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

Thursday, 5 November 2026

NO MONEY, MARK BUTLER? LABOR CUT $517 MILLION FROM AGED CARE BEDS WHILE OLDER AUSTRALIANS WAITED IN HOSPITAL

The Albanese Labor Government has been exposed at Senate Estimates for cutting $517 million from the residential aged care budget last year, while leaving more than 3,700 older Australians languishing in hospital beds.

Last month, Health Minister Mark Butler told state health ministers pleading for help with bed block that “the Commonwealth Budget doesn’t have money available for new spending.” His own department has now confirmed Labor cut $517 million from residential aged care in 2025-26.

Health Department officials told Senate Estimates last week that $517 million budgeted for residential aged care in 2025-26 was never spent. Over the same period, the number of older Australians stuck in public hospital beds waiting for aged care rose by more than a third, to more than 3,700.

Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care Senator Anne Ruston said older Australians were paying the price for a Government that was either incompetent, or deliberately leaving patients stranded to prop up its budget.

“Mark Butler told the states there was no money. His own department has now confirmed Labor took $517 million out of residential aged care. Instead of using it to get older Australians out of hospital, Minister Butler handed it back to Jim Chalmers,” Senator Ruston said.

A full year of residential aged care for every one of the 3,732 older Australians stuck in hospital would cost around $413 million. Labor’s $517 million cut would have paid for all of it, with more than $100 million left over.

Minister Butler has been spruiking the Government’s $348 million capital subsidy program as the reason he needs to cut the private health insurance subsidy for over 65s, claiming the program will help deliver 5,000 more aged care beds a year. But the subsidy is only paid out once a new home has opened. The $517 million Labor cut from residential aged care last year would have paid for the entire four-year program to build beds, and more, sooner.

“The Government knows there aren’t enough beds. It had the money to fix that faster. Instead of bringing new beds forward, Labor banked $517 million and left state hospitals stranded,” Senator Ruston said.

Every day an older person waits in hospital for aged care, the cost lands on state hospitals. In South Australia it costs $1,318 a day, more than four times the roughly $300 a day the Commonwealth pays for a residential aged care place. The head of the independent hospital pricing authority told Estimates that keeping an older patient in hospital costs “about $1,200 to $1,500 a day”.

“This is a cost shift onto state hospitals and the patients waiting in their emergency departments. Every older person stuck in a ward is a bed that isn’t available for someone else,” Senator Ruston said.

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Older Australians stuck in hospital waiting for aged care, bystate 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

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Source: state and territory health ministers, Health Ministers Meeting, 4 September 2026 (mid-2025 to mid-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.

“State health ministers asked Mark Butler for help and were told there was no money. They deserve to know why $517 million meant for aged care beds went back to the Treasurer instead,” Senator Ruston said.

ENDS