Submission: Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee on Aged Care Bill 2024 [Provisions]

This submission focuses on the aspects of the Aged Care Bill 2024 that are most directly relevant to the provision of allied health services to aged care consumers.

AHPA has previously made three relevant submissions to the Department of Health and Aged Care (‘the Department’) on the proposed new Aged Care Act:

• Submission to Consultation on A New Aged Care Act – The foundations (Consultation paper No. 1);

• Submission to Consultation on A New Model for Regulating Aged Care; and

• Submission on A New Aged Care Act: Exposure Draft (Consultation paper No. 2)

In the light of the present state of allied health in the aged care system and the associated challenges identified above, AHPA recognises that some of the changes required to ensure needsbased allied health service provision cannot be addressed by amendments to this Bill, or at least not by amendments on their own.

Addressing the Royal Commission’s allied health-related recommendations requires more than simply tweaking the proposed legislation because that is still embedded in an infrastructure that does not accord allied health its recommended status as a pillar of aged care.

For this reason, while this submission comments on specific provisions in the Bill and make associated recommendations for amendments (‘Amendment recommendations’), this submission also points to broader underpinning themes that require broader systemic reform (‘Systemic recommendations’).

Download submission.