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Australia: Home Care Programs for Elderly 'in crisis'

By David Wroe, The Age

 June 13, 2003

Australia - Rampant bureaucracy and buck-passing meant Australia's home care programs for the elderly were in dire need of an overhaul, aged care groups said yesterday.

Experts and advocates at a community care summit in Canberra agreed that caring for the elderly in their homes needed to be simplified, and the $1.7 billion a year in funding should be bumped up to more than $2 billion.

They also slammed the buck-passing between the Commonwealth and the states, who share responsibility for community care, and argued the system would be better run by one or the other.

Baillieu Myer, patron of the Myer Foundation's 2020 Vision for Aged Care in Australia and son of department store founder Sidney Myer, strongly advocated giving full responsibility to the states.

"Long term, there is a very good case that the work should be done by the states . . . under guidelines established by the Commonwealth," he said. Commonwealth guidelines would ensure equity across the states.

Mr Myer said the split between the Commonwealth and the states increased bureaucracy and the duplication of services.

Victoria has 33 community care services - 16 federal and 17 state.

Mr Baillieu put governments on notice, saying the proportion of voters over 65 was increasing. "I think you'll find all parties . . . giving more time to this issue," he said.

Federal Minister for Ageing Kevin Andrews said the Government had reformed aged care and doubled funding, but backed further reforms. Victorian Minister for Ageing Gavin Jennings said the state would be happy to take responsibility for community care.


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