October 27, 2022

UOW expert commentary: Professor Victoria Traynor on what the budget means for aged care

UOW expert says budget is a huge win for aged care workers and older Australians in care

Professor Victoria Traynor says this week’s federal budget delivers on the Prime Minister’s election promises and is a huge win for aged care workers and older Australians in care.

“Aged care workers spoke out about what needs to happen to fix the broken aged care system, and the federal government has listened,” she says.

“The biggest announcements include care time being increased to 200 minutes per resident per day by October 2023, and to 215 minutes per day by October 2024; registered nurses being onsite 24/7; and funding a pay increase to correct the baseline wage of aged care workers.”

Professor Traynor says the budget announcements are a step in the right direction, but there is still more to be done.

“We are delighted with the budget, however, we need to make sure wages don’t stall or go backwards, that workers have secure jobs with enough hours to fix the understaffing crisis and our broken enterprise bargaining system needs to be reformed.”

Professor Traynor is from the School of Nursing at the University of Wollongong. She is the Founding Director of Aged and Dementia Health Education Research, and Founding Co-President of the Gerontological Alliance of Nurses Australia.  

ADHERe is a centre of interdisciplinary researchers generating evidence in gerontological studies. The centre’s purpose is to transform the lives of older people and family carers using evidence-based resources.

GANA is a community of specialist nurses and assistants who work with older people and their families/carers in all care settings. GANA promotes gerontology as a unique nursing specialty that makes a crucial contribution to the health and well-being of older people in Australia.

UOW academics exercise academic freedom by providing expert commentary, opinion and analysis on a range of ongoing social issues and current affairs. This expert commentary reflects the views of those individual academics and does not necessarily reflect the views or policy positions of the University of Wollongong.