Australia news live: ‘critical’ day for state health funding deal, Butler says; teen’s body found after Blue Mountains camping trip | Australia news
Butler: Cost of health fund deal failure would be ‘very significant’
Federal Minister of Health, Mark Butler, He said he was “cautiously optimistic” the federal government would reach an agreement with the states and territories on health funding and the timing of changes to the NDIS, but said the country was “running out of time” to reach such an agreement.
Butler told RN Breakfast:
I think everyone understands that today is critical. … The cost of failure will be very significant because not only is there a shared commitment to ensuring that our hospitals work well and cope with some of the changes in the population … but I think all jurisdictions recognize the need to get the NDIS back on track and ensure it achieves its original objectives.
important events
A national cabinet meeting was held today to discuss hospital financing and arms buyback details.
The national cabinet will meet in Sydney today after the Albanian government offered to delay the launch of a new program for autism early intervention services as part of a proposed deal to secure an agreement on hospitals and disability funding.
Premiers and chief ministers across the country appear likely to agree to the deal, which will delay the start of the new $2 billion Successful Kids project until October. The program was scheduled to start on July 1, but state governments said they were not yet ready to take responsibility for the program.
Additional details aimed at attracting states and territories include budget funding “adjustments” that will benefit some smaller regions struggling with rising costs of health and hospital services.
Albanese will also push for commitment to a new gun buyback program that will cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Queensland and the Northern Territory have so far refused to sign up.
Teenager’s body found in NSW Blue Mountains
NSW police found the body of a 16-year-old boy who went missing in the Blue Mountains yesterday.
The two boys, ages 16 and 17, went to the area for a three-day camping trip near Mount Hay on Tuesday, authorities said. The older boy activated his personal locator beacon after the pair separated on Wednesday evening.
Later, during a land and air search, the 17-year-old young man was found and removed from a campsite in the area by crane, but rescue teams could not find the little boy.
Authorities continued the search and found the 16-year-old’s body in a stream in the Blue Gum Forest in the Blue Mountains national park.
An autopsy will be performed and a report prepared for the medical examiner.
More than 2.3 million reports of trespass against NDIS participants in 2024-25
Cait Kelly
In 2024-25, there were more than 2.3 million incidents of unauthorized use of restrictive practices against NDIS participants, including people being locked in rooms, sedated with medication or physically held down.
During the year, 739,418 people were affected by unauthorized restraints, which were subsequently reported to the NDIS Quality and Safeguarding Commission (NQSC).
In addition, there were 34,104 other incidents that needed to be reported during the year; mostly allegations of abuse and neglect (43.6%), followed by serious injuries, including accidents (33.4%).
Total spending on disability services in 2024-25 was $51.1 billion, up 5.5% on 2023-24, with an average annual growth rate since 2019 of 16.2%.
Cait Kelly
Greens’ seniors spokesperson senator in response to aged care data Penny Allman-Paynein question:
This is a national shame. Eight months is long enough for someone in their 80s or 90s not to have to wait for help.
The shortage of aged care is the direct and intentional result of Labour’s decision to ‘quarantine’ care through the limited release of home care packages.
Older Australians are dying waiting a year or more for care, and the major parties would rather fund nuclear submarines and aid to big corporations than ensure our parents and grandparents are cared for in these final stages of their lives.
We warned the government this would happen when the Greens opposed Labour’s new Aged Care Bill in Parliament.
In a rich country like ours, our parents and grandparents should be able to get the care they need when they need it.
Waiting time boom for home aged care services
Cait Kelly
The average wait time for older Australians between home care packages being approved and support starting has increased from 118 days to 245 days in 2023-24, according to data released by the Productivity Commission.
In addition, the average time required to obtain an aged care assessment increased by 22.7% in 2024-25 (from 22 days to 27 days).
The proportion of residential aged care services meeting total care minute targets was still below 50% but increased between 2023-24 (34.0%) and 2024-25 (45.9%).
The data comes just after the Department of Health and Aging announced last year that Senate estimates had 266,352 people waiting for aged care by October 31, 2025.
This includes 113,150 people waiting for an aged care needs assessment, 107,281 people waiting for a package at the level approved in the National Priority System and an additional 45,921 people waiting for a Simple Assessment for CHSP (state home support programme).
Good morning
hello, this Nick Visser Here, I am ready to tell you today’s news as it happens.
The national cabinet meets in Sydney today; where premiers and chief ministers are likely to accept a deal from the federal government offering to delay the launch of a new program for early intervention in autism services under changes to the NDIS and provide a budget boost for smaller states as part of efforts to secure an overdue deal on hospitals and disability funding.
Anthony Albanese It will also force the national cabinet to scrap details of the federal government’s upcoming gun buyback program, which will cost hundreds of millions of dollars, despite Queensland and the Northern Territory refusing to take part.
Let’s get into it.
