Labor’s aged care policy leads lacklustre field
Both major parties had failed to offer effective solutions to Australian’s looming aged care crisis, industry leaders say.
“The ALP and the Liberal Party have ignored the current and future needs of elderly Australians, offering policies that are tokenistic at best,” Aged Care Industry Council (ACIC) spokesman and chief executive of Aged and Community Services Australia,Greg Mundy, said.
“In aged care it’s less a case of ‘me too’ than ‘me neither’,” Mr Mundy said.
ACIC is not endorsing either party but has rated the ALP and Liberal policies throughout the campaign to help people to Vote 1 Aged Care.
“With three days to go until the election, the Liberal Party has scored 0.5 out of 10, while the ALP comes out marginally ahead with 1.6 out of 10,” Mr Mundy said.
“Neither of these ratings should give Australians any confidence that the next government of Australia will put in place a plan to ensure that older Australians continue to have quality and choice in aged care.
The chief executive of Aged Care Association Australia, Rod Young, said the industry was committed to working with whichever party formed government after the weekend’s election.
The industry’s Vote 1 Aged Care scorecard is at www.agedcare.org.au and www.agedcareassociation.com.au.