'Damning admission': Labor concession on controversial aged care tool fails to quell anger

Critics say a tool designed to streamline aged care assessments is leaving some people waiting too long.

Aged Care Minister Sam Rae says the government has listened to concerns and will allow some complex aged care cases to be escalated for further review. Source: AAP / Lukas Coch

In brief

• The Integrated Assessment Tool assesses aged care needs to determine eligibility for government-supported aged care services.
• The tool uses an algorithm that analyses a survey and automatically provides an outcome.

The federal government has partially backed down on its controversial Integrated Assessment Tool (IAT) for aged care, following criticism from advocacy groups, aged care providers and politicians.

The IAT is a tool launched in July 2024 that assesses aged care needs to determine eligibility for government-supported aged care services.

The tool uses an algorithm that analyses a survey and automatically provides an outcome, including how much funding support the person receives and a priority level — now the government is partially increasing human input in the process.

"In some limited circumstances, people’s complex circumstances don’t necessarily fit neatly into a framework," aged care minister Sam Rae told ABC radio's National Breakfast on Thursday.

"In those small number of circumstances, we want the system governor to be able to make the necessary decisions to get the most appropriate outcomes for older people.

"We've listened, and we've done the policy work to make sure that we get the best outcomes for older people."

Based on the changes, "if in the assessment organisation's clinical view the needs of the older person aren't catered for through the tool", then they will have the "option to escalate that to the system governor".

Also on Thursday morning, the Coalition, Greens, and independent senator David Pocock teamed up, putting up a bill opposing IAT and asking for more human intervention in the system.

Anne Ruston, the Opposition's health and NDIS spokesperson, told the Senate that the bill "restores a simple principle: decisions about care should be made by a qualified person, a qualified professional, not a computer algorithm with no human capacity".

"This bill ensures the tool supports, not replaces, professional judgement," she said.

"Minister Rae's rapid view is a damning admission that the tool is failing, yet he has ruled out reinstating human override while only tinkering around the edges."

Labor senator Nita Green said that "while the government shares the intent of this private senator's bill, as it's currently drafted, we're not able to support its passage".

"We're concerned that in practice, its provisions will be counterproductive."

The IAT has faced mounting criticism over the role of an algorithm in determining older Australians' care priority levels, and whether there is enough scope for human judgement when the system gets it wrong.

In June, SBS News interviewed Lynne Meehan, whose 91-year-old father, John Wilson, was diagnosed with sepsis last year and needed aged-care support. Although the tool approved him for a Level 7 package, it classified him as low priority, leaving him facing a 10-month wait. Wilson died in late April, three weeks before his funding came through.

As of March 2026, 989 people have requested a review of their outcome, up from 178 in the 2024-25 financial year under the old system. Of the 606 finalised cases, 132 needed reassessing.

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