Looking after residents with dementia will be made a key focus for aged care providers as part of new quality standards to improve the sector.
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Aged Care Minister Anika Wells said recent events had reinforced the need for a greater understanding of and support for people living with dementia.
Last month 95-year-old grandmother Clare Nowland was tasered during a confrontation with police while walking with a frame and holding a steak knife at the Yallambee Lodge in Cooma.
She fell and struck her head, later dying in Cooma Hospital.
NSW Police Senior Constable Kristian White, 33, is facing criminal charges.
More than half of aged care residents have dementia and more than two thirds of residents have some form of cognitive impairment.
Ms Wells described the Cooma incident as a tragedy and said providers needed to be more proactive in their training processes.
"I consider working with people with dementia a core business of aged care," she told the National Press Club on Wednesday.
New aged care quality standards will be introduced to require a provider to ensure all workers are regularly trained on core matters such as caring for people living with dementia.
A 10-year national action plan will also be drafted to provide a coordinated approach and improve outcomes for people living with dementia, their families and carers.
"I'm looking at everything that I can control," Ms Wells said.
"We've got the opportunity for the national dementia action plan that we are developing this year to fold in whatever learnings ... out of an awful, awful thing that happened."
The minister also flagged collaboration with Health Minister Mark Butler and his state and territory counterparts to improve dementia care responses in the sector.
Australian Associated Press
