ACILA was a good idea. Three years on, is it working?
The introduction of the Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement (ACILA) in 2023 was widely welcomed. It marked a long‑overdue acknowledgement that migration must play a role alongside domestic workforce strategies.
For the first time, the Commonwealth formally recognised that direct care roles, including Personal Care Assistants, Nursing Support Workers and Aged or Disabled Carers, are essential to the sustainability of the aged care system.
Three years on, however, ACILA has fallen well short of what the sector requires.
While participation has increased and visa grants have risen since the scheme’s early rollout, the programme remains limited in its ability to address the size of the workforce gap. The shortfall is measured in tens of thousands. The 2025 Skills in Demand (SID) Report confirms that despite sustained visa usage, workforce shortages persist in ageing‑driven sectors such as aged care, highlighting the limits of current migration settings in addressing long‑term demand.
Parliamentary hearings and industry submissions have consistently highlighted the same issues. ACILA is often described as complex, administratively intensive and difficult for many providers to navigate, particularly smaller and regional operators.
Providers have raised concerns about lengthy approval processes, mandatory union consultation requirements, inconsistent implementation, visa delays, compliance obligations and extended lead times between recruitment and worker arrival.
For many providers, ACILA has therefore not operated as a practical workforce solution. Instead, it has added further complexity.
In practice, a narrow occupation list and restrictive age thresholds are further limiting access to suitable candidates, tightening an already tight labour pool. Providers are also left navigating multiple visa pathways for different skill levels, an added layer of complexity in a sector already operating within a highly regulated environment.
Peak bodies such as Ageing Australia, alongside organisations like CEDA and migration professionals, have continued to advocate for a more streamlined, fast‑tracked care worker visa pathway, reflecting models already in use internationally.
At the same time, broader migration policy settings continue to evolve, including the use of caps and other controls. While these mechanisms serve a range of policy objectives, they do not, in isolation, resolve structural workforce shortages in sectors such as aged care.
Restricting access to care workers without a viable alternative does not resolve the shortage — it simply shifts the pressure onto providers, hospitals and families, with older Australians absorbing the consequences.
Where access to care workers remains constrained, the impact is felt across the system — placing pressure on providers, hospitals and families, and ultimately affecting service delivery.
Without further refinement, workforce shortages are likely to continue to impact care provision, provider stability and the long term sustainability of the aged care system.
Evidence based reform needed
A related structural issue sits beyond ACILA itself. Continued reliance on ANZSCO classifications has not kept pace with how aged care work is performed in practice. The development of OSCA provides a more contemporary framework better defining modern care roles, and it is encouraging to see more accurate representation emerging.
Looking ahead, the 2025 Skills in Demand report indicates that migration settings will continue to be reviewed and refined as labour market evidence evolves, including consideration of how updated occupation classifications might be reflected in future frameworks. The report also flags further analysis of the aged care sector’s use of permanent and temporary visa programs — including ACILA, DAMAs and the PALM Scheme — alongside pathways between visas, retention of migrant workers and wage outcomes at a granular occupation level. Aligning migration policy with this evidence base would support more coherent and sustainable workforce planning over time.
While ACILA could be improved, our immigration experts have also seen it operate effectively for some providers and are working with organisations to support workforce strategies within the current framework.
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If you have further questions or for more insights into workforce planning and migration pathways, please connect with our expert immigration team below.