1 week Ago By Dominic Giannini and Andrew Brown
Elderly sexual abuse survivors will be able to keep lower aged care fees despite any redress payments after changes to how assets are counted. Login or signup to continue reading Payments from a redress scheme that supports those who experienced institutional child sexual abuse will not be included in means testing of applicants for aged care and won't be considered a financial asset from January. The scheme has received over 50,000 applications and is scheduled to keep accepting them until June 30, 2027.
Disclosing payments from five, 10 or 15 years ago when moving to an aged care institution could be re-traumatising, Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said. "It does really cause a lot of problems because when someone goes into another institution if they've been abused previously in an institution, it can be a very difficult time to resettle in a new institution," Ms Rishworth told ABC TV on Tuesday. Exemptions for the payments will be made through data matching, meaning survivors won't have to relive their trauma by disclosing the abuse again.
Means testing is used for aged care services to determine the financial support levels someone receives from the government. The announcement of the changes on Tuesday coincides with National Survivors Day, which acknowledges the survivors of institutional and sexual abuse. Ms Rishworth defended funding for the program against concerns thousands of people could fall through the cracks in coming years due to staff shortages, saying money has been increased in the past two federal budgets.
Age care reforms before parliament would give older people, including sexual abuse survivors, the right to access trauma-aware and healing-informed services, Aged Care Minister Anika Wells said. 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028 Australian Associated Press DAILY Today's top stories curated by our news team. Also includes evening update.
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