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

“When aged care fails, the cost is measured in lives”: Older Australians reveal the human impact of Labor’s aged care reforms

Tuesday, 4 August 2026

Older Australians, carers and advocates have delivered a devastating indictment of Labor’s aged care reforms, telling a Senate inquiry the system is failing people in deeply personal and damaging ways.

The Senate Community Affairs Committee inquiry into the implementation of Labor’s Support at Home reforms heard heartbreaking evidence from lived experience witnesses who described the human consequences of a bureaucratic system leaving older Australians without the support they need.

Witnesses spoke of lengthy waits for assessments and funding, reduced access to care, the growing burden placed on unpaid carers and the fear and uncertainty created by reforms that promised greater choice but have instead left many people worse off.

Deb told the inquiry that the failures of aged care are not abstract – they have devastating consequences for older Australians and their families.

"These four experiences taught me a single confronting lesson that the system doesn’t fail in a uniform way. It fails differently for every person who needs it, and when it fails, the cost can be measured in lives," she said.

The committee also heard from family members who have spent years delivering unpaid care to loved ones while navigating an increasingly complex aged care system.

Dementia Australia advocate Lynda, a key participant in the Assessment Working Group established by the Department of Health to advise on the development of the Integrated Assessment Tool (IAT), told the inquiry she felt "personally cheated" by Labor's decision to use algorithms to determine funding outcomes without any capacity for human override. She said the tool was designed to support clinicians in assessing individual needs, not to replace the professional judgement of qualified assessors.

"I now feel personally cheated as well as horrified by the numbers of incorrect assessment results produced by these algorithms and the consequences of those," Lynda said.

She warned the system was failing to account for the complexity of people's circumstances.

Representatives from Dementia Australia reinforced those concerns, telling the committee in their submission that "a national crisis is unfolding in Australia's aged care system." Their national survey found 68 per cent of carers and people living with dementia said their Support at Home package was not meeting their needs, while 94 per cent of professionals reported dementia-related needs were not being fully captured through the assessment process.

The inquiry also heard from Lynne, who described the devastating impact of lengthy wait times on older Australians requiring urgent support.

"Someone who is deemed to be needing the second highest package available surely has to be shortlisted as a priority and not just added to the queue. That timeframe is a lifetime for someone that age," she said.

Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care Senator Anne Ruston said the evidence laid bare the devastating human consequences of Labor's aged care reforms.

"Our inquiry is revealing the lived experience of what happens when a government loses sight of the people at the centre of aged care," Senator Ruston said.

"These witnesses were not talking about policy settings or administrative processes. They were talking about their lives, their families and the care they need to live with dignity.

"Every story we have heard reinforces that aged care cannot be reduced to forms, queues and computer-generated decisions. It requires compassion, professional judgement and a system that responds to the individual needs of every older Australian.

"Anthony Albanese promised to put the care into aged care system, but older Australians are telling us they feel more uncertain, less supported and increasingly afraid of what happens when they ask for help."

ENDS