Funds boost for elderly

EVERY Australian living in residential aged care will have an extra $1800 spent on services for them by the middle of this year, as part of a $662 million funding windfall.

The money will also allow an extra 10,000 older people to receive subsidised care in their homes.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison unveiled the funding boost yesterday, ahead of the first hearings of a royal commission into aged care.

The extra home-care packages – which account for $282.4 million of the new money – will give Australians more choice about how and where they live, he said.