Now lawHealth & Care Introduced in the House of Representatives, 01 Jul 2026

First Nations aged care official is now law

Older First Nations people get a lasting official to speak up for them in aged care, set to start on 1 July 2027. The law also changes how aged care deposits, fees and refunds work for everyone.

Official name: Aged Care Legislation Amendment (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Aged Care Commissioner and Other Measures) Bill 2026

Who it affects

• Older First Nations people: A lasting official advises the government and pushes for care that respects their culture.
• People moving into aged care homes: They can choose how to pay for their room while their means test is done. They must be paid back if charged too much.
• Aged care providers: They must pay back what they charged too much. They are paid before care is given now, and will move to being paid after. They can take on deposits when they buy another home.
• Local councils that run aged care: Elected councillors no longer count as people in charge of the service.
• People waiting on a second look at an aged care decision: Some decisions no longer count as final just because 90 days have passed.

Why it exists

A new aged care law, the Aged Care Act 2024, started on 1 November 2025. It sets the main rules for aged care. It came out of a Royal Commission, which is a big public investigation. This one looked at problems in aged care.

The Royal Commission made a recommendation (number 49) to set up an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Aged Care Commissioner. This is an official who speaks up for First Nations people in aged care. First Nations people means Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

A stand-in First Nations Aged Care Commissioner has been doing the job. But the role is not set up by law. The stand-in asked people across the country for their views. They wrote a report on how the lasting role should work.

When the new law started, the government also made short-term rules in a hurry to patch problems. The Parliamentary Library works for all MPs and takes no side. It says these rules were due to end on 30 October 2026.

This bill puts those fixes into the law for good and adds other changes. A bill is a draft law. It becomes law when both houses of Parliament pass it, the House of Representatives and the Senate. Then the Governor-General, the King's representative, signs it. This bill has three parts.

Two money words come up often. The means test is the check of your income and savings that decides what you pay. A refundable deposit is a lump sum you pay to live in a home and get back later.

The System Governor is the official who runs the aged care system. The Minister is the aged care minister.

New First Nations aged care official

Part 1 creates the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Aged Care Commissioner. The role sits inside the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission. That is the watchdog that checks aged care services are safe. The government says the new official works on their own inside it.

The Minister picks the official for up to 5 years. They can only be picked again once.

The person must be an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person and see themselves as one. Their community must accept them. They must have deep experience in community life.

First Nations people and communities must help design how the person is picked. The job must be advertised in public. The best person must get it.

This part is set to start on 1 July 2027. That leaves time to talk with communities and find the best person. Until then the role is not set up in law.

The official advises the System Governor on how to make care easier to get.

The new official speaks up for First Nations views in aged care plans. They talk straight to communities, including in remote areas.

They also set guidance on cultural safety training for people who give aged care to First Nations people. Cultural safety means care that respects a person's culture and makes them feel safe.

They run research. They help First Nations groups become aged care providers.

The official writes a yearly work plan after talking with the Minister. They report each year.

They can ask for facts, but cannot force anyone to hand them over. The Minister can give general orders. But the Minister cannot give orders about one provider or person.

Temporary fixes made permanent

Part 2 moves the short-term fixes into the Aged Care Act and the Aged Care Rules 2025. The Rules are detailed rules the government writes under the Act without a new vote. Then it cancels the short-term rules.

Home Support is the program that pays for care in a person's own home. Some people on Home Support miss the time allowed to start, or spend time in an aged care home. They can now get back their place in the queue and their level of care.

Some providers of home care, equipment or home changes could not send a claim the usual way. The government's notes say this put continuity of care at risk. The government can now pay these providers before they send the claim. If the provider never sends it, the money becomes a debt they owe back.

Other fixes cover what a person pays toward their care when their pension, income or savings change. These amounts are called contributions. What they pay can go up or down with their money. The new rules set the date a change starts. The government says people gain from yearly rises and re-checks of income and savings.

Providers must now report each resident's deposit balance to the System Governor. That lets the System Governor update the resident's means test when a deposit is paid or changes.

Before it does that, the System Governor must tell the resident and give them a fair chance to reply. If they do not reply, a second notice goes out. The reply must be read before any decision is made.

Refunds and fees

Part 3 has 13 smaller parts. They are covered here and in the next two sections. Two of them deal with refunds. Providers must pay back any extra contributions they charged. They must also pay back fees that residents paid too much of. So a resident can be owed money back.

While a person waits for the means test result, they and their provider can agree on a short-term rate in writing.

Before, people waiting on the means test had to pay for their room each day. The law now lets them choose. They can pay a refundable deposit, pay each day, or do a mix.

Say your dad sells his house to move into care. He can pay a refundable deposit straight away and get it back later. That stops daily payments adding up while the paperwork is done.

Deposits and means tests

One provider might sell an aged care home or join together with another. The deposits move with the home. The new provider takes on the duty to pay residents back. No cash has to change hands.

Some people sell a home and use the money to pay a deposit. The government says the means test counts what they own the same way as the age pension test does. There are two differences, for the old family home and for money paid as a deposit. This can change how much a person has to pay for care.

The System Governor sometimes needs details of income and savings. It must send a first request. If the person has not answered 21 days later, it must ask again. The notes say the two notices together give 46 days.

Smaller changes

The meaning of "direct care staff member" is now set in the Aged Care Rules, because the term is used mostly there. These are the workers who give hands-on care. It still covers nurses, nursing helpers and personal care workers. It mostly does not cover volunteers.

A responsible person is someone in charge of running an aged care provider. Elected councillors no longer count as responsible persons just for being elected, when their council runs aged care. This matches state and territory government providers. Council staff who run the service still count.

Aged care homes are paid before care is given, for each resident. They will slowly move to being paid after care is given, in monthly steps. This changes how the government pays homes.

Approved aged care homes can apply to the System Governor for "specialised status", an official label. A home can hold only one label at a time. New powers to make rules cover notices and start dates for these labels.

Some residents entered care after 2014. When what they pay changes because costs change, they get clearer rules on when it starts and how they are told. The System Governor must also give them and the provider written notice of fee changes.

Some people ask for an aged care decision to be looked at again. The health and ageing department has 90 days to do it. Before, the first decision was treated as final if the 90 days passed. Now, for many kinds of decision, it is not. The person can wait for the new answer.

They can still ask the Administrative Review Tribunal to look at it after 90 days. A tribunal is a body that reviews decisions, like a court but less formal.

The government might pay a provider money by mistake. It can now get it back as a debt. That means the provider owes it.

Law since October 2026

This bill is now law, Act No. 98 of 2026. The Governor-General signed it on 26 October 2026.

Most of the law starts the day after it was signed, which is 27 October 2026. The short-term rules were due to end on 30 October 2026. The commissioner part is set to start on 1 July 2027.

The bill came to the House of Representatives on 1 July 2026. A group of senators looked at it. On 11 August 2026, they said it should pass.

The House agreed to 2 changes from the government. It passed the bill on 17 September 2026.

The bill went to the Senate on 12 October 2026. On 13 October 2026 senators voted for the main idea of the bill.

On 15 October 2026 the Senate passed it with 5 changes. Three came from the government and 2 came from the main party not in government, the Coalition (the Liberal and National parties). The House agreed to those changes the same day, so the bill had passed both houses.

How they voted

Its journey through Parliament

Official sources

• Bill page on aph.gov.au
• Text of the bill
• Explanatory memorandum
• Bills Digest

Open the full interactive page