Aged Care - review 1

• Parliament: 48
• Commenced: 24 November 2025
• Submissions close: 23 Januray 2026

• Published submissions
• Public hearings

The Aged Care Rules 2025 and the Aged Care (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Rules 2025 were tabled in the Senate on 27 October 2025 and 29 October 2025 respectively. The Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee is undertaking the review of the relevant rules specified in Section 602 (12) of the Aged Care Act 2024 – (see below in the requirement for review section).

The committee is calling for written submissions to assist with the review. Closing date for submissions is Friday 23 January 2026.

The committee will report on its findings once it is satisfied that it has completed its examination of the relevant provisions.

Please note that the committee will only accept submissions, which directly address the provisions under review. This means that private individuals’ experiences or contributions about other aspects of the Act will not be considered as part of this review and will not be published.

Potential submitters with personal experiences and/or comments about supports at home may consider contributing to the two other inquiries related to Aged Care services currently undertaken by the Community Affairs References Committee: The transition of the Commonwealth Home Support Program to the Support at Home Program and The Support at Home Program

Requirement for review

Section 602(12) of the Aged Care Act 2024 requires that the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee must begin a review of any rules made for the purposes of the below listed provisions, within three months after the day the rules are tabled in the Senate.

The specified provisions are as follows:

• Section 14 – Aged Care Code of Conduct
• Section 15 – Aged Care Quality of Standards
• Section 16 – meaning of a reportable incident
• Section 17 – restrictive practice in relation to an individual
• Section 141 – Provider Register
• Section 154 – personal information and record keeping
• Section 162 – restrictive practices
• Section 163 – immunity from civil or criminal liability in relation to the use of a restrictive practice in certain circumstances
• Chapter 4 – funding of aged care services
• Section 379 – aged care worker screening database
• Section 507 – register of banning orders.

The committee is required to report its findings to the Senate as soon as practicable after completing each review.

Review of Aged Care Rules by other Parliamentary committees

Aged Care Rules may also be reviewed by other Parliamentary committees, including:

• Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights; and
• Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Delegated Legislation.

For information on review of these legislative instruments by other Senate committees, please visit the webpages of those committees via the above links.