Aged Care (Living Longer Living Better) Act 2013

1 Short title

This Act may be cited as the Aged Care (Living Longer Living Better) Act 2013.

2 Commencement

Each provision of this Act specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with column 2 of the table. Any other statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms.

Note: This table relates only to the provisions of this Act as originally enacted. It will not be amended to deal with any later amendments of this Act.

Any information in column 3 of the table is not part of this Act. Information may be inserted in this column, or information in it may be edited, in any published version of this Act.

3 Schedule(s)

Each Act that is specified in a Schedule to this Act is amended or repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule concerned, and any other item in a Schedule to this Act has effect according to its terms.

4 Review of operation of amendments

The Minister must cause an independent review to be undertaken of the operation of the amendments made by:

this Act; and

(b) the Aged Care (Bond Security) Amendment Act 2013; and

(c) the Aged Care (Bond Security) Levy Amendment Act 2013.

The review must consider at least the following matters:

whether unmet demand for residential and home care places has been reduced;

whether the number and mix of places for residential care and home care should continue to be controlled;

whether further steps could be taken to change key aged care services from a supply driven model to a consumer demand driven model;

the effectiveness of means testing arrangements for aged care services, including an assessment of the alignment of charges across residential care and home care services;

the effectiveness of arrangements for regulating prices for aged care accommodation;

the effectiveness of arrangements for protecting equity of access to aged care services for different population groups;

the effectiveness of workforce strategies in aged care services, including strategies for the education, recruitment, retention and funding of aged care workers;

the effectiveness of arrangements for protecting refundable deposits and accommodation bonds;

the effectiveness of arrangements for facilitating access to aged care services;

any other related matter that the Minister specifies.

The review must make provision for public consultation and, in particular, must provide for consultation with:

approved providers; and

aged care workers; and

consumers; and

people with special needs; and

carers; and

representatives of consumers.

The review must be undertaken as soon as practicable after the end of the period of 3 years after the commencement of Schedule 1.

The person who undertakes the review must give the Minister a written report of the review within 12 months after the end of the 3 year period.

The Minister must cause a copy of the report of the review to be tabled in each House of the Parliament within 15 sitting days of receiving it.