Radio interview with Minister Rae, ABC Radio Adelaide – 12 August 2026

Media event date: 12 August 2026 Date published: 12 August 2026 Media type: General public LEIGH RADFORD, HOST: Sam Rae is the Federal Minister for Aged Care and Seniors and he joins me now. Minister, thank you for your time. SAM RAE, MINISTER FOR AGED CARE AND SENIORS: Good afternoon, Leigh.

Thanks for having me. How do normal people plan for entering a loved one into aged care when there is such a lead time to actually being able to secure a bed? It's a big question, Leigh.

It probably isn't just about the time that it takes. It obviously goes to the relationships that we have in our lives with our loved ones and, you know, each of us coming to terms with our own lives as they evolve. So there are a number of factors that play into this.

We say all the time as we're going through this generational reform of our aged care system, the principles are that we want every Australian to be able to access safe dignified and high quality aged care. One of the ways that we do that is by making sure that people aren't waiting unnecessarily long periods of time to get the care that they need. And that's why the report that has just come out shows that wait times are dropping across the board for aged care services.

But I also want to be really clear, Leigh, this is not a job done - there's more work to do. We need to keep driving down these wait times to make sure that older people across our community are getting the care that they deserve. What is the answer here, though?

Because the wait times are still enormous. I have heard so many times recently, Minister, about the fact that you can’t plan a year down the track for something like this because you just don't know what's going to happen. Most people, I think, really struggle with the system, if I can put it that way, because it is complex and you need to learn so much to navigate it.

That's fair, Leigh, unfortunately. It is a really complex system and, through our reform process, we've sought to reduce some of that complexity. But I acknowledge it still remains a complex system.

It is also under extraordinary pressure because we've got an ageing population, and the population ageing is causing demand that is outstripping supply in some cases. In terms of those wait times, within our home care system we've got about 830,000 Australians who are eligible for services under our entry-level Commonwealth Home Support Program. We've got nearly 400,000 Australians who are eligible for services under our higher tier or higher level Support at Home program.

Then we've got more than 200,000 Australians who receive care in the residential aged care system. So, if you break up the system, those are sort of three major components of it. Within that home care space under Support at Home, people who are clinically assessed as urgent priority, they always receive their care under a month.

People who are high priority receive their care in about a month. And then we've driven down the other priority levels by three months since the beginning of this program back in November. In the residential aged care space, which is a really challenging space because the projects that are required they have roughly a five to seven year lead time from the point of inception through to actually delivering those aged care beds on the ground.

And that's why when I was in Adelaide a few weeks ago we announced our latest investments from the Federal Government alongside the aged care sector in new residential aged care beds across metropolitan Adelaide. Through that, we've unlocked an additional $134 million to support the building of an additional 268 new beds across five sites - Dover Gardens, Paradise, Salisbury, Kings Park… Which will help eventually, won't it?

But at the moment, the reality is different. Minister, I just want to quickly bring a couple of callers into the conversation, if you'll bear with us. Phil is on the line from Adelaide.

Good afternoon, Phil. Good afternoon, Leigh and Minister. Look, I'll put two different hats on - first is navigating this with my mother, second as a systems and public policy wonk.

What we found with mum is everything that you've spoken about. She was on the waiting list for a year after first being assessed with need, but then had another acute episode that required us to kick it into gear a little bit earlier. And this was all during the transition between the two systems, so that was a fun time in itself.

And each part of the system - whether it's the hospital, the rehab, the ACAT, and then the home help - is brilliant, but at every interface things break down, and they break down really badly. Phil, I might interrupt you there because I know the Minister has to go and I just want to get his reaction to what you're saying about the system before he does. Minister, back to you.

Well, Phil, thank you. And I'm sorry that you've had that difficult experience with your mum. And I acknowledge that we've got people all across our community, often loved ones, often kids or children, who are supporting older people through this journey, and that is extraordinary support that people provide.

You're very right, Phil, to raise these issues. This is why this reform process is so important. These are generational reforms.

We had an aged care Royal Commission under the last government that, of course issued a report titled . So, we’ve inherited an aged care system that was imperilled in terms of its ability to serve older people. And you mentioned that you, unfortunately, went through that with your mum at the transition period over the last year or so.

But we want to keep driving wait times down. And I think where Phil was getting at, Leigh, is he was going to talk there about the integration between the different systems - particularly the integration between the aged care system and the primary and tertiary health care systems. And there's definitely more work to be done in that space.

Of course, one of those elements is that we don't want older people languishing in hospitals if there is a better care environment for them. So, reducing those incidences of delayed discharge through comprehensive cooperation between aged care system and sector and that tertiary health care system is a critical priority. We've been working really closely with Minister Boyer and the South Australian Government and other state and territory governments around the country to try and address some of those challenges.

Minister, I know you have to go, but thank you for your time this afternoon. Thank you, Leigh. I appreciate it.

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