Aged care waitlist shrinks after government changes counting method

Since November of last year, the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing has applied a new metric that removes individuals receiving an interim package of 60 percent of their approved funding from the official in-home aged-care waitlist. Previously, such recipients stayed on the list until they obtained full funding, which kept the reported numbers higher. The shift caused the published waitlist to drop from over 107,000 in October 2025 to under 95,000 by the end of December, while analysts say the actual number of people still awaiting full packages is close to 154,000.

A Four Corners investigation highlighted the discrepancy, noting that more than 53,000 people were excluded under the new rule. Aged Care Minister Sam Rae maintained that the current approach prevents double-counting those already receiving care, but former acting Inspector-General Ian Yates labeled the change “unacceptable” and called for the interim recipients to be reported separately. The issue comes amid rising demand for home-care packages, which have quadrupled since the royal commission, and a higher death toll of over 4,800 people while waiting for approved funding in the 2024-25 period.