From 1 October, Stolen Generations redress payments are excluded from the residential aged care asset test, however much of the money remains

What changed on 1 October

The change sits in the Aged Care Amendment (September Indexation and Other Measures) Rules 2026, made by the Minister for Aged Care and Seniors on 17 September and registered on 18 September. Most of that instrument is routine indexation. Part 3 of its Schedule 3, which commenced on 1 October, adds a new paragraph to section 330-10 of the Aged Care Rules 2025, the list of amounts left out when the value of a person’s assets is worked out for residential aged care. The new paragraph covers any payment paid to the individual, or to a person acting on behalf of the individual, under six named schemes.

The six schemes named in the new section 330-10(2)(c)

1. TerritoriesTerritories Stolen Generations Redress Scheme
2. NSWNSW Stolen Generations Reparations Scheme
3. VictoriaStolen Generations Reparations Package of Victoria
4. WAWA Stolen Generations Redress Scheme
5. SAStolen Generations Reparations Scheme of South Australia
6. Tasmaniapayments under the Stolen Generations of Aboriginal Children Act 2006 (Tas.)

The department’s explanatory statement gives the reason in one line: These payments are intended to acknowledge the harm experienced by members of the Stolen Generations and support healing and reconciliation. It describes the change as one made for the purposes of residential aged care means testing. The instrument makes no matching change for Support at Home, and we have not checked how Support at Home contributions treat these payments.

However much of the payment is left

The detail that matters most for families is how the amount comes off. It is not only the money still in the bank.

The value of an individual’s assessable assets will be reduced by the amount of their redress payment, regardless of how much of the payment they retain at the time they enter residential care or at the time they have their assets assessed.

There is a floor: the statement says excluding a redress payment will not reduce the assets below zero. And the payment does not have to have gone to the person in care directly. Where a redress applicant nominated someone else to receive the payment, the statement says the payment can be excluded as an asset for the beneficiary if the beneficiary enters residential care.

Our reading: the reach matters for anyone who passed some of the money on to family. The Act also counts certain disposed-of assets, through social security disposal rules it borrows in section 330(4), and section 330-10 of the Rules says its excluded amounts come out of a determination under subsection 330(4) of the Act as well. The statement does not discuss gifts, and we have not asked the department.

Already in care, or paid years ago

The date of the payment does not matter. The transitional rule, new section 610-45, applies the change to asset determinations made on or after 1 October 2026, whether a payment mentioned in that Part was paid before, on or after that commencement.

1. 1. The paymentReceived under one of the six schemesBefore, on or after 1 October 2026
2. 2. The assessmentAn asset determination is made or variedOn or after 1 October 2026
3. 3. The resultThe payment’s amount comes off assessed assetsWhatever is left of the money, but not below zero

For someone who entered care before 1 October and had a redress payment counted, the statement describes the route: the change permits the exemption to be reflected in future means testing reassessments where an individual notifies the System Governor of a relevant change in circumstances following commencement of the amendment. The Act defines the System Governor as the Secretary of the Department.

In practice, the agency that calculates your cost of care from your income and asset information is Services Australia. Its aged care pages say We regularly use the information you give us to check you’re paying the right amount towards your aged care costs and If there are any changes to you or your partner’s details, you need to let us know within 28 days. It lists the Services Australia Aged Care Line, 1800 227 475, Monday to Friday, 8 am to 5 pm. Neither of the two pages we read on 7 October mentions Stolen Generations redress.

In the company of the National Redress Scheme

The new paragraph joins a short list. Before 1 October, section 330-10(2) excluded two kinds of payment for every person: certain compensation payments, and payments under the National Redress Scheme for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse. The statement says the change promotes consistency within the aged care means testing framework by aligning the treatment of Stolen Generation redress payments with the existing exemption for payments made under the National Redress Scheme for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse Act 2018.

What section 330-10(2) leaves out of a person’s assets

1. (a)Compensation payments under the Japanese internment compensation laws of 2001, Part 2 of the Veterans’ Entitlements (Clarke Review) Act 2004, and Schedule 5 to a 2007 one-off payments Act
2. (b)Redress payments under section 48 of the National Redress Scheme for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse Act 2018
3. (c)Payments under the six Stolen Generations redress and reparations schemes From 1 Oct 2026

Our view

This is the right rule, and the most important word in it is the one the statement chose: regardless. A payment made to acknowledge harm should not come back as a higher aged care bill, and measuring it by what was paid rather than what is left means survivors who used the money, or shared it, are not penalised for having done so.

The weak point is reach. For a new resident the exclusion simply applies. For someone already in care whose assessment counted a redress payment, nothing in the instrument finds them; on the statement’s own account, the change reaches them after they notify a change in circumstances. That puts the work on the survivor, or on the family member who handles the paperwork. If that is you, call the Aged Care Line, say which scheme the payment came from, and ask for the asset assessment to be redone. Keep the letter that shows the amount and the date it was paid.