A Senate inquiry into Australia's aged care funding has highlighted significant issues with the Integrated Assessment Tool (IAT), which determines financial support for elderly Australians. Despite the lack of a legal barrier for human overrides, government assessors are currently prohibited from overriding the algorithm's decisions. This has raised concerns, as the IAT has been criticized for frequently under-assessing the care needs of older individuals. During a recent hearing, Department of Health officials confirmed they are exploring ways to reinstate the human override function, which was removed after the tool's introduction in November as part of the Support at Home reforms. Greens senator Penny Allman-Payne and Liberal senator Paul Scarr expressed their concerns about the legality and appropriateness of the current system, emphasizing that automated decision-making should not come at the expense of adequate care for vulnerable populations. The inquiry revealed that since the IAT's implementation, there have been 834 requests for internal reviews of its outcomes, indicating a significant number of errors in assessments. Allman-Payne noted that the removal of human oversight has detrimental effects on older Australians, particularly those with degenerative conditions.