In a collegiate presentation to the September ACSA conference the Minister responsible for Ageing, Mitch Fifield,  strongly expressed his desire to jointly build a world-class aged care sector with retirement village and aged care operators.

He was however firm on his vision:
• consumer choice is central
• support for informal carers
• provision of aged care will be contestable
• the cost must be sustainable

He said the aged care sector was controlled by operators but it must move to being controlled by consumers.
Operators will have the opportunity to present what is unique and different in their models; competition will drive change.

At the same time he is very open to the input of the sector and his Department is prepared to adjust their thinking; they are open to advice.

Demonstrating collaboration he pointed out they have worked with over 30 advisory groups, staged 51 face-to-face sessions, briefing over 7000 people.

“I am not a person who will allow policy design elegance to get in the way of practical realities on the ground” he said.

His ‘favourite’ Budget measure is home care packages attaching to the consumer from February 2017, not the provider. “My goal is to eliminate packages for both home care and residential care”.

“I would love love love to get rid of ACAR out of residential aged care as well”.

He also wants a more sophisticated ‘quality’ system. Three quality indicators are currently being trialled and others will be developed.

He says ‘advocacy’ will become an important aspect.