the bills to the Senate.”

Labor • Senator • 03 Sept 2025

“We won't seek to delay the passage of this bill—Australians deserve better than broken promises and more procrastination and delay by this Albanese Labor government; I understand that—but these changes have to be scrutinised to ensure the process of reform can be implemented in the best way possible, because, at the end of the day, our society is ageing, and we need to provide the very best quality of care.”

Nationals • MP • 30 July 2025

“My colleague Senator Ruston has rightly said that aged-care reform must be about dignity and clarity. It must be about ensuring timely access to care, especially in regional and remote communities, and it must be about fixing the system at its source, not just patching it up after the fact. I want to acknowledge the work Senator Ruston has done as shadow minister for health and aged care to improve the original legislation and the advocacy she continues here to further improve upon these bills. The coalition supports these bills because they contain the safeguards we fought for last year, but we will not let the government escape scrutiny, because these reforms are too important for us as a parliament not to get right. You only have to stand in the shoes of the millions of Australians navigating the aged-care system for the first time—for their families and for the patients themselves—to feel the sense of bewilderment, confusion and loss of independence. It will never be an easy process, but the government can make it more bearable because every older Australian deserves dignity, respect and access to the care they need, not just in principle but in practice.”

Liberal • Senator • 02 Sept 2025

“I'm pleased to speak to this request for amendments to the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025, received from the Senate. These are historic amendments for this parliament.”

Liberal Party of Australia • MP • 04 Sept 2025

“I think that these amendments that have come down from the Senate are desperately needed by our nation, by our oldest people. We in here all enjoy the nation that we live in because of them. So I commend these amendments, which were very hard fought and won. Let us hope that we never again in Australia get to a position where we have nearly 5,000 Australians in a year dying waiting for care.”

Nick Xenophon Team • MP • 04 Sept 2025

“I join my colleagues in the Senate in saying that I won't be delaying the bill. I'm glad we finally got to it. This clearly needs to pass for Support at Home to commence in November, but the Senate does have a right to make really sensible amendments. I foreshadow that I'll be moving an amendment that would see the release of 20,000 new home-care packages. We all know it can be done. The department has said as much. We know that they can be provided. Providers have said publicly that they have capacity, and we know that there is need. This is urgent. This is the opportunity for the government to change the lives of 20,000 older Australians and, in most cases, change the lives of their families. I urge the government: this is an opportunity to do the right thing, to do the thing that the evidence suggests we need to do leading up to 1 November and to do the thing that is in the best interests of older Australians. You'll have an opportunity when other senators and I move amendments to the main bill.”

Independent • Senator • 02 Sept 2025

“I support this bill, but I take this opportunity to highlight serious deficiencies in the current home-care system, which my constituents are so very much relying on, before the new Aged Care Act and support-at-home system commences.”

Independent • MP • 30 July 2025

“I also want to acknowledge everyone who has played a part in this. I wrote to the government last year about my concerns with home-care packages, based on the feedback I'd got from constituents. I was proud to work with Senator Pocock and others earlier, just after the election, when there was concern that the packages would be delayed, to say that they should not be delayed. I've been proud to stand up with other members of the crossbench and across the parliament to say: 'This is important. These changes are required, and it's time to put them through.' This is a positive day for the parliament. This is a good choice, and I'm proud to have been part of that. Certainly my community will be extremely grateful for the changes that have been made to this bill.”

Independent • MP • 04 Sept 2025

“Mr GEE (Calare) (10:17): I also rise to support the release of these 20,000 home-care packages. I believe it is an important step forward for the parliament and also for the nation. Most people in our communities know how important home care is to our seniors and the difference that it makes to people's lives. I think everyone was shocked that these packages were being withheld. The feedback from the Calare electorate, in the Central West of New South Wales, is that the packages need to be released on the double and that we need to get help to our seniors to help with their amenity of life and the support that they need.”

Independent • MP • 04 Sept 2025