Charter of Aged Care Rights: what replaced it

Is the Charter of Aged Care Rights still current?

No. On 1 November 2025 the Charter of Aged Care Rights was replaced by the Statement of Rights in section 23 of the Aged Care Act 2024. It applies to everyone using or seeking government-funded aged care, at home or in an aged care home, and registered providers must take all reasonable and proportionate steps to act in line with it. If a provider does not, you can raise it with the provider, get help from an advocate on 1800 700 600, or complain to the Complaints Commissioner at the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission on 1800 951 822.

The short version

The Charter of Aged Care Rights ended on 1 November 2025. The Statement of Rights in the Aged Care Act 2024 replaced it.
It covers everyone using or seeking government-funded aged care, whether at home or in an aged care home.
Providers must give the older person (and any registered supporter) a copy, explain it, and build it into how they deliver care. Your rights should also appear in the service agreement or resident agreement.
Every older person is presumed able to make their own decisions. Family members can become registered supporters, but a supporter helps the person decide; they do not decide for them.
The rights cannot be enforced in a court on their own. The practical route is a complaint to the Complaints Commissioner (1800 951 822), with an OPAN advocate (1800 700 600) beside you at no cost.

What has changed recently

On 1 November 2025 the Aged Care Act 2024 started. Its Statement of Rights replaced the Charter of Aged Care Rights.
Registered supporters replaced the old representative arrangements in My Aged Care (the Australian Government's aged care service, 1800 200 422). Since 1 November 2025, My Aged Care no longer accepts statutory declarations from someone asking to act for an older person without their consent.
Complaints about providers now go to the Complaints Commissioner, a new role inside the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission. See how to make an aged care complaint.

What changed on 1 November 2025

The Charter of Aged Care Rights is the document many families remember from older brochures and residential agreements. It no longer applies. When the Aged Care Act 2024 started on 1 November 2025, the Statement of Rights replaced it.

The Statement of Rights sits in section 23 of the Act itself, so it is part of the law that governs government-funded aged care. My Aged Care (the Australian Government's aged care service, 1800 200 422) describes the new Act as a "rights-based framework" that keeps older people and their needs and preferences at the centre of the system.

Two things matter most for families:

Who it covers. Everyone accessing, or seeking to access, government-funded aged care services. That includes people at home on Support at Home or the Commonwealth Home Support Programme, as well as people living in an aged care home.
What providers must do. Registered providers must take all reasonable and proportionate steps to act in line with the rights, show that they understand them, and have practices in place to make sure they follow them. This is a condition of their registration.

The new Act also brought a Statement of Principles, strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards, an Aged Care Code of Conduct, registered supporters, and whistleblower protections for people who speak up.

Source: My Aged Care: know your rights

The rights, in plain English

The Statement of Rights has six groups of rights. The table puts each one in plain English, with an example of what it can look like in daily life. The examples are ours, to make the rights concrete; the wording of the law is in the source below.

The Statement of Rights (section 23, Aged Care Act 2024)
Group of rights	What it gives the older person	What it can look like day to day
Independence, choice and control	To make decisions about their own life: which approved services they use, how, when and by whom they are delivered, and their own money and belongings. To be supported to decide if needed, and to have decisions respected. To take personal risks, including for quality of life, social life and intimate and sexual relationships.	Dad wants to keep walking to the local shops even though he is unsteady. Staff can talk through the risks with him, but the choice is his.
Equitable access	An assessment that is culturally safe, trauma-aware and suitable for people living with dementia or other cognitive impairment. Palliative care and end-of-life care when needed.	An assessor allows extra time and speaks with Mum in a way that suits her dementia, with a family member present if she wants one.
Quality and safe care	To be treated with dignity and respect, fairly and without discrimination. To have their identity, culture, spirituality and diversity valued. Care from workers with the right qualifications and skills. To be free from violence, degrading or inhumane treatment, exploitation, neglect, coercion, abuse and sexual misconduct.	Care is given in a way that respects a resident's faith and culture, and staff never rush, shame or handle a resident roughly.
Privacy and information	Personal privacy respected and personal information protected. To ask for, and be given, records and information about their rights and the services they use, including what those services cost.	Mum can ask to see her care records and an itemised account of what she is paying for.
Communication, and raising issues without reprisal	To be told about their services in a way they understand, to give opinions and be heard, and to use their preferred language, with interpreters and communication aids if needed. Open communication from the provider when something goes wrong. To complain without fear of reprisal and have complaints dealt with fairly and promptly.	The home books an interpreter for a care plan meeting, and a complaint about cold meals gets a real answer, not a cooler attitude from staff.
Advocates, significant people and connection	To be supported by an advocate or another person of their choice. To have the role of carers, visitors and volunteers respected. To stay connected with family, friends, pets and community (and, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, with community, Country and Island Home). To have access at any time to a person they have chosen, or one chosen by an appropriate authority.	Family visits are welcomed, the person can bring an advocate to a meeting, and a resident can keep in touch with a beloved dog.

