Aged care analyst warns of ‘alarming lack of transparency’ in how churches spend government grants

There is an urgent need to improve transparency so governments know what aged care funding is being used for, industry analyst Jason Ward argues. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Religious institutions that run aged care homes do not have to show they are spending millions of dollars in government grants on resident care thanks to an “alarming lack of transparency” in the system, an industry analyst has claimed.

Jason Ward of the Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research pointed to the example of Blue Care, which has about 47 residential aged care facilities with 5,173 residents. Blue Care is run by UnitingCare Queensland, which sent $25.7m to the Queensland synod of the Uniting church last financial year.