Published in: Aged Care

The New Aged Care Act: What Changed, What It Means and What Families Need to Know

Author diannemaex

Published on: June 1, 2026

18 minutes read

Why Australia Needed a New Aged Care Act

The story of the new Aged Care Act begins not with politicians or policy papers, but with families. Families who sat in Royal Commission hearings and described their loved ones left without adequate care. Families who spoke of residents with dementia left in soiled clothing. Of meals that did not meet basic nutritional standards. Of staff who were understaffed, undertrained, and overwhelmed. Of a system that had lost sight of the people at its centre.

The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety — which ran from 2018 to 2021 — was the most significant public examination of Australian aged care in history. Its final report, handed down in March 2021, was damning. It described a system that was fundamentally failing older Australians. It recommended sweeping reforms across every dimension of care — safety, staffing, funding, governance, and rights. And it set in motion a legislative process that would ultimately produce the new Aged Care Act.

The Australian Parliament passed the Aged Care Act 2024 on 25 November 2024. The new Act commenced on 1 November 2025. What it replaced was the Aged Care Act 1997 — laws that had governed the sector for nearly three decades, written for a different era, with a fundamentally different philosophy. The old Act was built around provider compliance. The new Aged Care Act is built around the rights of older people. That shift — from compliance to rights — is the defining philosophical difference, and it changes everything.

The New Aged Care Act: Six Areas of Change

The new Aged Care Act brings significant changes across six main areas. Understanding each one gives families a clear picture of what the system looks like now — and how it compares to what came before.

What the New Aged Care Act Means for Families — In Plain Language

Legislation can be difficult to translate into practical reality. The new Aged Care Act is a long, complex document. But for families navigating the aged care system, what matters is not the legislative text — it is the practical difference it makes to the daily experience of a loved one in care. Here is what the new Aged Care Act means in plain language for Australian families.

Your loved one has legally enforceable rights — not just nice words on a brochure

Under the old system, aged care rights existed — but they were difficult for individuals to enforce. A family who felt their loved one’s rights were not being respected had limited practical recourse beyond complaining to the provider or the regulator. The new Aged Care Act changes this fundamentally. The Statement of Rights is now a legal instrument. Providers who breach it face real consequences. This means the rights your loved one has in aged care are not aspirational statements — they are backed by law.

You can ask for — and expect — honest answers about care minutes

One of the most tangible outcomes of the new Aged Care Act for residential care residents is the mandatory minimum care minutes requirement. Your loved one is entitled to 215 minutes of care per day — including at least 44 minutes from a Registered Nurse. From April 2026, providers must demonstrate they are actually delivering these minutes or face funding consequences. This gives families a concrete, measurable question to ask when evaluating a provider: “What are your actual care minutes per resident per day — not the minimum, the actual?” Providers who consistently deliver significantly above the minimum are offering a genuinely higher standard of care.

Home care is now genuinely needs-based

The old Home Care Package system had four levels. The new Support at Home programme has eight. This is not just an administrative change — it means the funding your loved one receives can more precisely match what they actually need. People with very complex care needs can now access up to $78,106 per year in government funding. Clinical care — nursing, wound care, medication management — is fully government-funded with no co-contribution required. From 1 October 2026, personal care services (showering, dressing, continence care) will also become fully government-funded under Support at Home, eliminating co-contributions for these services entirely.

You can raise concerns without fear of retaliation

This matters more than it might sound. Under the old system, families sometimes felt — rightly or wrongly — that raising concerns could subtly affect how their loved one was treated. The new Aged Care Act makes it explicit: a person’s care cannot change as a result of raising a concern or making a complaint. Whistleblower protections now extend to family members and older people themselves, not just staff. The dedicated Aged Care Complaints Commissioner has specific powers to investigate and act on rights-based complaints. This means speaking up is genuinely safer and more effective than it was before.

The New Aged Care Act and Fee Structures — A Practical Guide

One of the areas that generates the most confusion and anxiety for families is the fee changes under the new Aged Care Act. The changes are genuinely significant — but they do not affect everyone equally, and the No Worse Off protections mean that many families already in the system will not see any increase in what they pay.

If your loved one entered residential care before 1 November 2025

If a family member was already in permanent residential aged care before 1 November 2025, their fee arrangements are fully protected. The new fee types — HSC and NCCC — do not apply to them. Their Means-Tested Care Fee (MTCF) arrangements continue unchanged for the entire duration of their stay. The existing annual cap of $35,910.43 and lifetime cap of $86,185.23 still apply. Nothing changes for them unless they voluntarily opt in to the new arrangements — which cannot be undone, so financial advice before any such decision is essential.

