Overview
- The Senate approved a private senators’ bill on Thursday that would reinstate a clear right for trained assessors to override outcomes produced by the government’s Integrated Assessment Tool.
- The Integrated Assessment Tool, introduced in November 2025, uses algorithmic rules to assign home-care funding levels and has generated thousands of assessments and more than 1,000 formal review requests from people who say decisions could not be reversed.
- Cross-party support from the Coalition, the Greens, independents including David Pocock and One Nation forced the Senate vote but the bill is expected to be blocked in the House of Representatives because Labor holds a working majority.
- Aged Care Minister Sam Rae conceded the government will create a new escalation and review pathway during the parliamentary break and publicly rejected the claim that the system uses artificial intelligence.
- Advocates and watchdogs say targeted fixes are not enough and continue to demand transparency about how the algorithm works, clearer appeal routes, independent oversight and involvement of aged-care advocates to prevent harms similar to past automated-policy failures.