The Government currently funds $8.5M a year to nine consumer advocacy groups to critically review and report on residential aged care on the ground performance.

Now it has opened funding for the National Aged Care Advocacy Program in the first step towards creating an integrated system for advocacy services.

Last year, the nine groups formed the Older Persons Advocacy Network as they positioned themselves ahead of the change.

The Commonwealth will provide around $25.7M over three years for either a single national provider or one provider in each state and territory to deliver the services from 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2020.

That’s about each year or $1M for each group – a generous amount considering these advocacy groups are always the first to point the finger.