Caring for Older Australians

Download the Overview booklet

• Caring for Older Australians - Overview (PDF - 1065 Kb)
• Caring for Older Australians - Overview by chapters (Word/ZIP - 374 Kb)
• Caring for Older Australians - Summary of Proposals (PDF - 295 Kb)

Download the report

• Volume 1 - Caring for Older Australians - Inquiry report (PDF - 1558 Kb)
• Volume 1 - Caring for Older Australians - Inquiry report by chapters (Word/ZIP - 561 Kb)
• Volume 2 - Caring for Older Australians - Inquiry report (PDF - 3134 Kb)
• Volume 2 - Caring for Older Australians - Inquiry report by chapters (Word/ZIP - 1653 Kb)

Download the report by chapters

• Preliminaries (PDF - 569 Kb)
  • Cover, Copyright, Letter, Terms of reference, Contents and Abbreviations
• Overview - including key points (PDF - 643 Kb)
• Recommendations (PDF - 381 Kb)
• Summary of proposals (PDF - 295 Kb)
• Chapter 1 About the inquiry (PDF - 295 Kb)
  • 1.1 The Commission's brief
  • 1.2 What is aged care?
  • 1.3 Who are older Australians?
  • 1.4 The Commission’s approach
  • 1.5 A road map to the rest of the report
• Chapter 2 The current aged care system (PDF - 564 Kb)
  • 2.1 Foundations of Australia’s aged care system
  • 2.2 Care and support services
  • 2.3 The financing of aged care
  • 2.4 Regulation of aged care
  • 2.5 Aged care and other social policy areas
• Chapter 3 Drivers of future demand (PDF - 578 Kb)
  • 3.1 Population ageing and demand for aged care
  • 3.2 A growing diversity of aged care needs
  • 3.3 Trends in the availability of informal carers
  • 3.4 The influence of price and wealth on demand
  • 3.5 Calculating the trends in demand
• Chapter 4 A framework for assessing aged care (PDF - 445 Kb)
  • 4.1 A new vision for care and support
  • 4.2 Caring for older Australians — what role for government?
  • 4.3 'Wellbeing' of the community — the key objective
  • 4.4 Criteria for assessment
• Chapter 5 Assessment of the current aged care system (PDF - 498 Kb)
  • 5.1 Access, continuity and choice is limited
  • 5.2 Pricing, subsidies and co-contributions are inequitable and distort investment
  • 5.3 Regulatory burdens are excessive
  • 5.4 How much reform is required?
• Chapter 6 Who should pay? (PDF - 462 Kb)
  • 6.1 Are existing funding arrangements sustainable?
  • 6.2 Who should pay and what should they pay for?
• Chapter 7 Paying in practice (PDF - 635 Kb)
  • 7.1 Accommodation costs — applying the principles
  • 7.2 Everyday living expenses — applying the principles
  • 7.3 Care costs — putting the principles into practice
• Chapter 8 Options for broadening the funding base (PDF - 527 Kb)
  • 8.1 Saving accounts and superannuation
  • 8.2 Drawing on housing equity to pay for care costs
  • 8.3 Insurance for aged care
• Chapter 9 Care: Access, coverage and delivery (PDF - 900 Kb)
  • 9.1 An aged care gateway: information, needs assessment and care coordination
  • 9.2 Improving care continuity and enhancing consumer choice
  • 9.3 Associated reforms
• Chapter 10 Quality of care and support (PDF - 619 Kb)
  • 10.1 Defining and measuring quality of care and support
  • 10.2 Current measures to ensure quality of care
  • 10.3 How effective is the current quality framework?
  • 10.4 Building the evidence on quality of care
  • 10.5 Access to health care and what it means for quality care
• Chapter 11 Catering for diversity (PDF - 513 Kb)
  • 11.1 Diversity in demand for aged care services
  • 11.2 Socially disadvantaged people
  • 11.3 Older Australians from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
  • 11.4 Gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgender and intersex people
  • 11.5 Veterans
  • 11.6 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
  • 11.7 Older Australians living in rural and remote locations
• Chapter 12 Age-friendly housing and retirement villages (PDF - 476 Kb)
  • 12.1 Improving choice of age-friendly housing
  • 12.2 Improving the age friendliness of communities
  • 12.3 Improving rental choices for older Australians
  • 12.4 Regulation of retirement living options
  • 12.5 Residential care building regulations
• Chapter 13 Informal carers and volunteers (PDF - 427 Kb)
  • 13.1 Some facts about informal carers
  • 13.2 Reasons for supporting carers
  • 13.3 Current system of support available for informal carers
  • 13.4 Ways to better support informal carers
  • 13.5 Volunteers
• Chapter 14 The formal aged care workforce (PDF - 546 Kb)
  • 14.1 Who delivers care services to the aged?
  • 14.2 Future aged care workforce requirements
  • 14.3 Addressing direct care workforce challenges
• Chapter 15 Regulation — the future direction (PDF - 720 Kb)
  • 15.1 What are the current regulations?
  • 15.2 Improving Australian Government governance arrangements for aged care
  • 15.3 Implementing ‘responsive regulation’ with appropriate standards and streamlined reporting
  • 15.4 Reducing the extent and burden of regulation
  • 15.5 Clarifying and simplifying jurisdictional responsibilities and harmonising regulation
• Chapter 16 Aged care policy research and evaluation (PDF - 439 Kb)
  • 16.1 Improving data collection and access
  • 16.2 Building a better evidence base
  • 16.3 Research capacity
• Chapter 17 Reform implementation (PDF - 418 Kb)
  • 17.1 An implementation framework
  • 17.2 Grandfathering arrangements
  • 17.3 Mitigating the risks from the reform implementation
  • 17.4 Sequencing of reform
  • 17.5 What do the reforms mean for older Australians, their carers and service providers?
• Appendix A Conduct of the inquiry (PDF - 309 Kb)
• References (PDF - 417 Kb)

Please note: The following appendices will only be available online and are not in the printed copy. Appendix C is only available in PDF.

• Appendices B to H (ZIP/Word - 1583 Kb)
• Appendix B Cameos (PDF - 320 Kb)
• Appendix C New aged care model options (PDF - 1420 Kb)
• Appendix D International experience (PDF - 151 Kb)
• Appendix E Cost and workforce implications (PDF - 248 Kb)
• Appendix F Aged care regulation (PDF - 217 Kb)
• Appendix G Past recommendations (PDF - 68 Kb)
• Appendix H The survey of disability, ageing and carers (PDF - 193 Kb)