An algorithm that determines people's level of aged care has come under fire, as government officials struggle to rectify the system after a damning investigation.
Older people have been left distressed by the government's compulsory Integrated Assessment Tool, which has operated since 2024 to decide what level of need and funding people require.
The system chronically underquoted, and its decisions were unable to be overwritten by humans, which contradicted what aged care assessors were told before the tool was rolled out.
The federal government then changed the rules to allow officials to reconsider the algorithm's decisions, but it does not let practitioners make changes directly.
"Functional assessment experts are saying … they should be at the front of the algorithm, so that the questions people are being asked are at the start," Greens Senator Penny Allman-Payne told a Senate estimates committee on Wednesday.
It comes after a Commonwealth Ombudsman report, released on Monday, recommended the government change its legislation so aged care workers can manually amend the outcome of the algorithm-driven assessment tool.
The ombudsman found the assessment tool led to unfair outcomes for vulnerable people and undermined public trust in the aged care system.
It recommended any changes to the aged care legislation should be preceded by open, public consultation.
Opposition aged care spokeswoman Anne Ruston questioned department officials in the estimate hearing about whether the government's addition of the review pathway had undergone public consultation.
She was told it had not, instead consultation was folded into a paid review of the tool.
A full review of the tool is expected in the coming months.
The Older Persons Advocacy Network has called for the review to be conducted efficiently, so seniors can have faith in the system that supports them.
"Assessments determine the supports an older person can access and, ultimately, their ability to remain safe and independent at home," the organisation's policy director Samantha Edmonds said.
"It is critical that there are appropriate safeguards when those decisions do not accurately reflect an older person's care needs."
Australia's automatic calculations have come under intense scrutiny for several years, following the Morrison-era robodebt scandal.
Separately, more than 50,000 welfare recipients have been invited to apply for compensation after the government unlawfully stopped payments, citing failed requirements spewed out by another automatic system.
The mutual obligations scheme last year found 964 payment cancellations were not made in accordance with the law. Even more have now been found.
The scheme was partially paused in 2024 when concerns were raised, but is now being reinstated.
Advocates have accused the government of cherry-picking who gets to apply for compensation, given that up to 310,000 people were potentially impacted.
