COTA Australia broadly supports the Aged Care Legislation Amendment (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Aged Care Commissioner and Other Measures) Bill 2026, including establishing a statutory Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Aged Care Commissioner and making temporary aged care system modifications permanent.
We support many practical consumer-focused changes, but say stronger safeguards are needed around review rights, delegated rule-making and recovery of Commonwealth overpayments from older people.
Our submission argues that aged care assessment decisions must be corrected quickly where an Integrated Assessment Tool outcome does not reflect a person’s actual needs, risks or circumstances. COTA Australia’s preferred approach is to expressly empower assessor delegates to use professional judgement to override classification and priority outcomes, with program assurance rather than prior departmental approval.
If the Parliament proceeds with the Government’s proposed departmental escalation pathway, we recommend it be an interim safeguard, with broad access, published Rules, qualified reviewers, firm timeframes, workable consent and advocacy arrangements, protected allocation and review rights, and clear consumer information. We also seek fee-free Administrative Review Tribunal review and safeguards against unfair debt recovery.