Radio interview with Minister Rae, ABC Radio Illawarra - 28 July 2026

Media event date: 28 July 2026 Date published: 28 July 2026 Media type: General public NICK RHEINBERGER, HOST: Earlier on this morning, I spoke to the Minister for Aged Care and Seniors, Sam Rae. SAM RAE, MINISTER FOR AGED CARE AND SENIORS: We want every older Australian to be able to access the very best aged care services. And that's why investments like this are so important.

This is $25.6 million across six projects to make sure that we've got the aged care beds in residential aged care that older people need and deserve. Now, you're right, there was an expression of interest process. The Department’s managed that along with the providers to choose the best projects to get these beds online as quickly as possible.

What was your criteria in choosing these projects? Like all government investments, a critical component is making sure that we get value for money for taxpayers. But we also wanted to deal with this challenge as quickly as possible.

So, we were looking at projects that could bring aged care beds online as quickly as possible. Once the money arrives, how does the process work? Well, the projects themselves are fairly advanced already at this stage.

We'll finalise the details between the Department and the providers. They'll lock in their construction partners. These are six expansion projects, so we're hoping that we get these beds online – our ambition has been within about 24 months.

Right. So they would already have architectural drawings and quotes all ready to go. Is that what you mean?

Well, the average time that it takes to bring on an aged care project is about five to seven years, and that's part of the broader challenge that we face here, Nick, is that it takes time to get to where we want to be. So these projects have been chosen because there is a reasonably good chance that we can get these beds online within 24 months, that two-year timeframe.

So these projects themselves are already relatively advanced, and as I said, they're expansion projects which also helps along the way. Right. So normally five to seven years, but you are hoping once this money gets to the providers that it'll be within 24 months that these rooms and these beds will be open.

Yes, that's the ambition. I mean, none of us want to pretend that we've got a glass ball when it comes to construction projects. But part of the decision here about these six projects is the level of confidence that we've got that we can get these beds online as quickly as possible.

Do they need approvals from local councils? Or would that have been signed off already, that their building approval and their DAs would have been ticked off? All of the usual planning processes have to be gone through.

We don't sidestep those. But what we do have is a really strong relationship down here in the Illawarra across multiple levels of government, local government, state government and, of course, federal government. I've got some amazing colleagues.

Alison Byrnes has been relentless in progressing this, and she's now been joined by Carol Berry as well, so I’ve got two fantastic colleagues in the Federal Parliament who have consistently advocated for these types of projects. We work closely with the New South Wales Government, and we'll work with the local governments as well, the local government representatives, to get the beds online as quickly as possible.

Where the planning approvals have to be done, that's got to be worked through. Do these approvals come where there is the most demand, not just in the Illawarra but around Australia? Well, this is a special hotspot round, Nick.

Illawarra is one of only four places in this round that we have considered. And the reason for that is we've looked at demand all across the country. We've also looked at the pipeline of projects that are coming through, and we've identified these four hotspots, the Illawarra, metropolitan Adelaide, metropolitan Perth and the Hunter up around Newcastle as well, as the four hotspots where we haven't been able to bring on the level of supply that the community needs.

And that's what this special hotspot round is all about. So the Illawarra has been one of those four places we've chosen based on exactly that, the increased demand. One of the aims of this project is to take pressure off hospitals.

We know that people go into hospital and then they stay there because there's no bed for them anywhere. How is this going to ease that blockage? You're right.

The issue around delayed discharge and longer stays for older patients is a very complex one. It's been around for a long time and we've been working closely with the state governments, the New South Wales Government and others. Last year, the Federal Government struck a deal with the state governments for an additional $25 billion of funding, some of which should help with this issue.

But ultimately, we definitely need to make sure that we’ve got appropriate care options for people who need to transition out of that tertiary, that hospital healthcare system. That said, I just want to make this point, Nick. In some cases, It's also the most appropriate place for older people to get care, in the hospital setting.

So it has to depend on the older person and their needs. If the Illawarra is such a hotspot, does it logically follow then that we've got a particular issue with bed block with aged care people taking up these beds in hospitals? I think what we're seeing with an ageing population, Nick, is increased demand across our healthcare system.

And that's represented within the aged care demand. And it's also represented whether it be in our primary healthcare system, at the GP clinic or in the hospitals themselves. So this is one of the big challenges of our time.

You know, this year, 90,000 Australians will have an 80th birthday, and the 80th birthday is one of those critical measurements that policymakers use to measure the ageing of the population overall. Just 15 years ago, that number was 15,000 Australians. So it's grown by 600 per cent in 15 years.

And that gives you some understanding of the public policy challenge that we all face as governments and as a community to meet the needs of that ageing population. If we do get more beds in aged care, does that mean we'll need more nursing staff within those facilities? Yes, it does.

And as you know, we've made significant steps forward in terms of our 24/7 nursing arrangements. We've now got nurses in aged care, registered nurses in aged care, more than 99 per cent of the time across the country. And we’re investing in our young people to get skilled and come into the sector.

We’re also, of course, investing in our amazing people that already work within the sector to upskill themselves, take on greater responsibility and be able to deliver a higher level of care throughout their careers. What is the progress of 24/7 nursing? Does every facility have to have one on site at all times?

Well, largely the rule is that there needs to be someone on site. There are some exemptions for small providers in rural and regional areas. But as I said, more than 99 per cent of the time, there are nurses on site in aged care 24/7.

We are going to be talking about nursing and the pressures on nursing, for instance, in our local area. I don't know if you know this, Sam Rae, there's no birthing suite at the brand new, multi-million dollar Shellharbour Hospital being built because of a lack of midwives. And there's new research showing how much pressure and how many nurses and midwives are leaving the profession.

So this is a kind of state-federal issue, isn't it? Well, we certainly both have needs in this space. It's probably a different type of nurse, as you might imagine, that would be working in the aged care space as opposed to a birthing suite.

But I think the point overall here is that we need to attract more people to our health professions. And, of course, we need to retain the amazing people that we've already got, and we need to continue to invest in them. You know, we've spent $18 billion on aged care wages to try and do this, to make sure that people who are doing this amazing work looking after the people we love, that they're paid properly, and of course they deserve that.

But they also help our system overall because if they're paid properly, we reduce turnover and we keep the skills within the sector. [End of excerpt] RHEINBERGER: That's the Minister for Aged Care, Sam Rae, talking to me earlier this morning. The Hon Sam Rae MP Accessibility We acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians of Country throughout Australia, and their continuing connection to land, sea and community.

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