The Senate this morning passed a bill to reinstate human override in aged care assessments, handing Labor another humiliation over its disastrous aged care reforms.
Labor’s aged care algorithm is consistently underassessing care need and priority, leaving older people with serious conditions like MND without even the bare minimum support. Under Labor’s reforms there is no ability for a human assessor to override an incorrect or inappropriate algorithmic decision.
The legislation that passed the Senate today, co-sponsored by the Greens, Coalition and Senator David Pocock, would protect the discretion of an assessor to make professional determinations about care.
In a bid to get ahead of the parliamentary defeat it knew was coming, Labor announced some minor changes to the algorithm this morning. But these would only allow for human override in “outlier” cases.
This is the second defeat Labor has suffered in the Senate over its aged care reforms. A vote last year forced the government to release more home care packages.
As stated by Greens Older People Spokesperson Senator Penny Allman-Payne
“Labor’s aged care reforms are unravelling, with another humiliating defeat on the floor of the Senate today.
“Piece by piece, the parliament is forcing this Labor government to unwind its disastrous reforms, yet they keep pretending everything’s okay.
“How can older Australians trust Labor when they still act like the system is working fine?
“Minister Rae is clearly out of his depth and older people are paying for it, some with their lives.”
