As a sector, we often get caught up in the jargon of the moment. The narrative becomes predictable. We are consulted, and we all (more or less) identify the same issues, neatly packaged into familiar boxes.
But something shifted for me this week. After honest and generous conversations with respected colleagues — Janet Green, Esta Chilas Paschalidis, Elaine McNish, Dina Petrakis, Jacquie Oong — and with the Aged Discrimination Commissioner, Robert Fitzgerald, I found the clarity I had been searching for. I have worked in this care system, advised on it, and relied on it for my own ageing family members. Yet I was struggling to articulate how I felt about the transition of CHSP into the new Support at Home Program.
Now I am certain.
Transitioning CHSP into Support at Home is wrongheaded. Australia needs an early-entry, preventive, low-level care program that strengthens and enables a high-quality aged care system. But that program should not sit within aged care. It belongs outside the formal service system, embedded in local communities, designed with and for younger older people and the “well old.”
People like my peers and I need universal access to early supports that help us enter this next phase of life prepared, informed, and confident. Support at Home will not deliver that. And the current CHSP cannot do it either.
Of course, we need a strong aged service system; one that funds Support at Home and Residential Aged Care, and aligns with health, housing, and other essential systems. But that alone is not enough.
We must also build care systems that help older people understand and mitigate the risks of ageing. And we must do this in the context of longevity, a demographic shift that public policy has yet to fully grasp. My age cohort will, on average, live at least a decade longer than our parents. That reality demands a different approach.
We need to act now to safeguard the future of care. Our focus needs to be on planning ahead, social connections, falls prevention, dignity and respect. Our advocacy must centre on resourcing these fundamentals through a universally accessible program that keeps older people well, connected, and out of the formal aged care system for as long as possible, ideally forever.
Right now, the Senate Inquiry into the transition of CHSP to Support at Home is accepting submissions. Inner Sydney Voice is coordinating a regional submission. If you want to add your voice, I encourage you to write in—speak from the heart and from your practice experience. To learn how to make a submission, visit:
To learn how to make a submission, visit: The Transition of the Commonwealth Home Support Program to the Support at Home Program – Parliament of Australia
Marika