Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response No. 1) 2021

✦ Plain-English Summary

# Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response No. 1) 2021

## What it does
This law tightens rules around "restrictive practices" in aged care — things like physical restraints or sedating medications that limit a resident's freedom of movement. Aged care providers must now only use these practices when the government's Quality of Care Principles specifically allow it, and they have to justify and document why.

## Why it matters
The Royal Commission into Aged Care found that restrictive practices were being overused in some facilities without proper safeguards. This creates a clearer legal standard so residents can't be restrained or heavily medicated just for convenience, and it gives regulators clearer grounds to investigate and enforce standards.

## Key details
- **Comes into effect**: Most changes kick in from 1 July 2021 (except home care reviews, which start the day after the law passes)
- **Who's affected**: All aged care providers — residential facilities and home care services
- **The requirement**: Providers must follow new Quality of Care Principles that spell out exactly when restrictive practices are allowed and require proper documentation, with oversight from the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission

Official Description

Amends the: Aged Care Act 1997 to insert a definition of 'restrictive practice' and provide for the Quality of Care Principles to specify certain requirements in relation to the use of a restrictive practice; enable the secretary to conduct home care assurance reviews; and remove the requirement for the Minister for Aged Care to establish a committee known as the Aged Care Financing Authority; and Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission Act 2018 to expand the powers of the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner to include the ability to issue a written notice if an approved provider does not comply with their responsibilities and to apply for a civil penalty order against a provider if they do not comply with the written notice.

Committee Referrals

Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee; Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights; Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills

Full bill PDF →APH page →

Audit History

Introduced

27 May 2021

Last updated on APH

10 Apr 2026

Outcome date

28 June 2021

Last checked by Crossbench

yesterday

Full text indexed

yesterday

🗳️

No formal division recorded

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