Residents in Western Australian Baptist Hospitals and Homes Trust aged care homes will benefit from more than $1.7 million in Australian Government funding presented by Minister for Ageing Julie Bishop during a visit to William Carey Court in Busselton today.

Ms Bishop said the funding was part of more than $513.3 million the Australian Government was providing to aged care homes across Australia to enable them to upgrade building standards and improve fire safety. The funding is based on $3,500 per resident in each aged care home.

"This funding, part of the Australian Government's $2.2 billion record funding package, Investing in Australia's Aged Care: More Places, Better Care, will mean that residents of the Trust's aged care homes throughout Western Australia will continue to receive high quality care in appropriate and safe surroundings," Ms Bishop said.

"The funding can be used for a range of fire safety measures, such as installing fire sprinklers, updating fire safety equipment, engaging a professional fire safety consultant or improving fire safety training for staff."

The Trust may also use the funding to upgrade buildings to meet the benchmarks set by the 10-year forward plan for 2008 building certification.

If aged care providers have already met these standards, they can use the funding to improve the quality and range of aged care services or pay off debt.

Investing in Australia's Aged Care: More Places, Better Care includes:
. An extra $877.8 million, on top of the annually-indexed care subsidy, to aged care providers to help them continue to provide quality care and pay competitive wages to staff; 
. An extra 27,900 new aged care places over the next three years, including 13,030 in 2004-05; 
. Almost $1 billion, including $513 million ($3,500 per resident) in June 2004, in extra Australian Government funding for aged care providers to build new homes and upgrade existing ones to meet 2008 standards particularly in relation to fire and safety; and 
. More than $100 million for increased education and training opportunities for aged care nurses and other staff, including 1600 new undergraduate nursing places at universities.

"In its 13 years of Government Labor neglected aged care, left office with a 10,000 aged care place shortage, failed to introduce national legislated care standards and refused to act when an independent report found nursing homes delivering poor quality care," Ms Bishop said. 

"In contrast, the Australian Government has a vision for a world class system of aged care that delivers high quality, affordable, accessible services to meet the individual needs of older Australians here in the West and across our nation."