Australia is not on track to deliver transformation required, Inspector-General warns

The Inspector-General of Aged Care, Natalie Siegel-Brown, has warned in a 2025 Progress Report on the implementation of the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety that Australia is not on track to deliver the transformation required — calling for stronger action to implement the Royal Commission recommendations.

“There has been furious activity to make progress, but reforms have largely addressed isolated issues rather than driving the systemic change required,” Siegel-Brown said.

“There is no doubt that the new aged care law largely promises the Royal Commission’s vision. But the community is still waiting on the actions needed to make this more than just a vision.

“Some of the reforms that have been implemented, may create unintended consequences that could undermine the government’s policy and legislative intent.”

Emphasising that she shares the government’s vision — a future where older Australians do not merely exist in aged care, but live: connected, valued and supported — the Inspector-General also said:

“I want to make sure the legacy promised will be made real, and I know the government does too. The new Aged Care Act 2024 represents an unprecedented commitment. Never before has legislation entitled older people to care that is kind, compassionate, centres respect for their life experiences, dignity, quality of life, mental health and wellbeing. But the reform actions the Royal Commission said were needed to bring this to life, are not yet there.

“Chiefly, questions still remain about how the human rights and high-quality care described by the Act, will truly be enforced.

“And while reform action lacks in some areas, there are others where the action taken may bring about unintended harm; the way in which co-payments under the Support at Home program have been implemented risks leading those most in need to delaying or declining essential supports, or even being pushed into residential care.”

The Inspector-General also said that the move to ‘mainstream’ Aboriginal Community Controlled sector services could worsen existing inequities.

“Mainstreaming Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander aged care services, against the Royal Commission’s recommendations, risks undermining culturally responsive care and losing Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisations (ACCOs), who are critical as sector providers. ACCOs co-designing aged care for and with their own people can teach government about how we can care for the whole of a person’s spiritual and emotional identity, no matter who or where they are in Australia.”

Concerns were also raised in the Inspector-General’s report about the gap between services available under the NDIS and those offered through aged care.

“The loss of essential NDIS services must not leave older people with disability without critical supports for their disability merely because the funding streams don’t align,” Siegel-Brown said.

Given the implementation of the new Aged Care Act postponement to 1 November 2025, Siegel-Brown also called it a perfect time to reassess and realign reforms with the Royal Commission’s recommendations.

“We now have legislated, unprecedented rights and person-centred care. This is a major achievement by any government. But it is too valuable to be just words on a page. This is our opportunity to work together and bring the Royal Commission’s vision to life,” Siegel-Brown said.

You can read the 2025 Progress Report from the Inspector-General of Aged Care here, via the Office of the Inspector-General of Aged Care website.

Image credit: iStock.com/Ridofranz