Summarised from section 23 of the Aged Care Act 2024, reproduced in full in the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing fact sheet below.

Rights sit alongside each other. The Act expects providers to balance them where they conflict, for example one resident's choice against another resident's safety, or against workplace health and safety laws. A provider who limits a right still has to show the limit was reasonable and proportionate.

These rights are in addition to the legal rights everyone in Australia has, such as privacy, consumer rights and freedom from discrimination.

Source: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing: a new Aged Care Act for the rights of older people (fact sheet, with section 23 in full)

What providers must do

Under the new Act, registered providers must:

provide and explain information about the Statement of Rights to the older person and, where relevant, their registered supporters
give them a copy of the Statement of Rights and help them understand it
keep records of that shared understanding
take all reasonable and proportionate steps to act in line with the rights when they deliver care, and have systems to make sure they do.

My Aged Care says your rights, and how the provider will support them, should be included in the service agreement (for Support at Home) or the resident agreement (for an aged care home). Read that part of the agreement before signing, and ask about anything that seems to cut across a right, such as rules about visitors or outings.

The Code of Conduct backs the rights up

Providers, their responsible people and their workers (including volunteers) must also follow the Aged Care Code of Conduct. It has eight elements, including acting with respect for people's rights to freedom of expression, self-determination and decision-making, treating people with dignity, respecting privacy, providing care safely and competently, and providing care free from violence, discrimination, exploitation, neglect, abuse and sexual misconduct.

The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner can act when someone breaches the Code, including through banning orders that stop or restrict people who are not fit to work in aged care.

Source: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing: Guide to Aged Care Law, Statement of Rights

Can you take the Statement of Rights to court?

Not on its own. Section 24 of the Act says nothing in the Statement of Rights creates rights or duties that can be enforced by proceedings in a court or tribunal.

That does not make it toothless. The Act makes it a condition of registration that certain providers demonstrate an understanding of the Statement of Rights and have practices in place to act in line with it. And anyone can complain to the Complaints Commissioner about a provider acting in a way that does not fit with the rights. Regulators can act on what those complaints reveal.

Other laws still apply as usual. If something may be a crime, such as an assault or theft, call the police (000 in an emergency). For a legal claim, talk to a lawyer.

In practice: write down what happened, raise it with the provider, and if that does not fix it, go to the Complaints Commissioner. An OPAN advocate can help at every step, at no cost.

Source: Federal Register of Legislation: Aged Care Act 2024, sections 23 and 24

The Statement of Principles

Beside the Statement of Rights, the Act has a Statement of Principles (section 25). The rights speak to the older person. The principles speak to the people who run and regulate the system: the Minister, the Department, the Commissioner and the Complaints Commissioner must have regard to them in their decisions.

The principles say the safety, health, wellbeing and quality of life of older people is the primary consideration. The system should support people to live at home if they choose (or, if that is not possible, somewhere that suits their needs and preferences), to take part in decisions about their care with support if they need it, to keep their abilities as far as possible, to know and use their rights, and to have access to independent aged care advocates.

The principles also name groups whose care needs to be culturally safe and trauma-aware, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, veterans and war widows, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, LGBTI people, care leavers and Forgotten Australians, people with disability, and people in rural and remote areas.

Like the rights, the principles cannot be enforced in court, but they shape how assessments, funding and regulation are meant to work.

Source: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing: Guide to Aged Care Law, Statement of Principles

Supported decision-making and registered supporters

A key change under the new Act is that every older person is presumed to be able to make their own decisions. Supported decision-making means helping a person make and communicate their own decisions, rather than deciding for them.

What a registered supporter can do

An older person can choose one or more people they trust, such as a son, daughter, friend or carer, to be their registered supporter. A registered supporter can:

communicate the person's wishes to My Aged Care, assessors, aged care providers and the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission
help the person make decisions about assessments, referrals, services and everyday care
ask for, access and receive information about the person, including updating details My Aged Care holds.

What a registered supporter cannot do

Being a registered supporter does not give anyone power to make decisions for the older person. Supporters must not pressure or force the person, and the person can still receive information and make decisions directly. Supporters have duties: to act on the person's will and preferences, to support only as much as needed, to act honestly and in good faith, and to declare and manage any conflict of interest.