If your loved one entered residential care from 1 November 2025

For new residents — those who entered residential aged care from 1 November 2025 — the new fee structure applies. All residents pay the Basic Daily Fee of $66.80 per day. Means-tested residents also pay the HSC (up to $22.15/day for meals, cleaning, laundry) and the NCCC (up to $107.32/day for personal care and independence support, with a lifetime cap of $135,318.69). Clinical care remains fully government-funded — residents do not contribute toward nursing care, medication management, or wound care. Completing a means assessment with Services Australia before entering care is strongly recommended, as without it, maximum fees are automatically applied.

Support at Home Under the New Aged Care Act — What Families Need to Know

The replacement of Home Care Packages with Support at Home is one of the most far-reaching changes in the new Aged Care Act — affecting hundreds of thousands of Australians who want to remain living at home with support. Understanding how Support at Home works under the new Act is essential for families exploring home care options.

Under the new Aged Care Act, Support at Home has eight classification levels. At Level 1, government funding is $11,795 per year — suitable for people with occasional support needs. At Level 8, government funding is $78,106 per year — for people with very complex or high-intensity care needs. The assessment process through My Aged Care determines which level a person is classified at, based on their functional capacity and care requirements.

Services under Support at Home are divided into three categories. Clinical services — including nursing care, wound management, medication management, and physiotherapy — are fully government-funded, with no co-contribution. Independence services — such as personal care assistance (showering, dressing, grooming) — attract means-tested co-contributions. Everyday living services — domestic assistance, meal preparation, social support — also attract co-contributions. From 1 October 2026, personal care services will move from the Independence category to fully government-funded, eliminating co-contributions for showering, dressing, and continence support entirely.

What Changed for Aged Care Providers Under the New Act

The new Aged Care Act places significantly higher obligations on providers than the old Act ever did. For families choosing between providers, understanding what these obligations require — and asking whether a provider is meeting them — is one of the most practical ways to evaluate quality.

Providers under the new Aged Care Act must meet a general statutory duty to ensure that high-quality, safe care is delivered to every person — a duty that did not exist in explicit statutory form under the old Act. This means providers cannot simply demonstrate compliance with individual standards and consider their obligation met. The overarching duty applies regardless of whether specific standards are technically satisfied.

Provider registration has also changed under the new Act. Registration is now tiered based on the types of services provided and the associated risk — with higher-risk services subject to more rigorous registration requirements and ongoing oversight. The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission has significantly expanded investigative and enforcement powers under the new Act, including the ability to issue banning orders that prevent individuals or organisations from delivering funded aged care.

Providers must also now actively support people to understand and exercise their rights under the Statement of Rights — not just hand them a document. This includes ensuring the Statement of Rights is provided in a format and language the person can understand, and that staff are trained to uphold the rights in every interaction, every shift.

The New Aged Care Act Timeline — What Has Happened and What Is Still Coming

Questions Families Are Asking About the New Aged Care Act

Since the new Aged Care Act commenced, the questions coming from families across Australia have followed consistent patterns. Here are the most important ones — answered clearly.

Does the new Aged Care Act affect me if my family member is already in a nursing home?

If your family member was in permanent residential aged care before 1 November 2025, their fee arrangements are fully protected — no change. However, the new Act’s rights provisions, quality standards, care minute requirements, and Code of Conduct apply to all facilities and all residents — regardless of when they entered care. The rights protections and staffing standards benefit everyone in aged care, not just new entrants.

Are my parents’ fees going up because of the new Aged Care Act?

For people already in residential care before 1 November 2025 — no. Their fee arrangements are locked in under the No Worse Off principle. For new entrants from 1 November 2025, the new fee types apply — but clinical care remains fully government-funded, and the NCCC has a lifetime cap that stops contributions after approximately four years. The introduction of government price caps on Support at Home services from July 2026 will also actively protect against excessive provider charging going forward.

What happened to Home Care Packages under the new Act?

Home Care Packages were replaced by Support at Home on 1 November 2025. The old four-level system became eight levels with higher maximum funding. People who were receiving or approved for a Home Care Package on or before 12 September 2024 were automatically transitioned to an equivalent Support at Home level — and protected by the No Worse Off principle. Those who applied after 12 September 2024 entered the new programme directly.

