Aged Care Minister quizzed on 24/7 nursing care and funding levy

Australians won't be given a new time frame for the introduction of 24/7 nurses onsite in aged care homes after Labor conceded the July 1 deadline would be 'impossible to meet.'

On Sunday, Aged Care Minister Anika Wells said she was working to fulfil Labor's election promise to have around-the-clock nursing care in every facility 'as soon as possible.'

Labor legislated the commitment and then had to perform an about-face after admitting workforce shortages meant some facilities couldn't meet the new nursing requirements by the mandated July 1 deadline.

Speaking on ABC Insiders, Ms Wells said she didn't regret making the promise even though she was reluctant to say when it would be fully met.

"It's a systemic crippling (workforce) shortage that we inherited – that other countries like us face – but that shouldn't mean that people have to accept a more feeble standard of care," she said.

"Even where we fall short, come July, there will still be many more nurses providing many more hours of care in aged care homes than they ever would have been had we not."

Staffing facilities with registered nurses 24/7 was a key recommendation from the Royal Commission into Aged Care, along with increasing care minutes to 200 per resident per day.

Aged care homes that can't meet the new nursing requirement by July 1 can be granted an exemption if they satisfy the industry regulator they are trying to hire staff and have alternative care arrangements in place.

Last week, Ms Wells used an address at the National Press Club to suggest a new task force set up to review funding arrangements for aged care should examine a taxpayer levy as one way to improve the troubled sector.

Labor now appears open to the idea of the levy after rejecting it before the election.

"We're still not advocating any particular proposal," Ms Wells said.

"But we're opening a task force to deliberate for six months on how to move forward."

More than two years after the Royal Commission handed down its final report, Ms Wells said the work of the aged care task force would be 'short and sharp.'

Ms Wells said the aged care levy was just one of 'plenty' funding proposals presented to governments over the past two decades that had allowed aged care policy 'to drift.'

"For me, it is really personal … mum worked in aged care for the last 15 years before she retired, and I worked in aged care alongside her in uni for a few years," she said.

"And I saw then some of the problems that I saw again walking back into the facilities after becoming Aged Care Minister."

Ms Wells wouldn't put a figure on how much extra funding the aged care sector would require.

"I think that would be putting the cart before the horse," she said.

Most residential care facilities in Australia are operated by not-for-profit or private providers and subsidised by the federal government.

Before last year's federal election, Labor promised a $2.5bn cash injection for the aged care sector.

According to National Seniors Australia Chief Advocate Ian Henschke, Australia needed to 'look after' the older generation and provide better support for aged care services. 

"It's what you choose to do as a society, and I think we should look after our older Australians and give them the same sort of care we'd give them in a hospital," Mr Henschke told Sky News contributor Steve Price.

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