In response to the Treasurer's invitation to provide views regarding priorities for the 2015-16 Budget, CHA lodged a submission on 20 January 2015.

CHA's submission concerns the care of the increasing number of older Australians due to the ageing of our population.  It calls for a clear statement that it is the Government's intention to transition to a contestable market-based aged care system so that providers, financiers and equity investors, who are making long term investments, and consumers have certainty about the Government's policy intentions.  The submission also identifies the care of older people with severe behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia as an immediate priority.

CLICK HERE to read submission.  

CLICK HERE to read attachment to the submission.

In this document, The 2012 Aged Care Reforms: The Changing World for Aged Care Providers, Catholic Health Australia offers a comprehensive analysis of the aged care reforms that were announced in 2012 and continue to be implemented. The analysis looks specifically at the reforms from a provider perspective. Click here to access the document.

In its submission to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee, Catholic Health Australia outlined why it supports repeal of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Bill and the abolition of the ACNC. The principal reason for CHA's criticism of the ACNC design and support for the repeal Bill is that hospital and aged care regulation provides sufficient consumer protections that the ACNC adds nothing to. Click here to read CHA's submission.

Catholic Health Australia, in its submission to the Inquiry into affordable housing, called on the Inquiry to recommend the Commonwealth have a significant role in legislating and funding programs that stimulate affordable housing opportunities for older Australians. CHA offered seven recommendations that would help bring about that objective. Click here to read the submission.

As the Abbott Government seeks to eliminate red tape, Catholic Health Australia wrote to Ministers Kevin Andrews and Mitch Fifield, as well as Parliamentary Secretary Josh Frydenberg, supporting those efforts. The letters can be read by clicking here. CHA also sent the Ministers this attachment, outlining the range of areas in which red tape could be reduced in aged care without compromising quality and safety.

In late 2013, the Coalition Government announced there would be a National Commission of Audit.

Click here to read Catholic Health Australia's submission to the Commission of Audit.

Catholic Health Australia's submission calls for a clear statement that it is the Government's intention to transition to a contestable market-based aged care system so that providers, financiers and equity investors, who are making long term investments, and consumers have certainty about the Government's policy intentions.  The submission also identifies the care of older people with severe bahavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia as an immediate priority.

In its submission to the Senate Community Affairs Committee's inquiry into the care and management of younger people and older Australians living with dementia and behavioural and psychiatric symptoms of dementia (BPSD), CHA outlined a number of case studies across acute, sub-acute, aged and community care to demonstrate better practice examples of care in such circumstances. Click here to read CHA's submission.

In its submission to the Senate Inquiry into five bills related to the Government's aged care reforms announced in April 2012, Catholic Health Australia gave its qualified support to the passage of the legislation, saying they were the next step in progressive reform to support the future sustainability and quality of aged care services. However, there are missed opportunities from the Productivity Commission's Caring for Older Australians report, and CHA has reservations about the Workforce Supplement, among other concerns.

Click here to read CHA's submission.

Catholic Health Australia has given its conditional support to the Commonwealth Government's plan to consolidate existing anti-discrimination laws into one piece of legislation. CHA told a Senate Inquiry that Catholic hospitals and aged care services do not discriminate in either who they employ or provide hospital or aged care services to, but that the proposed laws risk imposing new compliance costs on human service organisations if the burden of proof is reversed to place the onus on service providers to disprove discrimination has occurred. Click here to read CHA's submission on proposed anti-discrimination reforms.