The federal government has extended funding for the Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP) by two years, keeping it separate from the Support at Home program until 2029, and potentially making it permanent. The CHSP provides low-level support to approximately 830,000 seniors with shopping, transport, and meals on wheels assistance. Aged Care Minister Sam Rae stated that keeping CHSP separate would help take pressure off the aged care system, which faces a shortage of beds and long waitlists. Shadow Aged Care Minister Anne Ruston criticized the decision as an "embarrassing, overdue backdown" from Labor in the face of mounting evidence against abolishing community support.
Written by the local model on 2026-08-20,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
In short:
The federal government has extended the Commonwealth Home Support Program for another two years.
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government → extend → years
The opposition has labelled the move an "embarrassing, overdue backdown from Labor in the face of overwhelming evidence".
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opposition → label → evidence
The aged care minister said the intention was to keep the program separate from Support at Home on an ongoing basis.
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intention → say → basis
The Commonwealth program helping older people with shopping, transport and meals on wheels will be extended until 2029, but the government has flagged its intention to make the program permanent beyond that.
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program → help → that
The Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP) provides low-level support to 830,000 seniors to help them live at home.
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them → provide → home
As part of major changes to the aged care sector, the program was due to be abolished in mid-2027 and rolled into the new Support at Home program.
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program → abolish → program
The new program is designed to provide a coordinated budget for more complex care, but critics have argued that the changes would make service delivery more expensive and less efficient.
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delivery → design → care
Providers, including local councils, had also withdrawn services because of the uncertainty surrounding the program's future.
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Aged Care Minister Sam Rae said the government was now also beginning consultation with a view to permanently keeping CHSP separate from Support at Home.
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government → say → Home
We believe the CHSP should remain a standalone program," he said.
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he → believe → ?
Mr Rae said it was important for the government to be looking at how it could use early intervention services like CHSP to take pressure off the rest of the ever-growing aged care system, which faces a shortage of beds and long waitlists.
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which → say → beds
He hoped the operators that had stopped providing services would return now they had certainty.
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they → hop → certainty
Health Minister Mark Butler said the CHSP program would require reform, though, because there was some overlap between it and the Support at Home program.
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program → say → Home
"There are differences in co-contribution arrangements that will have to be sorted," he said.
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he → be → arrangements
Under CHSP, participants are expected to contribute varying amounts to the cost of their care, if they can afford to.
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they → expect → care
"Simple services like house cleaning and meals might cost a few dollars.
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More complex services like some home modifications will cost much more," according to the department's website.
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Under Support at Home, depending on someone's pensioner status and the type of care they require, they contribute between 5 and 80 per cent of costs.
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they → depend → costs
'Overwhelming' evidence for decision
A Senate inquiry earlier this year recommended CHSP be kept as a separate block-funded program, and Shadow Aged Care Minister Anne Ruston said the decision was an "embarrassing" backdown given the mounting evidence.
"This is an embarrassing, overdue backdown from Labor in the face of overwhelming evidence that abolishing community support would have been reckless for the 835,000 older Australians who rely on this program,"she said.
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who → recommend → program,"she
"Labor has left this decision until the last minute, just as they have done repeatedly throughout their chaotic aged care reforms."
The announcement was welcomed by provider body Ageing Australia, which had been pushing for the program to remain separate, given Support at Home was "not yet delivering for older people".
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Council on the Ageing chief executive Patricia Sparrow agreed it was important the program was extended.
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program → agree → ?
"The task now is making sure the Commonwealth Home Support Program, Support at Home and the broader aged care system work together so older Australians don't fall through the cracks, get caught between program boundaries or face unnecessary barriers as their needs change," she said.
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she → make → barriers
It's good that this gives people, including providers like local councils, certainty about the future of the program."
Greens leader Larissa Waters also labelled the decision a "massive win".
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"It is outrageous that Labor thought that older Australians should have their lives uprooted and future thrown into uncertainty," she said.
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she → think → uncertainty
The government did not reveal the cost of extending the program but said it was not a savings measure.
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it → reveal → program