Over the past few weeks, I’ve been preparing a submission to the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee’s review of the Aged Care Rules 2025.
As a regional, not-for-profit residential aged care provider, I support the intent of the reforms — particularly the strengthened rights-based framework, higher expectations of quality, and clearer accountability.
But intent and implementation are not the same thing.
Our submission focuses on the practical operation of the Rules: how they land in real residential settings, with real residents, real workforce constraints, real compliance demands, and real financial limits — particularly in regional Australia.
It does not argue against resident rights.
It does not oppose higher standards.
Instead, it highlights areas where obligations imposed by the Rules are not aligned with:
- funding design,
- workforce availability,
- capital access, and
- administrative capacity.
Many of the issues we raise are unintended consequences of well-intentioned reform — including documentation burden, restrictive practice governance, HELF complexity, psychosocial care expectations without funding recognition, and the growing gap between regulatory expectations and operational reality.
This Senate review is an important opportunity to ensure the Rules are not only principled, but workable, sustainable and fair — so they genuinely support good care rather than undermine it.
