Australia’s Home Care Package (HCP) program, designed to help older people to continue living safely and independently in their own homes, is facing significant issues.
The main problems include long waiting times for essential support, a severe shortage of qualified carers, and a complex system that’s difficult for individuals and families to navigate.
To address these challenges, the Australian Government is introducing the Support at Home program, originally set to commence on 1 July 2025, but now delayed until 1 November 1, 2025.
This new program aims to simplify access, reduce wait times and offer more tailored care. Key changes include eight new funding levels (up from the current four HCP levels) and a separate scheme for assistive technology and home modifications, making it easier for people to get the equipment they need.
Existing HCP recipients will transition to the new system without being worse off, ensuring continued support.
The HCP program offers four distinct levels of care, each tailored to different levels of need and providing varying government subsidies.
Earlier this week Andrew Wilkie MHR (independent, Clark) raised what he considers is a continuing and cruel shortage of Home Care Packages.
“As long as I’ve been in public life, there has been a shortage.
“And the reason there is always a shortage of Home Care Packages is the government funds a certain number each year, and sadly, if you’re on a waiting list, sadly, you have to wait for someone who’s already got a package, either to go into residential care or to pass away, to free up a package that can be then allocated to a new person who’s in need,” said Wilkie.
“The result of that is particularly for the higher level packages, like the top level package a package four, which gives the the highest level of support to someone. The waiting time for that currently is anything up to about 15 months.
“So imagine that, you know, you’re an older Australian. You know quite late in your life, you may not have many more years to live when you’re when you’re needing a level four package, but you’ve got to wait over a year to get the support you need. Now I would describe this system of capping the number of packages and the way they are allocated out.
“I would characterise it as cruel and penny pinching, because there’s only one reason why there’s a shortage of packages, and it’s packages, and it’s that it’s governments don’t want to spend the money to pay for the number of packages that is needed.
“And I’m not picking on any one particular government here.”
The Albanese government promised more than 80,000 additional packages to be rolled out by mid this year but that is now delayed to the end of this year.
Wilkie however remains skeptical.
“I’m skeptical of that, and also the promise that by 2027 no one will wait more than 90 days for a package”
“It beggars belief that neither the Federal Government, nor the string of governments before it, has sorted out the chronic shortage of Home Care Packages despite the terrible hardship it is causing tens of thousands of Australians,” said Wilkie.
Margaret Poulter speaks about her late husband Tony Poulter
At a media conference earlier this week, Margaret Poulter spoke alongside Wilkie about her own experience of the HCP program.
“Mrs Poulter is the human face of this cruel government penny-pinching,” he said.
“Her late husband was assessed as needing a Level 4 Package in May 2024 and told that he’d have to wait as much as 15 months for the package. But Mr Poulter was admitted to palliative care on 4 May this year, while still waiting for his package and, sadly, passed away on 9 May.”
The pair understand that the package [around $60,000 per annum] was still months away.
“This is an appalling way to have treated the Poulter family. And it’s not a one-off, with my office regularly hearing about the difficulties facing the countless people left to wallow on outrageous Home Care Packages waiting lists,” said Wilkie.
“And it’s basically all of those, all of those types of support you need at home to live, you know, when you’re aged, to help with your you know, cleaning the house, doing the gardening, cleaning the windows, giving you a shower, giving you a wash.”
Poulter spoke about respecting her husband’s “stoicism over the course of a number of years” as he battled ill health.
“Tony was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2015 so life has increasingly been a struggle since then,” she outlined. “Since 2023 he had several bouts of cancer which required additional medical radiation, extended radiation treatments on two occasions, And immunotherapy. So his struggle was pretty profound.”
“He and I believe we were a pretty good team, and really didn’t ask and didn’t want a lot from anyone, but we had good family support.
“But 12 months ago, it became apparent that for Tony to stay at home, which he wanted, and I desperately wanted, that we were going to need a little bit more than the expertise I had.”
The Poulter family put in an application in January 2024, with Tony Poulter being assessed on 3 May 2024.
He was immediately assessed as requiring level four to remain in home.
Just 12 months later he was hospitalised on 4 May 2025, and he passed away on 9 May 2025.
“On the 6 May this year, I received a letter to say, well done. I’m paraphrasing, and it’s not exactly right … but it is how I feel … on May last year, you were assessed as being entitled to a level four package, And you’ve now got 56 days to get your provider and so forth.”
“I received that message as I was driving into a hospital, and Tony had just been told that he would be going into palliative care. As I say, he only had five days. So I did swear a lot and say a lot, because it was so it felt so insulting that, on the one hand, this was a package intended to be able to keep Tony at home, and he’d just been told he wouldn’t be going home, so that that’s the emotional side of it, but just disrespectful, disrespectful to think that 365 and 365 nights that you would have this when you were told you needed all these supports that long ago, that you would have the strength and resilience to be able to wait 12 months.”
At the media conference a journalist asked: “You spoke about having to do home improvements to kind of facilitate this. In the meantime, can you talk us through the cost of what you actually had to do in that time to kind of have your home ready?”
“Well, home’s a 1970s style home with a separate, separate toilet, small bathroom with a small shower cubicle,” Poulter responded. “It was, it was just fraught with danger, really. Tony was mobile, but very unsteady.
“So the imperative had been reached. We really needed to open that right up. Make it an accessible bathroom, make it a safe bathroom. The reality is, my husband was about 103 kilos and six foot three, and there’s not a whole lot of me…we were unsafe. I think that was recognised by the doctors and so forth that were treating Tony wasn’t safe. We were a team and had faith in each other, but increasingly it wasn’t safe.
“So yes, we renovated the bathroom, opened that right up and made that accessible and increasingly, probably six so months before that we we found, increasingly, Tony found it difficult to get out of a chair.”
The renovations ended up costing around $40,000. Still, it was only part of what was needed.
Poulter said the HCP would have given them access to respite care if and when necessary.
“It gives you entry into out of home care,” she continued. “Should he have had to have gone if we hadn’t been able to manage, or if I hadn’t been able to manage, but also, like your physiotherapy and occupational therapy supports, assistance around the home.”
Others on the waiting list have Poulter’s sympathy.
“There’s nothing for for me to gain through this, other than to say I do have friends I am in that demographic. I do have friends that are entering this process.
“I know people in this process. Yes, it’s wrong and it’s cruel, and every day is a big enough battle anyhow.”
Tasmanian Times (TT) is a community-based news and current affairs service covering the island state of Tasmania. It exists to provide a diverse view of Tasmanian issues. TT creates and supports independent media content utilising the best of modern technologies and tried-and-true practices of public-interest journalism.
Support us in expanding our coverage and developing new content by and for Tasmanians.
New initiatives on the way include:
- a weekly podcast covering current affairs
- a revamped website
- a monthly cartoon competition
- a user-friendly app for both Android and Apple devices
- a weekly roundup of key stories
