SENATOR THE HON ANNE RUSTON

SHADOW MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE

DEPUTY LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION IN THE SENATE

SENATOR FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA

MEDIA RELEASE

Tuesday, 10 November 2026

AGED CARE ON THE BRINK: SALVOS WALK AWAY AND STATES REVOLT AS CONFIDENCE IN LABOR’S SYSTEM COLLAPSES

Labor’s aged care system has entered a new and deepening crisis, with one of the nation’s most experienced residential care providers walking away and state and territory health ministers demanding urgent federal action. Both have been revealed only a fortnight after Labor was exposed for $1.4bn in budget cuts to aged care.

The Salvation Army, which has cared for older Australians for more than 100 years, will exit residential aged care. More than 1,500 residents across 19 aged care homes, and almost 2,000 people receiving care at home, now face an uncertain future.

The Salvos pointed to the growing governance and operational demands of Labor’s new aged care regulation, and the capital needed to keep its homes running. They are not alone. The Government’s own figures show 60 residential aged care providers left the sector in 2025-26, while only 14 joined.

Despite inflicting significant cost pressure in the system, in October, Labor increased what it pays for residential care by just 2.55 per cent, well below inflation and the 4.75 per cent wage increase providers must fund.

Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care Senator Anne Ruston said confidence in Labor’s aged care system was in freefall.

“While every provider’s decision is its own, the departure of an extraordinarily experienced provider cannot be viewed in isolation from federal Labor’s mismanagement of care for older Australians,” Senator Ruston said.

“From rationing of care, to algorithms with no human override, and now experienced providers exiting the sector, this Government is sleepwalking into an aged care crisis of its own making.”

“Labor has tangled aged care up in red tape, and cut funding at the same time,” Senator Ruston said.

Simultaneously, state and territory health ministers have written to Health Minister Mark Butler and Aged Care Minister Sam Rae demanding “urgent Commonwealth action to address residential aged care funding and capacity”.

“It is unacceptable that older Australians are effectively living in hospitals due to a lack of suitable aged care accommodation,” the ministers wrote.

South Australia has just passed a record 500 older patients stuck in public hospital beds waiting for aged care. Premiers and state health ministers are calling it a crisis, but federal Aged Care Minister Sam Rae doesn’t seem to be able to find the time to even meet with them, let alone fix his own mess.

“In September, Mark Butler told state health ministers pleading for help with bed block that “the Commonwealth Budget doesn’t have money available for new spending,” only to be exposed in October for underspending $1.4bn in aged care. Butler was caught out, and now his junior minister Sam Rae won’t even show up,” Senator Ruston said.

Nationally, more than 3,700 older Australians are stuck in public hospital beds waiting for aged care, up 36 per cent in a year. Keeping them there is costing state hospitals an estimated $1.8 billion a year.

Older Australians stuck in hospital waiting for aged care, by state and territory

State / territory | Older patients stuck in hospital (mid-2026) | Change in 12 months | Estimated cost to state hospitals per year*

Queensland | 1,272 | +18% | $612 million

New South Wales | 1,027 | +37% | $494 million

South Australia | 476 | +94% | $229 million

Western Australia | 423 | +84% | $204 million

Victoria | 302 | +34% | $145 million

ACT | 80 | +3% | $39 million

Tasmania | 78 | +42% | $38 million

Northern Territory | 74 | −3% | $36 million

Australia | 3,732 | +36% | $1.8 billion

Source: state and territory health ministers, Health Ministers Meeting, 4 September 2026 (mid-2025 to mid-2026). South Australia has since passed 500 (SA Health Minister, November 2026). *Estimate based on SA Health’s average of $1,318 per patient per day (within IHACPA’s estimate of $1,200 to $1,500), if numbers stay at mid-2026 levels for a full year. Costs vary by state; Queensland puts its own cost at $2.8 million a day.

“Providers are losing confidence and walking away. The states have lost confidence and are writing letters. And older Australians and their families have every reason to lose confidence in a system that keeps them waiting, rations their care and leaves them stuck in hospital,” Senator Ruston said.

In just the past three weeks, Labor’s own officials and watchdogs have confirmed:

• Labor cut $517 million from residential aged care in 2025-26, while more than 3,700 older Australians were stuck in public hospital beds waiting for aged care.

• $727 million cut from in-home care funding in Support at Home’s first eight months, while 52,659 older Australians were put on reduced “minimum service offers” in just three months.

• The Commonwealth Ombudsman found Labor’s handling of its aged care algorithm “unreasonable”, and that “a reasonable person would… lack confidence that the system is in fact fair and consistent.” Labor sat on his draft report for six weeks while pushing a band-aid through parliament.

• Aged care homes are going backwards. The Government’s own data shows only almost one in three residents now lives in a home run by a provider that didn’t turn a profit, and sector profits fell by more than a third. Costs per resident rose 8.9 per cent while revenue rose just 7.3 per cent.

“The Salvos are a warning, not an outlier. Mark Butler and Sam Rae need to stop sleepwalking, start listening to the states and providers, and tell older Australians how they are going to fix this before more providers walk away,” Senator Ruston said.

ENDS