Hume residents needing aged care support can call a national 1800 phone line for one-on-one advice.

Federal Member for Hume Angus Taylor said older Australians often preferred to make inquiries in person or over the phone, rather than online.

“We’ve announced a raft of improvements to My Aged Care - streamlining of registrations, simplified means testing - so I would encourage older Australians to ring and get the information they need to make informed decisions,” Mr Taylor said.

“While the My Aged Care website is pretty popular - receiving more than 3 million visits last year - you can also pick up the phone until 8pm weeknights or on Saturdays til 2pm.”

Addressing Camden senior citizens this week, Mr Taylor took questions on energy prices, the need for hospital upgrades and more local specialists, as well as services available through My Aged Care.

He said the public would welcome development of a new Federal web service, to allow comparison of aged care providers.

“Part of my message to Camden residents was that we are helping older Australians stay in their own homes for longer. This is very much our focus and towards this, we’ve funded more than 14,000 extra high level home care packages across Australia.”

400 Hume residents currently access Home Care packages.

For more information please call the My Aged Care hotline on 1800 200 422 or visit the website at www.myagedcare.gov.au

Caption: Member for Hume Angus Taylor updating Camden Senior Citizens Association on the Government helping older Australians stay in their homes for longer.