Advocacy: Submission to the Senate Inquiry on Support at Home Program

Submission to the Senate Community Affairs References Committee
Inquiry into the Support at Home Program Submitted by Meaningful Ageing Australia on 17 July 2026

Submission executive summary

Meaningful Ageing Australia strongly supports the intent of the Support at Home Program to enable older Australians to live safely, independently, and with dignity at home. However, the program’s current design risks undermining this intent unless emotional, cultural, and spiritual wellbeing are recognised as essential not optional dimensions of care.

Our submission highlights:

• The need for holistic, relational care that supports meaning, identity, connection, and emotional safety, not only functional tasks.
• The risk that co-payments and pricing mechanisms will deepen inequity, particularly for older people with limited financial means, those living alone, and those from marginalised communities.
• The importance of continuity of relationships during transitions from the Home Care Packages Program and from the Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP).
• The need for thin market protections, especially for spiritual and psychosocial supports that are often undervalued or misunderstood.
• The disproportionate impact on First Nations Elders, culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities, and LGBTIQ+ older people.
• The urgent requirement for financial hardship pathways that are accessible, trauma-informed, and culturally safe.
• The broader system impacts on residential aged care and hospitals when psychosocial and spiritual needs are unmet at home.

Recommendations

1. Embed emotional, cultural, and spiritual wellbeing as core components of the Support at Home Program, including through recognising spiritual care as part of the service list under the Aged Care Act (2024) and the Aged Care Rules.
2. Ensure psychosocial and spiritual supports are exempt from co-payments.
3. Implement a national, culturally safe hardship framework.
4. Protect continuity of relationships during transitions.
5. Invest in spiritual care workforce capability and thin market protections.
6. Partner with First Nations, CALD, and LGBTIQ+ organisations to deliver culturally safe care.
7. Integrate social prescribing and community connection pathways.
8. Ensure pricing mechanisms value relational and holistic care.
9. Recognise spiritual care practitioners as essential members of multidisciplinary teams.

Older Australians deserve more than functional support. They deserve care that honours their identity, culture, relationships, and inner life. The Support at Home Program will only succeed if it recognises that ageing well is not just about living longer at home, it is about living with meaning, connection, and dignity.

Download or view the full submission here: Submissions – Parliament of Australia

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