Editorial guides
Practical articles, checklists and explanations built around Italian aged care homes, urgent placement, waiting lists and home-care decisions.
Featured guide
The real gate is not a queue — it is the assessment and the paperwork behind it. How ACAT approval, means testing and hospital discharge decide who gets a room, and what actually moves things faster.
The fear is always the same: if he goes in, there will be nothing left for me. Two Australian rules answer it directly and almost nobody knows them — the former home is generally exempt from the assets test while a partner still lives there, and a couple separated by care may each be paid at the single pension rate. Here is what to check, and in what order.
The fee rules changed on 1 November 2025, and most advice online still describes the old system. Anyone entering residential aged care now faces a different contribution model — and a refundable accommodation deposit that is no longer fully refundable, with providers able to retain up to 2% a year. This guide sets out what a Dubbo family should budget in 2026, how the accommodation payment actually works, and what is different about arranging regional aged care.
How the former home is treated in the aged care means assessment and the pension, when to sell versus rent versus keep, and how the RAD decision interacts with the house.
Basic daily fee, means-tested contributions, accommodation and the family home: how the aged care means assessment works under the new Act, and what it means for what you will actually pay.
Refundable deposit, daily payment or a mix — how aged care accommodation is actually paid for, what happens to the money, and how to decide which structure suits your family.
If aged care fees would cause genuine hardship, the government can reduce or cover them. This guide explains hardship assistance, the RAD guarantee, the fee caps, and the other protections that mean no one is denied care they cannot afford.
What residential aged care and retirement villages typically cost in Sydney, New South Wales, and how the means assessment fits in.
What residential aged care and retirement villages typically cost in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, and how the means assessment fits in.
What residential aged care and retirement villages typically cost in Newcastle, New South Wales, and how the means assessment fits in.
Most read
The real gate is not a queue — it is the assessment and the paperwork behind it. How ACAT approval, means testing and hospital discharge decide who gets a room, and what actually moves things faster.
How the new Support at Home program works, what it funds, when home care stops being enough, and how families decide between staying home and moving into residential care.
Funded residential respite days, what it costs, booking in practice, emergency respite when a carer collapses, and using respite as a trial run for permanent care.
Secure dementia units versus mainstream wings, the questions that reveal real dementia capability, restraint rules, and how to judge a memory support unit in one visit.
