UnitingCare Australia welcomes the opportunity to provide a submission to the Community Affairs References Committee Inquiry into Aged Care Service Delivery.

While we are supportive of the new Aged Care Act and Support at Home (SaH) Program being delayed until 1 November 2025, we share concerns around the withholding of additional packages under the current Home Care Packages program.

The waitlist for Home Care Packages does not sit within a vacuum; it has repercussions for individuals, families, communities, the aged care workforce, as well as the residential aged care system, and the health ad hospital systems.

Assigning packages, funding packages, and getting the waitlist down needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency. The vision for the Support at Home Program is that more people can age in their own homes, however if thousands of individuals are left waiting months for a Home Care Package, then this vision won’t be realised. Importantly, thousands of older Australians will be left stranded without access to the care they need.

Download the PDF to read our submission in full.

About UnitingCare Australia

UnitingCare Australia is the national body for the Uniting Church’s community services network and is an agency of the Assembly of the Uniting Church in Australia.

We give voice to the Uniting Church’s commitment to social justice through advocacy and by strengthening community service provisions.

We are the largest network of social service providers in Australia, supporting 1.4 million people every year across urban, rural, and remote communities.

Our aged care network delivers services to approximately 95,000 older people and has more than 220 residential aged care homes across all states and territories, including in capital cities, regional towns, and very remote parts of Australia.

We focus on articulating and meeting the needs of people at all stages of life and those that are most vulnerable.