{"id":41221,"date":"2026-10-18T18:04:56","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T07:04:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=41221"},"modified":"2026-10-18T18:04:56","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T07:04:56","slug":"labor-review-into-aged-care-assessments-means-human-override-must-be-urgently-reinstated-greens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2026\/10\/18\/labor-review-into-aged-care-assessments-means-human-override-must-be-urgently-reinstated-greens\/","title":{"rendered":"Labor review into aged care assessments means human override must be urgently reinstated: Greens"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Labor has finally admitted there may be a problem in their aged care assessment algorithm with a review into their Integrated Assessment Tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today though, they rejected the urgent measure that human override be reinstated by voting down&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/parlinfo.aph.gov.au\/parlInfo\/download\/legislation\/amend\/r7517_amend_32f60fab-1ae5-42e6-9c7b-1d9a92721646\/upload_pdf\/4183_CW_Aged%20Care%20Legislation%20Amendment%20(Aboriginal%20and%20Torres%20Strait%20Islander%20Aged%20Care%20Commissioner%20and%20Other%20Measures)%20Bill%202026_Allman-Payne.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf#search=%22legislation\/amend\/r7517_amend_32f60fab-1ae5-42e6-9c7b-1d9a92721646%22\"><u>a Greens amendment<\/u><\/a> to the&nbsp;<em>Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Aged Care Commissioner Bill<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Bill contained both the establishment of the office of the Commissioner on a permanent basis, and a separate schedule related to the controversial aged care assessment system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/parlinfo.aph.gov.au\/parlInfo\/download\/legislation\/amend\/r7517_amend_cd1816f0-1a8e-46fe-9838-820e1dbaa15d\/upload_pdf\/PJ118.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf\"><u>The new schedule<\/u><\/a> was tacked on to the bill last month to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/greens.org.au\/news\/media-release\/labor-tinkers-around-edges-broken-aged-care-assessment-tool\"><u>serious criticism<\/u><\/a> from the Greens. The \u2018escalation pathway\u2019 contained in the schedule does not restore human override by clinicians, instead allowing the Department to review decisions. This pathway was harshly&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/greens.org.au\/news\/media-release\/experts-shoot-down-labors-aged-care-assessment-fix\"><u>criticised by experts<\/u><\/a> in the hearing on the Bill.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Senate has previously passed&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/greens.org.au\/news\/media-release\/labors-failed-aged-care-reforms-cop-another-whack-senate\"><u>a bill to reinstate human override<\/u><\/a> for assessments, and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/greens.org.au\/news\/media-release\/labor-humiliation-senate-votes-scrap-automated-aged-care-assessments\"><u>a Greens motion<\/u><\/a> to scrap it altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Senator Penny Allman-Payne, Greens spokesperson Older People:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cLabor\u2019s aged care assessment tool is broken, it is systematically underassessing older people, especially those with cognitive issues, frailty and mental health conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOlder people are dying because this tool is denying them the care they need, and the Labor government is blind to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe have been told to wait for the much-needed review, but older Australians cannot wait any longer. They need human override to protect them from this broken tool now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Greens amendment would\u2019ve immediately restored human override by clinicians, and it is disappointing that Labor and the Coalition have not taken this opportunity to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe know that Labor can reinstate human override at any time with the stroke of a pen, and every under-assessment that this tool spits out is a political choice by this government.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Labor has finally admitted there may be a problem in their aged care assessment algorithm with a review into their Integrated Assessment Tool. Today though, they rejected the urgent measure that human override be reinstated by voting down&nbsp;a Greens amendment to the&nbsp;Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Aged Care Commissioner Bill. The Bill contained both the &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2026\/10\/18\/labor-review-into-aged-care-assessments-means-human-override-must-be-urgently-reinstated-greens\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Labor review into aged care assessments means human override must be urgently reinstated: Greens&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41221"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41222,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41221\/revisions\/41222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}