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Aged Care Reforms Threaten Independence for First Nations Elders, Spark Discrimination Concerns
A new aged care system implemented November 1st is raising fears of increased financial hardship and reduced access to essential services for first Nations elders, particularly those who are stolen Generations survivors. The changes, requiring co-contributions for home and residential care, are prompting accusations of discrimination and a disregard for the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.
Wayne Garlett, a 71-year-old Ballardong man living in balga, Western Australia, embodies the challenges facing many Indigenous elders. After a childhood accident at age nine left him with a damaged spinal cord – and subsequent time spent in hospital and a mission under the control of the Native Welfare Act – Garlett now relies on a walker and home care to maintain his independence. “I’m really enjoying my life at the moment,but they say when you’re on a good wicket,they change the boundary,they change rules,and that’s been happening all my life,” he said.
The new system requires full-time pensioners, part-pensioners, and self-funded retirees to contribute to the cost of their care, impacting those approved for home-based support after September 12, 2024, and those entering residential care after November 1, 2025.While the government maintains that clinical services like nursing and physiotherapy will remain fully covered, assistance with everyday tasks – cleaning, meal preparation, and showering – will attract important co-payments.
For Garlett, the prospect of losing this support is deeply concerning. “I wouldn’t want to be back in one of them places because without your independence, you might as well lay down and die,” he stated, referring to the possibility of being forced into residential aged care. Without assistance, he would require a full-time carer, a financially unsustainable option for many.
Unequal Treatment of Redress Payments
A central point of contention lies in the treatment of compensation received by Stolen Generations survivors. These payments, intended to address the trauma and dispossession caused by forced removal, are being considered as income for the purposes of aged care co-payments. This means that elders who have received redress will have their care costs assessed based on a higher income, potentially negating the benefit of the compensation.
“Its a double whammy,” says dr. Janine Siegel-Brown, a gerontologist and advocate for First Nations aged care. “They’ve been compensated for past wrongs, and now that compensation is being used against them to deny them access to care.”
the situation is further complicated by the fact that between one in ten and one in three First Nations children were forcibly removed from their families between 1910 and 1970, leaving lasting scars and a deep distrust of institutions.
Ignoring Royal Commission Recommendations
Advocates point to a failure to implement the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, which called for a “new approach” to Indigenous aged care co-designed with First Nations stakeholders. The report explicitly stated that the current system “does not ensure culturally safe care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.”
The Commission recommended flexible funding to support Indigenous-led aged care facilities and increase the First Nations workforce. Though, Siegel-Brown believes the current reforms are moving in the opposite direction. “What we see here is a situation where we are actively choosing to ignore the Royal commission’s recommendations,” she said. “Not being funded to provide that spiritual, emotional, social care that is so core to the way they do business might alienate them from remaining within the sector.”
one community-controlled organization, speaking anonymously, indicated it would absorb the co-payment costs for elders, despite the risk of non-compliance.
In a statement, Minister for Aged Care and Seniors Sam Rae said the government has invested $2 billion since 2022 to improve access to aged care for First Nations elders and that the new act aims to put them “at the center of their own care, now and into the future.” However, the Minister did not directly address the concerns regarding the treatment of Stolen Generations redress payments.
Back in Western Australia, Uncle Wayne Garlett is looking forward to his next gathering with other elders, hoping it will remain affordable. “Everyone needs to talk to someone because you go 48, 50 hours and you don’t see anyone, but you go along to a group, and you talk your head off or some people just listen,” he said. “It’s friendship. It’s healing.” he fears that without adequate funding, these vital community
