The Albanese government's spectacular aged care backdown will deliver much-needed support for tens of thousands of older Australians.

It also delivers a major win to ACT independent senator David Pocock, who until now has suffered a hit to his relevance in the 48 th Parliament .

Senator Pocock and his fellow independents no longer hold the balance of power in the Senate, with Labor's thumping May electoral victory leaving it needing only the Greens or the Coalition to pass laws.

But he managed to force a change on Wednesday - with some help from the opposition and the Greens - with an amendment (which Labor did not vote for) to release 20,000 extra home care packages by next month.

Moments after Senator Pocock's amendment passed the upper house, Health Minister Mark Butler called

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