UPA Riverina Murray regional manager Tony Dunn said he was “cautiously optimistic” about Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s announcement of the commission on Sunday.

“As an industry it needs review, there’s a lot of pressure on the industry at the moment in my view,” Mr Dunn said.

“Care needs are increasing, expectations of families are increasing, numbers, with the baby boomers, are starting to increase, there’s definite funding pressure.

“At the moment it’s probably heading towards not being sustainable, certainly from a funding perspective, so (a commission) will highlight all the imbalances, even something like costs not keeping up with inflation … so there’s automatic pressure that’s coming every year.”

Mr Morrision said the royal commission would examine the quality of care provided in residential and home aged care to seniors but also younger people with disabilities living in such settings.

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Lutheran Aged Care Albury managing director Wendy Rocks supported the decision but said it could be a turbulent time for the industry.

“But I think there’s been so much conjecture, so many horror stories and I think that a royal commission will serve the purpose of increasing the transparency and raising the profile of the real work of the industry,” she said.

“I believe that looking after complex clinical issues, that’s the way of the work in aged care, there needs to be a focus on how that is appropriately funded and staffed.

“I’ve long said aged care is a speciality, but it’s not funded that way.

“The care workers … they need support, they need valuing, they need training, they need a career pathway.”