Australia's aged care sector will receive an injection of more than $2.5 billion if Labor is elected in May.
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Labor leader Anthony Albanese made the pledge in his budget reply speech as part of his case to become the nation's next prime minister.
Mr Albanese laid out a five-point plan on Thursday night to overhaul aged care, including requirements for every aged care facility to have a registered nurse on site 24 hours a day, and new minimum care mandates.
He said the plan will be paid for by taxing multi-national corporations currently evading their fair share, with further details to be revealed during the election campaign.
"This is a government that's riddled with waste and rorts ... (Labor will) have none of that," he told the Nine Network on Friday.
But Government Services Minister Linda Reynolds told a Senate estimates committee she was "aghast" Labor did not include a plan for home care in the pledge.
"I was completely aghast at (Mr Albanese's) approach for the centrepiece of Labor's policy," she said on Friday.
"Everything he announced, I think that (the government) is already doing and I don't think he mentioned home care, which was incredibly disappointing, I'm sure, for the hundreds of thousands of Australians who are in home care."
While Mr Albanese said the measures were fully costed, Finance Minister Simon Birmingham said the proposal was a sweeping promise with no mention of how it would be funded.
Mr Albanese said he was prepared to be judged as prime minister on whether aged care and other vulnerable workers receive a new pay rise.
As part of the aged care announcement, Labor would also support a wage rise for aged care workers, and work with the sector to institute new mandatory food standards in residential facilities.
But Mr Albanese said the details of the pay rise will be decided by the independent Fair Work Commission.
"(Labor will) put in a submission saying that (aged care workers) deserve a pay increase in accordance with what the royal commission recommended," he said on Friday.
Mr Albanese pledged to work with multicultural communities to support culturally appropriate care, and give the aged care safety commissioner new powers.
"We will make residential care providers report, in public and in detail, what they are spending money on," he said.
"The days of residents going without decent food and clean clothes will come to an end."
The rising cost of living is set to be a cental issue in the upcoming election, with the government outlining a temporary cut to the fuel excise, as well as one-off tax cuts and payments in its budget on Tuesday night.
Senator Birmingham said there was little outline in the budget reply of other issues facing the country.
"There will be many millions of Australians who are worried about the fact that Labor's promises, with no costings attached to them ... would eventually result in them paying higher taxes," he said.
Aged care workers welcomed the announcement from the Labor leader, with national president of the Health Services Union, Gerard Hayes, saying the wage increase pledge was a commitment breakthrough.
He said the budget reply provided hope for aged care workers.
Australian Associated Press
