EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Aged Care Act 1997
Aged Care (Conditions for Residential Care Allocations)
Determination 2014
Authority
Section 14-6 of the Aged Care Act 1997 (the Act) provides that the Secretary may determine that conditions apply to an allocation of places to a person.
Purpose
The purpose of this determination is to amend conditions of allocation applying to allocated residential care places to remove the distinction between high care and low care residential aged care places from 1 July 2014.
Background
Historically, residential aged care places have been allocated on the basis that a specified number of the allocated places are for the provision of high care or low care. This has been given effect through written conditions in the Schedule of Conditions of Allocation for each allocation. The removal of this distinction, from 1 July 2014, is a key feature of the aged care reform measure Better Access to Care – Greater Choice and Control for Aged Care Recipients.
Section 14-6 of the Act provides that an allocation of places under the Act is subject to conditions determined from time to time by the Secretary. These conditions can apply to allocations of places generally or to allocations of places of a specified kind.
Details
Under this new Determination, conditions of allocation for residential care places about whether high or low care is to be provided through the places will no longer be in force from 1 July 2014.
Consultation
The Department has consulted on this change as part of the aged care reforms.
Regulation impact statement
The Office of Best Practice Regulation has advised this change is machinery to the broader aged care reform package, and is covered by Regulation Impact Statement ID 12602.
Statement of compatibility with human rights
This legislative instrument is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 as it does not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms.
Commencement
This Determination commences on 1 July 2014.
This Determination is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.
ATTACHMENT
Details of the Aged Care (Conditions for Residential Care Allocations) Determination 2014
1 Name of Determination
Clause 1 states that the name of the amending Determination is the Aged Care (Conditions for Residential Care Allocations) Determination 2014.
2 Commencement
Clause 2 states that this Determination commences on 1 July 2014.
3 Conditions applying to allocations of residential care places
Clause 3 provides that for all allocated residential care places, residential care may be provided to care recipients classified at any classification level.
4 Section 14-5 conditions about high and low care of no effect
Under clause 4, conditions of allocation for residential care places specified under section 14-5 of the Act about whether high or low care is to be provided will be of no effect from the date of the Determination. This provision removes the high care / low care distinction from all allocations of permanent residential care places.
5 Application of conditions
Clause 5 lays down the rules applying to the application of the conditions detailed in this Determination. In particular, except in relation to removal of the high care / low care distinction, the conditions in the Determination apply in addition to any other conditions that are in force under a determination made under section 14-5 or subsection 14-6(1) of the Act.
Moreover, the conditions in the Determination apply to all allocations of places in force, including those made before or after the Determination is made.