Someone who already holds legal decision-making power, such as an enduring power of attorney or a tribunal-appointed guardian, can register as a supporter by proving that authority. They can then make decisions only within that legal authority. My Aged Care cannot give anyone the power to decide for an older person: that comes from state and territory law. See power of attorney and guardianship.

How to register a supporter

The simplest way is for the older person and the supporter to call My Aged Care together on 1800 200 422, each with their Medicare card. Other options are the online form (signed electronically and uploaded to the My Aged Care online account), a printed form, the assessor at an aged care needs assessment, or an Aged Care Specialist Officer at Services Australia (book on 1800 227 475). You can also request it while applying for an assessment online.

If you were an active representative in My Aged Care before 1 November 2025, check the "Support networks" section of the online account: active representatives were moved across to the new registered supporter arrangements when the Act started.

A person or business paid to help an older person navigate aged care is one of the examples My Aged Care gives of a conflict of interest for a registered supporter. That includes placement services like ours, so we never become a registered supporter for a family we work with. That role belongs to someone the older person trusts.

Source: My Aged Care: registering a supporter

If rights are not being respected

You do not need a legal argument to raise a concern. "Mum was left in a wet bed for hours" or "Dad was told he cannot have visitors after 4pm" is enough. In order:

Write it down. Dates, times, names, what happened and what you want to happen. Facts, not feelings, make a concern easier to act on.
Raise it with the provider. Talking to the provider is often the simplest way to fix things. A provider, worker or responsible person cannot punish the older person or treat them differently for raising a concern.
Bring in an advocate if it helps. OPAN's free, independent and confidential advocates are on 1800 700 600 (Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm, Saturday 10am to 4pm). The older person has a right to an advocate of their choice.
Go to the Complaints Commissioner. If the provider has not fixed it, or you do not feel safe raising it with them, contact the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission online, in writing, or on 1800 951 822 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm). You can complain openly, confidentially or anonymously.

If someone is in immediate danger, call 000. If you suspect abuse or neglect, the Elder Abuse Phone Line (1800 353 374) connects you to the service in your state or territory; it is not a crisis line.

For the full process, including what to put in writing, timeframes and what the Commission can do, read how to make an aged care complaint. For advocacy, see aged care advocacy and OPAN.

Source: Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission: how to raise a concern

Questions families ask

Is the Charter of Aged Care Rights still in use?

No. The Statement of Rights in section 23 of the Aged Care Act 2024 replaced the Charter of Aged Care Rights on 1 November 2025. Any brochure or agreement that still quotes the Charter is out of date, and providers are now bound by the Statement of Rights.

Do the rights apply to care at home, or only in aged care homes?

Both. The Statement of Rights applies to everyone accessing or seeking government-funded aged care, including Support at Home, the Commonwealth Home Support Programme and residential aged care. The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission takes complaints about all of these.

Can my mother be punished for making a complaint?

No. The right to complain without fear of reprisal is part of the Statement of Rights, and it is a condition of registration that providers do not victimise or discriminate against anyone for making a complaint. If you see any change in how she is treated after a complaint, tell the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission on 1800 951 822.

Can we sue a provider for breaching the Statement of Rights?

Not on the Statement of Rights alone: section 24 of the Act says it does not create rights that can be enforced in a court or tribunal. The route is a complaint to the Complaints Commissioner, who can act against providers. Other laws, such as consumer, privacy and criminal law, still apply, so talk to a lawyer about any legal claim.

What is the difference between a registered supporter and a power of attorney?

A registered supporter helps the older person make and communicate their own decisions with My Aged Care, assessors and providers, but has no power to decide for them. An enduring power of attorney or a guardian has legal authority under state or territory law to make some decisions when the person cannot. Someone can be both, by registering as a supporter and showing proof of their legal authority.

Can an aged care home stop Dad doing something risky?

The Statement of Rights includes the right to take personal risks, including for quality of life and social connection. The home can talk through the risks and plan to reduce them, and it has to balance one person's choices with other residents' safety. Blanket bans that ignore a person's wishes are worth questioning with the home, and then with an OPAN advocate (1800 700 600) if needed.

Sources

Last reviewed October 2026. We checked this guide against the official pages below. Rules and figures change, so check the source before you rely on a detail.

This is general information, not legal, financial or medical advice. Best Aged Care is a private placement service run by Boring Ventures Pty Ltd, not part of or acting for the Australian Government or My Aged Care. How we check our facts.