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

LABOR HEALTH MINISTER CALLS AGED CARE A “NATIONAL CRISIS” AND IT’S ONLY GETTING WORSE

Thursday, 10^th September 2026

E&OE……………………………………

NSW Labor Health Minister has broken ranks on aged care, declaring that the system’s failures amount to a “national crisis” that has spread well beyond his own state.

“This is not isolated to New South Wales, this is a national crisis,” NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said yesterday, describing the strain aged care failures are placing on the hospital system.

Minister Park’s comments landed as documents released under Freedom of Information revealed the Albanese Government had been warned of “catastrophic” outcomes from its aged care algorithm within days of its rollout.

It comes after last week’s health ministers’ meeting, where state and territory ministers warned more than 3,600 older Australians are now stranded in hospital beds nationally awaiting a Commonwealth aged care placement, up from around 2,700 a year ago, with Queensland alone accounting for roughly 1,400. In New South Wales, one in every eight emergency department beds is now occupied by a patient medically fit to leave but with nowhere to go.

Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care, Senator Anne Ruston, said it was extraordinary that even a Labor Minister was now publicly confirming there was a national crisis in aged care.

“When Labor’s health minister in the Prime Minister’s home state is standing up and calling this a national crisis, it’s time Anthony Albanese took responsibility for his government losing control of the aged care system,” Senator Ruston said.

“Sadly, older Australians and their families have been forced to live through this worsening for many months.”

To make matters worse for the federal government, confidential documents reported by Guardian Australia yesterday revealed officials in four states and the Northern Territory logged hundreds of cases of older Australians under-assessed by the Government’s aged care algorithm within days of its launch, including more than 100 cases in Queensland and more than 50 in New South Wales.

Western Australia’s Director General of Health warned the Commonwealth in November 2025 that, without a pathway for clinical discretion, vulnerable older people could face ‘catastrophic’ outcomes. Older people who once received an urgent home care package within four weeks were being reclassified as ‘medium’ priority and told to wait eight to nine months. The same delays now leaving thousands of older Australians with nowhere to go but a hospital bed.

“We all know about the broken aged care algorithm, but the truth is across the board Labor is at war with older Australians. From blown out waiting lists, a discharge crisis in our hospitals, cuts to private health insurance, and a Government that has spent two years managing aged care by press release while the system falls apart underneath it,” Senator Ruston said.

The Coalition has already introduced legislation to restore human decision-making to the aged care assessment process. A practical, overdue fix that has passed the Senate but remains blocked by Labor from even being debated in the House. Senator Ruston said restoring the override was necessary, but nowhere near sufficient on its own to fix a system this broken.

“Older Australians are paying more, waiting longer and getting less. Restoring human override to assessments is one fix Labor could deliver tomorrow if it stopped blocking our Bill, but this Government also needs to come clean about the true size of the waiting list, fix the discharge crisis crippling our hospitals, and take responsibility for a system it has let fall into crisis on one of its own state Ministers’ admission,” Senator Ruston said.

ENDS

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