Statement of Rights Under the Aged Care Act 2024 (Cth)

A rights-based aged care system

The Aged Care Act 2024 (Cth) commenced on 1 November 2025 and replaced the previous aged care legislation as the framework for Australian Government-funded aged care. The most visible structural change is where the Act begins. Part 3 of Chapter 1 is headed “Aged care rights and principles”, and Division 1 of that Part contains two sections: section 23, the Statement of Rights, and section 24, which explains the Statement’s effect.

The Statement of Rights speaks about the older person, not about the provider’s paperwork. It is written as a list of things an individual has a right to — choice, equitable access, safety, dignity, privacy, being heard, support and connection. For families used to arguing about care plans and rosters, that shift in language matters: it gives you the vocabulary the regulator, the provider and the Complaints Commissioner all now use.

It is equally important to understand what the Statement is not. It is not a contract, not a compensation scheme, and not a private right of action. The sections below take each group of rights in turn, then deal squarely with the limits in section 24(2) and the enforceability question in section 24(3).

Who is entitled to the rights?

Section 24(1) is the entitlement provision: an individual is entitled to the rights specified in section 23 when accessing, or seeking to access, funded aged care services. Two things follow.

The entitlement starts before services do. “Seeking to access” brings in the period when a person is applying, being assessed or reassessed, waiting for approval or a place, or choosing between providers. The equitable-access rights in section 23(2) are directed squarely at assessment and reassessment, which is why they matter most before care begins.

The entitlement attaches to funded aged care services. The Statement is framed around services funded under the Commonwealth aged care system. The Statement itself does not create directly enforceable duties. Its principal operational consequences for providers arise through the provider-registration conditions, particularly section 144. Rule 144-1 of the Aged Care Rules 2025 currently prescribes every kind of registered provider for section 144. It does not convert every service an older person buys privately into a regulated aged care service, and it does not govern a retirement village contract, which in Victoria sits under the Retirement Villages Act 1986 (Vic). A person can easily be in both systems at once — living in a village under a village contract while receiving funded services at home — and it is worth being precise about which arrangement a particular concern belongs to. Our guide to retirement village versus residential aged care sets out the difference.

Independence, autonomy and choice

Section 23(1) gives an individual the right to exercise choice and make decisions that affect their life, including about the funded aged care services they have been approved to access; how, when and by whom those services are delivered; and their financial affairs and personal possessions. It also gives the right to be supported, if necessary, to make those decisions and to have those decisions respected, and the right to take personal risks, including in pursuit of quality of life, social participation and intimate and sexual relationships.

Supported decision-making is the default. The right to be supported to decide, and to have the decision respected, is the statutory expression of a simple idea: difficulty communicating is not incapacity, and capacity is decision-specific rather than global. Three roles need to be kept apart. A registered supporter — a person registered as the individual’s supporter under section 37 of the Aged Care Act 2024 (Cth) — assists the individual to make and communicate their own decisions, to request and receive information under the Act and to communicate their will, preferences and decisions, and cannot make a decision on the individual’s behalf. An attorney under a Victorian enduring power of attorney acts only within the scope of the instrument and from the commencement time or circumstance specified in it, which may be while the principal still has decision-making capacity; the authority endures if capacity is later lost. A medical treatment decision maker, guardian or administrator acts only within the authority and the capacity requirements of the applicable Victorian legislation or VCAT order — see our guide to powers of attorney for aged care decisions.

Money and possessions. The express reference to financial affairs and personal possessions is useful in practice. It supports an older person’s control over their own accounts, belongings and room, and it sits alongside — not instead of — the protections against elder financial abuse.

Dignity of risk. The right to take personal risks is deliberate. It recognises that a person with capacity may choose to walk unaccompanied, to keep eating a food that carries some risk, or to maintain an intimate relationship. The starting point is to support the individual’s choice and manage risk proportionately rather than impose a blanket prohibition. A restriction may nevertheless be justified where the fact-specific balancing required by section 24(2), another person’s rights or freedoms, or another applicable law makes it necessary and proportionate — the provider’s duties to other residents and to workers remain part of that balance.

Equitable access

Section 23(2) gives an individual the right to equitable access to two things. First, to have their need for funded aged care services assessed or reassessed in a manner that is culturally safe, culturally appropriate, trauma-aware and healing-informed, and that is accessible and suitable for individuals living with dementia or other cognitive impairment. Second, to palliative care and end-of-life care when required.

The practical value of this right is at the assessment stage. If an assessment is conducted in a way the person cannot engage with — the wrong language, no interpreter, no allowance for cognitive impairment, no recognition of past trauma — the resulting picture of need is likely to be wrong, and everything downstream follows from it. Asking for a reassessment conducted in an accessible and culturally appropriate way is asking for something the Act names.

