Survey: Most Australians would support an aged care tax

Most Australians support paying more tax to fix the nation’s scandal-plagued aged care system, a survey has revealed.

The Australian National University study involved 3200 respondents, with 85.4 per cent backing an aged care improvement levy.

“A third of those in favour, 33.5 per cent, said this levy should be paid by all taxpayers,” study co-author Nicholas Biddle said.

“This would seem to imply Australians back any effort to improve aged care with extra funding.”

Twelve per cent of respondents said they had no confidence at all in the current system, while only 1.8 per cent said they had a “great deal” of confidence.

“Our study paints a very timely, and sadly very bleak, picture of the state of aged care according to Australians, and our overall faith in a system that has come under close scrutiny in recent years,” Biddle said.

“With an increased focus on the aged care workforce, it is very troubling that only 5 per cent of Australians said they would definitely recommend a young person work in the industry, and only 10.1 per cent saying they would definitely recommend an unemployed person working in the industry.”

Most Australians would advise against someone working in the industry, Biddle said.

However, the current workforce was more positive about the industry, he added.

The study follows 148 recommendations in the Aged Care Royal Commission final report handed down earlier this year and a federal budget funding allocation of $17.7bn to reform the sector.

OTHER FINDINGS FROM THE STUDY:

• Almost 70 per cent of respondents were aged over 45, with 12 per cent saying they worried a lot about becoming a burden on their family as they got older. A further 47 per cent said they worried sometimes;
• Females were more likely to say they provided care for an aged member of their family than males – 14 per cent compared to 9.4 per cent; and
• More people were confident (45 per cent) or very confident (11.1 per cent) about being able to afford aged care services at home, rather than services in a facility, with 29.1 per cent concerned and 5.4 per cent very concerned.

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