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

INSPECTOR-GENERAL’S DAMNING VERDICT: LABOR’S AGED CARE CRISIS LAID BARE

15 July 2026

The Albanese Labor Government’s aged care crisis has been laid bare by its own independent watchdog, with the Inspector-General of Aged Care using her National Press Club address today to deliver a damning assessment of a system “funding decline rather than independence”.

In her address, Inspector-General Natalie Siegel-Brown warned the Albanese Government had failed on its implementation of the Aged Care Act chasing “announceables” and outputs.

Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care Senator Anne Ruston said the Inspector-General’s address confirmed everything the Coalition has been warning about for months.

Ms Siegel-Brown said: “The way aged care reform is being implemented is causing harm.”

“This is the Government's own independent watchdog telling Anthony Albanese, in the plainest possible terms, that his aged care system is failing older Australians,” Senator Ruston said.

“Older Australians were promised dignity and independence, but Labor has delivered waiting lists, rationed care and a computer algorithm which determines their care needs,” Senator Ruston said.

“Almost 200,000 older Australians are waiting either to be assessed or for the package they have been approved to receive. And one in four assessments is now conducted over the phone, with no in-person contact, before a computer decides their fate.

“I commend Ms Siegel-Brown for her powerful reminder that older Australians and aging is not a problem to be solved but people to be celebrated, valued and supported.”

Today’s address follows evidence to Senate committees over recent weeks, which revealed:

• Financial hardship applications rose by 88 per cent in the first two months of Labor’s Support at Home reforms;

• Just 129 people out of more than 100,000 assessed were classified as urgent under Labor’s assessment algorithm;

• A $50 pair of crutches recommended by a GP cost the system $1,800 and took three months to deliver;

• A man living with Parkinson’s disease, whose medication support had been halved, died the day before agreement to his reassessment came through;

• Older Australians on so-called “interim packages” are receiving just 60 per cent of their assessed care needs.

Senator Ruston said the Government could act immediately by supporting the Coalition's Aged Care Amendment (Restoring Human Override for Aged Care Needs Assessments) Bill 2026, which passed the Senate on 2 July with crossbench support. Labor voted against it.

“The Inspector-General has told the Parliament it is not too late to change course and the Coalition agrees,” Senator Ruston said.

“The Albanese Government must immediately reinstate human oversight of its flawed assessment algorithm, come clean on the true size of its waiting list, and stop forcing older Australians to pay the price for its budget-driven decisions.”

“When the Government's own independent watchdog stands up at the National Press Club and says the math ain't mathin', it is time for Anthony Albanese to stop defending a broken system and start fixing it.”

ENDS