How do I know if a provider is complying with the new Aged Care Act?

The most practical tools for families are: the Star Ratings system on myagedcare.gov.au — which rates providers across four dimensions including staffing and residents’ experience; asking providers directly about their actual care minutes per resident per day (not the minimum — the actual); checking whether the provider openly discusses their compliance with the Code of Conduct and Quality Standards; and reviewing any recent ACQSC audit findings or sanctions, which are publicly available. A provider with nothing to hide welcomes these conversations.

Frequently Asked Questions — New Aged Care Act Australia

The New Aged Care Act in Practice: What to Ask When Choosing a Provider

The new Aged Care Act gives families more information and more power than they have ever had. But legislation only matters when it is used. Here are the most important questions to ask any provider you are considering — questions whose answers will tell you more about the quality of care than any brochure ever could.

A Genuine Cultural Reset — And Why It Matters Beyond the Legislation

The most important thing about the new Aged Care Act is not the legislation itself. Legislation sets the floor — it defines the minimum standard below which providers cannot fall without consequences. What matters most for the daily life of older Australians is what happens above that floor. And that is determined not by laws, but by culture.

The new Aged Care Act represents a genuine cultural reset for how Australia views ageing and care. For the first time, the system is explicitly grounded in the idea that older Australians are rights-holders, not care recipients. That their preferences, identity, relationships, and self-determination matter — not as a courtesy, but as a legal and moral imperative. That safety is not just about the absence of harm, but about the presence of dignity, respect, and genuine connection.

For families, this shift creates both a higher standard to demand and a more powerful set of tools to use when that standard is not met. The new Act makes it harder for poor care to hide. It makes it easier for families to ask hard questions and get meaningful answers. And it makes it more likely — not certain, but more likely — that the concerns of older Australians will be heard, taken seriously, and acted upon.

That is not a small thing. For a system that was, in the Royal Commission’s words, a system failing the people it was meant to serve, it represents genuine progress. The pace of change will continue to frustrate many families who feel the improvements have been too slow, too limited, or too focused on paper compliance rather than lived experience. Those concerns are valid. But the direction is right — and the new Act creates accountability mechanisms that make complacency increasingly difficult to sustain.

Conclusion: The New Aged Care Act and What It Means for Every Queensland Family

The new Aged Care Act is not just a change to legislation. It is a statement about what Australia believes older people deserve — and a commitment, backed by law, to deliver it. For every family in Brisbane, on the Gold Coast, or anywhere across Queensland who has sat in a waiting room wondering whether the care their parent is receiving is good enough, the new Act provides both stronger protections and more powerful tools to find out.

The rights your loved one has are now legally enforceable. The care minutes they receive are now monitored and linked to funding. The staff caring for them are bound by a legally enforceable Code of Conduct. The complaints process protects those who speak up. The fee arrangements are more transparent and, for many families, more affordable. The home care system more closely matches what people actually need. These are real, tangible improvements — not promises.

But understanding the law is only part of the challenge. The other part is finding a provider who does not merely comply with the new Act — but embodies its spirit. Because the new Aged Care Act, for all its detail and complexity, ultimately comes down to one simple question: is the person receiving care being treated as a human being whose life has value, whose preferences matter, and whose dignity is non-negotiable?

That question has always been what aged care is about. The new Act simply makes it harder to answer dishonestly.

At Superior Care Group, we have been answering that question honestly since 1979. As a family-owned provider with two Queensland residences—Wellington Park in Wellington Point, South East Brisbane, and Merrimac Park on the Gold Coast—we welcomed the new Aged Care Act not as a compliance burden but as a framework that reflects what we have always believed: that every resident deserves safe, respectful, and genuinely personalised care.

We had Registered Nurses on-site around the clock long before it was mandated. We consistently deliver care minutes well above the mandatory minimum because we understand that the minutes that matter most are the ones where a staff member simply sits with a resident who is having a hard day. We have always maintained an open door for families — and under the new Act, that open door is more important than ever.

If you are navigating the aged care system in Queensland — whether you are just beginning to explore your options, transitioning from Support at Home into residential care, or trying to understand what the new Act means for a family member already in care — we are here to help. Not to sell you a place. To answer your questions clearly, guide you through the process, and help you make the decision that is right for your family.

The new Aged Care Act is the most significant reform to Australian aged care in a generation. Understanding it is the first step. Choosing the right provider — one who goes beyond what the law requires because they believe in something beyond compliance — is the next.