Aged Care Bill 2024

The majority voted in favour of an amendment introduced by South Australian Senator Anne Ruston (Liberal), which means it will now form part of the bill.

What does this amendment do?

Senator Ruston explained that:

This amendment seeks to make sure that no person in aged care can, in the future, ever be denied access to see the person that they designate, or the person that is designated under the appropriate authority. We need to make sure that, if we're going to embed choice, control and rights for older Australians into this act, one of the most fundamental rights of anybody is to be able to get access to the people they love.

Amendment text

(1) Clause 23, page 49 (after line 34), at the end of the clause, add:

(13) An individual has a right to access, at any time the individual chooses, a person designated by the individual, or a person designated by an appropriate authority.