COTA Australia: New blueprint for aged care
Australia's peak body of older Australians, COTA Australia (Council on the Ageing) has launched a new blueprint for the reform of aged care.
The blueprint calls for a fundamental redesign of aged care, not just extra funding.
Speaking today at the Aged and Community Services Association National Conference in Hobart, COTA Australia's Chief Executive Ian Yates said money alone would not create the aged care system that Australians now expected but which had long been denied them.
"Mr Yates said we need a system that:
The blueprint is set out in COTA's submission to the Productivity Commission Inquiry into Care of Older Australians, which is being launched at a special session on "The Future of Aged Care - A Consumer Perspective" at the ACSA Conference at 2.00pm this afternoon.
COTA Australia represents more than 500,000 older Australians.
Mr Yates called for broad community and bi-partisan political support for radical change to aged care.
"COTA welcomes Prime Minister Julia Gillard's commitment to aged care reform as a second term priority and the appointment of Mark Butler, who has a long term interest in aged care, as Minister for Ageing," he said.
"We want to see a new Age Care Act and significant Budget initiatives in 2011 and expect all parties to cooperate to achieve this, rather than use older Australians as a political football.
"The Productivity Commission's report will be our last chance to get aged care right in Australia for the crucial next three decades when numbers really balloon out.
Please visit the COTA website for more information.
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