More Than 6,000 Elderly Died While Waiting: Australia's Aged Care System Failure and Information Blockade

According to ABC News, data recently released by Australia's federal health department shows that 6,436 elderly people who had been approved for Support at Home died while waiting in the queue for funding during the 2025-26 fiscal year, averaging about 17 per day — an increase of about 34% from the previous fiscal year's 4,812. However, ABC News noted that because Australia's aged care system is in the middle of a transition between old and new systems, the two sets of figures are not directly comparable, and the year-on-year increase must be understood in that context.

"Every person on the waiting list is a living human being, not a statistic, not a number," Shadow Health Minister Anne Ruston told ABC News. She directed criticism at the governing Labor government, saying it "had put more effort into avoiding scrutiny than into fixing the system," and that "it is elderly Australians and their families who are paying the real price."

The opposition noted that the figures only came to light after the federal government failed to comply with two Senate orders requiring it to produce the relevant material. "The extent to which the government has tried to hide this information from the public is shocking. The prime minister and his ministers clearly did not want older people and their families to know the truth," Ruston said.

ABC News reported that as of June 30, more than 106,000 Australians remained stuck on the Support at Home priority waiting list. The list determines the priority order in which elderly people receive funding, and includes those who have already received a lower level of funding and are waiting for a higher level to come through. In August this year, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Four Corners program further revealed that the actual number of people waiting for full home care funding was close to 154,000, with a significant gap between the two statistical measures.

Patricia Sparrow, chief executive of the Council on the Ageing Australia, described the figure to ABC News as "an absolute tragedy," showing the system is far from keeping up with demand. "This shouldn't be happening... There simply aren't enough care packages in the system, and we must ensure that people get the care packages they need within about 30 days of their assessment being completed," she said. When elderly people cannot get home support even for basic needs such as bathing and eating, they are more likely to be forced into hospital or residential aged care earlier.

Independent senator David Pocock said the figures were "shocking, but sadly not surprising." "The Senate has been pushing the government for years to improve aged care, but the aged care minister has again and again stonewalled and changed the subject, ultimately letting down these elderly people and their families. This is unacceptable," he told ABC News. "I am disappointed that these figures were released in a quiet, hard-to-find way. Even if it is a harsh story, older people and their families still have a right to transparency from the government about what is going on."

Aged Care Minister Sam Rae defended the government, saying the rate of deaths during the wait for Support at Home was "significantly lower" than the broader elderly population mortality rate. "Every person who dies while waiting is a tragedy, and I extend my condolences and sympathy to every family who has lost a loved one," he told ABC News. Rae also said the government had added 83,000 home care places in 2025-26, and would release a further 32,000 in the current year.

However, there remains a substantial gap between the number of new places and the number of people on the waiting list. Last year, a Senate inquiry into aged care services heard testimony from several families who lost loved ones while waiting. Among them, a patient in Hobart with both Parkinson's disease and cancer waited more than 12 months for a home care package, with his package only approved three days before his death. In May this year, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese acknowledged that the state of aged care in the country was "nowhere near good enough," when a report showed patients on average had to wait a year to access the relevant services. The report was accused by political opponents of having been "quietly buried" by the government because it was released during the budget lock-up period.