Mildura will again play host to a defining event on regional health policy, with Member for Mallee Dr Anne Webster MP organising the Tri-State Regional Aged Care Forum at the Mildura Powerhouse from 10:30am Wednesday 23 September 2026.
Dr Webster said she is thrilled that prominent medical commentator Dr Nick Coatsworth has agreed to chair the Forum, and that Member for Parkes, Jamie Chaffey MP, is also attending to represent his Broken Hill community.
“I hope this Forum will chart a way forward amid unprecedented uncertainty in aged care, informed by the older Australians in the room who are struggling to navigate an abysmal system.”
“The Prime Minister said, as Leader of the Opposition, that aged care was – then – a ‘national disgrace’ yet, on his watch, it has got much worse,” Dr Webster said.
“As Shadow Minister for Regional Health, I am alarmed at the rapidly increasing number of people crying out for help with wait lists for home care blowing out, bed block in regional hospitals, and thousands of Australians dying while waiting for care.”
“As I did with the Regional Health Workforce Summit in March 2023 and the Regional Aged Care Summit in July 2023, I have put Mildura at the centre as host in our tri-state region where each state’s nearby major centre feels neglected by their capital city focussed government.”
Dr Webster said this Forum differs from earlier Summits as it has a higher number of aged care clients attending already, with remaining places filling fast.
“Older Australians are finding the aged care system bewildering, even though the Aged Care Royal Commission (initiated by the Coalition in government) found that a simple, single-pathway to accessing care is needed.
“However, Labor’s ‘Support at Home’ rollout has been anything but smooth, and now they are continuing the Commonwealth Home Support Program until after the next election, because their management of at-home care has been a trainwreck.”
Dr Webster recently organised a similar forum in Stawell to hear from residents left reeling after a local health service indicated the Commonwealth had left them with no choice but to cut their gardening and home maintenance hours from 12 per annum to just 2.
“I met with the Minister after that forum and will take the findings of this Tri-State Regional Aged Care Forum to Canberra because older Australians deserve dignity, respect and support to age well at home,” Dr Webster said.
email anne.webster.mp@aph.gov.au for more information.
