According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, the number of Australians aged over 85 is projected to triple within 40 years, rising from around 603,000 today to almost 1.9 million by 2066. Over the same period, the number of people aged 65 and over will almost double to 9.7 million.
“Ms Siegel-Brown has put a spotlight on the central challenge facing aged care reform – Australia is still spending too much money managing decline and not enough helping older people remain independent,” Mr Gannon said.
“More beds will always be needed, but independence should be our first intervention, not our last consideration.
“Care and independence are not opposites. Done well, care is the infrastructure that extends independence – and age-friendly housing is where that support often begins.
“We can’t keep designing a system that waits for older Australians to fall into crisis and then spends more at the most expensive end of care. Retirement communities are not aged care facilities, and that is exactly why they matter.
“They provide age-friendly homes, social connection, safer environments and practical support that help older Australians maintain their independence for longer. If care is infrastructure, then housing is the foundation.”
During her address, Ms Siegel-Brown said Australia had been behaving as though it must choose between dignity and fiscal responsibility, when independence, meaning and connection in older age should instead be seen as central to better economic outcomes.
“The answer to an ageing population is not more beds,” she said. “The real question should be: how do we stop generating that demand in the first place?”
Mr Gannon said Ms Siegel-Brown’s comments showed housing, health and aged care could no longer be treated separately.
“Housing policy, health policy and aged care policy are now the same problem set because they converge in the lived reality of older Australians,” he said.
“But too often they have not converged in government. Retirement living can sit across multiple jurisdictions, many portfolios and several ministers, which means it risks becoming everyone’s Cabinet responsibility and no-one’s Cabinet responsibility.
“That must change. If governments are serious about helping Australians age well, then someone must own the task of strengthening the ‘middle’ between the family home and residential aged care.
“Ms Siegel-Brown’s reference to home modifications enabling independence is important because retirement communities already solve part of that problem. They are designed for ageing from the outset, removing the need for many costly retrofits and helping older Australians live safely, independently and confidently for longer.”
Mr Gannon said the RLC is calling for retirement living and age-friendly housing to be formally recognised in aged care reform as prevention infrastructure that can help delay or avoid higher-cost care.
“Australia is trying to solve an ageing challenge with an aged care system, when the answer starts much earlier – with housing, community and prevention,” he said.
“Governments say they want older Australians to age in place, but current pension, rental assistance and planning settings often work against them.
“Reform must focus on building more years of independence by removing barriers to rightsizing, improving support for older people and unlocking more age-friendly housing.”
You can access RLC policy propositions here.
