Calls for more funding to keep elderly in own homes

There are calls for an urgent funding boost in the upcoming federal Budget for Commonwealth Home Care packages. Around 74,000 Australians current receive the subsidised funding packages meant to help elderly Australians stay in their homes longer. But a recent report shows more than 100,000 people across the country are waiting and one in three has been waiting for more than a year. Aged-care minister Ken Wyatt says he is examining all funding options to shorten the queue but will not force recipients to return money they have not spent.

Minister for Indigenous Health Ken Wyatt during Question Time in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra, Thursday, Source: AAP