Quality, safety, dignity and respect

Section 23(3) gives an individual the right to be treated with dignity and respect; to safe, fair, equitable and non-discriminatory treatment; to have their identity, culture, spirituality and diversity valued and supported; and to have services delivered in a way that is culturally safe, culturally appropriate, trauma-aware and healing-informed, in an accessible manner, and by aged care workers of registered providers who have appropriate qualifications, skills and experience.

Section 23(4) then gives the right to be free from all forms of violence, degrading or inhumane treatment, exploitation, neglect, coercion, abuse or sexual misconduct, and the right to have quality and safe funded aged care services delivered consistently with the requirements imposed on registered providers under the Act. A note to that subsection points to the conditions on registered providers in Division 1 of Part 4 of Chapter 3, including requirements about the use of restrictive practices and the management of incidents.

That cross-reference is the important one. Concerns about restraint, unmanaged incidents or unsafe staffing are not just Statement of Rights concerns; they may engage separate, directly enforceable provider obligations elsewhere in the Act, depending on the provider’s registration category, the services it delivers, the Standards that apply to it and the facts.

Privacy and information

Section 23(5) gives an individual the right to have their personal privacy respected and their personal information protected. Section 23(6) gives the right to seek, and be provided with, records and information about their rights under section 23 and about the funded aged care services they access, including the costs of those services.

Two points are worth underlining for families. The right to information about costs is express, which makes it a reasonable and specific thing to ask for in writing — and it pairs with the contractual review we describe in our aged care resident agreements checklist. And the rights in section 23(5) and (6) belong to the older person. A family member’s access to records ordinarily depends on the person’s consent or on a relevant appointment, and personal information about a person accessing funded aged care is protected information under the Act.

Communication and raising issues

Section 23(7) gives an individual the right to be informed, in a way they understand, about the funded aged care services they access, and to express opinions about those services and be heard. Section 23(8) gives the right to communicate in their preferred language or method of communication, with access to interpreters and communication aids as required.

Section 23(9) gives the right to open communication and support from registered providers when issues arise in the delivery of services; to make complaints using an accessible mechanism, without fear of reprisal; and to have complaints dealt with fairly and promptly. “Without fear of reprisal” is a statutory right, not a courtesy — and it is one of the reasons the complaints pathway is worth using rather than avoiding.

Advocates, significant people and connection

Section 23(10) gives an individual the right to be supported by an advocate or another person of their choice, including when exercising or seeking to understand their rights, voicing opinions, making decisions and making complaints or giving feedback. Section 23(11) gives the individual the right to have the role of persons significant to them — including carers, visitors and volunteers — acknowledged and respected.

Section 23(12) gives the right to opportunities and assistance to stay connected, if the individual chooses, with significant persons in their life and pets (including through safe visitation where they live and visits to family or friends); with their community, including by participating in public life and leisure, cultural, spiritual and lifestyle activities; and, for an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person, with community, Country and Island Home. Section 23(13) gives the right to access, at any time the individual chooses, a person designated by the individual or by an appropriate authority.

Independent advocacy is free and confidential. The Older Persons Advocacy Network, funded under the National Aged Care Advocacy Program, can be reached on 1800 700 600. An independent aged care advocate does not act as the individual’s lawyer or as the regulator; they support the individual to understand and pursue their own position. A registered supporter under section 37 of the Act is a different role again: a registered supporter assists the individual to make and communicate their own decisions and cannot decide for them.

Are the rights absolute?

No, and the Act says so. Section 24(2) records Parliament’s intention that registered providers delivering funded aged care services must take all reasonable and proportionate steps to act compatibly with the section 23 rights, taking into account that limits on rights may be necessary to balance:

• competing or conflicting rights;
• the rights and freedoms of other individuals, including aged care workers of the registered provider and other individuals accessing funded aged care services; and
• compliance with other laws of the Commonwealth, or of a State or Territory, including the Work Health and Safety Act 2011.

The following are illustrations of how the balancing exercise can arise. They are not legal determinations, and the answer in any real case depends on its own facts.

• A resident wishes to keep a heavy item of furniture that blocks safe access for the workers who assist them. The worker’s safety and work health and safety law are part of the balance; so is the resident’s right to their possessions and to choose how they live. A considered outcome usually involves reconfiguring, not simply removing.
• A resident with capacity wants to leave the home unaccompanied. Dignity of risk is engaged, as is the provider’s duty of care. Discussion, information, documented decision-making and practical risk reduction are the ordinary response.
• Two residents’ preferences about shared spaces conflict. Section 24(2)(a) and (b) recognise that competing rights must be balanced rather than one simply prevailing.

The standard in section 24(2) is “all reasonable and proportionate steps”. A provider cannot justify a blanket restriction merely by invoking risk; equally, the Statement does not require a provider to breach another law or to disregard the safety of workers or other residents.

