Under pressure from an unusual alliance of the Coalition, the Greens, and the crossbench, the federal government has vowed to immediately release 20,000 new home care packages to support older Australians at home.

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Another 20,000 will be released by the end of the year.

This is welcome news, though it won't clear the backlog. The wait list ballooned by more than 20,000 between March and July this year. There are currently 108,000 people on the waitlist, plus another 120,000 people waiting to be assessed.

A large and growing wait list is not just about the slow release of care packages.

It also reflects the ageing of the Australian population. The share of Australians 85 and older is projected to more than double by 2070, while the number of centenarians is projected to be six times higher than today.

As a result, our demand for care services will keep rising.

To meet this growing demand, we will certainly need more home care packages, but we also need workers.

Jobs in care need to be attractive enough to draw people in, and to keep them in the industry. Yet care work has historically been underpaid and undervalued.

Care workers have typically earned below-average wages, and less than other similarly skilled occupations. In part, this reflects the highly feminised nature of the work, and the

persistent gender biases that have undervalued traditionally "feminine" skills.

Care work is also characterised by insecurity and poor workplace conditions. Casual........

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