What legal effect does the Statement have?

Not directly enforceable. Section 24(3) provides that nothing in that Division creates rights or duties that are enforceable by proceedings in a court or tribunal. So the Statement of Rights is not a private cause of action, and conduct said to be inconsistent with a right does not, of itself, give rise to a claim for compensation.

But it is a registration condition. Section 144(1) makes it a condition of registration that a registered provider of a kind prescribed by the rules must demonstrate that it understands the rights of individuals under the Statement of Rights, and must have in place practices to ensure that it acts compatibly with the Statement in accordance with section 24(2). Rule 144-1 of the Aged Care Rules 2025 currently prescribes every kind of registered provider for section 144. Section 142 provides that a provider’s registration is subject to the conditions in that Division, to conditions prescribed by the rules and to conditions imposed by the Commissioner, and makes breaching a condition of registration a contravention attracting a civil penalty. That is where the Statement acquires teeth: through the provider’s registration, not through a private claim.

And it is a ground of complaint. Section 358 sets out the complaints functions of the Complaints Commissioner, which include maintaining processes for making complaints about a registered provider acting in a way that is incompatible with the Statement of Rights, and expressly frames those functions as upholding the rights under the Statement. The note to section 24(3) points to both section 144(1) and section 358 for exactly this reason.

What it does not do. The Statement of Rights does not displace guardianship and administration law, enduring powers of attorney, medical treatment decision-making, privacy, anti-discrimination, work health and safety, contract or negligence law. Nor does an incompatibility with the Statement automatically breach the Aged Care Code of Conduct, the Aged Care Quality Standards or the statutory duties in sections 179 and 180 — those are separate regimes with their own tests, and each must be assessed on its own terms.

Rights, Principles, Code and Standards

Four instruments are easy to confuse. They do different work.

The same events can engage more than one of these — but they are not interchangeable, and a complaint is stronger when it identifies which one is actually in issue.

Putting the rights into practice

For the older person and their family, the Statement is most useful as a checklist for how to ask.

• Ask for information in an accessible form — in the preferred language or communication method, with an interpreter or communication aid if needed, and in writing where the subject is fees or services.
• Document preferences while capacity is clear — routines, cultural and spiritual needs, visitors, pets, risks the person accepts, and what matters most to them.
• Identify an advocate, a chosen support person or a registered supporter early — and tell the provider in writing who the person has chosen.
• Keep the paperwork — service and accommodation agreements, care plans, fee schedules, statements and correspondence.
• Record concerns factually — date, time, who was present, what was observed as distinct from what was inferred.
• Raise the concern with the provider where it is safe to do so — the right to open communication runs both ways, and many issues resolve at that level.
• Get urgent help where safety is at risk — call 000 for immediate danger or a medical emergency, and police where you suspect a criminal offence.

What if a right is not respected?

For an alleged incompatibility with the Statement itself, the statutory pathway is the aged-care complaints system rather than a court or tribunal claim founded on the Statement alone. The same conduct may nevertheless engage separate contractual, statutory, negligence, privacy, administrative-law or other remedies, depending on the facts. A person may complain to the Aged Care Complaints Commissioner about a registered provider acting in a way that is incompatible with the Statement of Rights (section 358), and the Commission can be contacted on 1800 951 822.

We deal with who may complain, how to prepare and lodge a complaint, what the Commission can and cannot do, review rights and the limits on outcomes in a separate guide: aged care complaints and the new Complaints Commissioner. If the concern relates to services delivered at home, Support at Home and legal capacity explains how agreements and decision-making authority interact.

When legal advice may be appropriate

Because the Statement of Rights is not itself enforceable in a court or tribunal, legal advice is usually about the rights that sit beside it. It is worth obtaining advice where:

• authority or capacity is in question — an enduring power of attorney that may not cover the decision, a medical treatment decision maker issue, or a possible VCAT guardianship or administration application;
• there is a dispute about a service or accommodation agreement, fees, refundable deposits, exit terms or a threatened transfer;
• there is suspected financial abuse, or money has been misapplied;
• there has been serious injury, neglect or a death, particularly where police or coronial processes may be involved; or
• the question is whether a separate legal claim exists at all — in contract, negligence, or under other provisions of the Act.

Where independent advocacy is the better fit than a lawyer, we will say so.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources and further reading

• Aged Care Act 2024 (Cth) — current compilation on the Federal Register of Legislation
• Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission — Statement of Rights
• Department of Health, Disability and Ageing — about the new rights-based Aged Care Act
• Older Persons Advocacy Network — free, independent aged care advocacy (1800 700 600)

This article is general legal information about Commonwealth aged care law as at 3 August 2026. It is not legal advice and does not take account of your circumstances. Legislation and official guidance change; check the current compilation of the Act before relying on any provision.