Skip to content Skip to navigation
MENU
COTA Victoria Logo
Login
Get Involved
Home CLOSE
MENU
  • About
    About
    CLOSE MENU
    • Annual reports and financial statements
    • Management Team
    • Board of Governance
    • Contact Us
    • Work with us
      • Current Job Opportunities
    • Our supporters
    • COTA Victoria Privacy Statement
  • News
    News
    CLOSE MENU
    • Latest News
    • Media
      • Media Releases
    • COTA Connects
      • COTA Connects Archive
      • Sign-up for e-Newsletter
    • COTA Conversations podcast
    • ONE COTA magazine
  • Events
  • Policy
    Policy
    CLOSE MENU
    • Our policy priorities
    • Policy positions
    • Stories of Change
    • Policy Development Committee (PDC)
    • Aged Care
      • Telling your story
    • Assistive Technology for All
    • Ageism in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic
    • Elder Abuse | Seniors Rights Victoria
    • Social Isolation
    • Submissions
    • Publications
    • End of life
    • COTA Green Sages
  • Programs
    Programs
    CLOSE MENU
    • Seniors Rights Victoria
    • Older Men: New Ideas (OM:NI) men’s discussion groups
    • Care Finders
    • Carer Employment Support
      • Women Working Together
    • Living Longer Living Stronger
    • Victorian Seniors Festival 2023
    • COTA Cycling
    • Past Programs
  • Information
    Information
    CLOSE MENU
    • Looking for information?
    • COTA WISE services
    • How-to guides
    • Resources
    • COVID-19 resources for older Victorians
    • It’s Your Energy - New Energy Rights for Victorians
  • Support us
    Support us
    CLOSE MENU
    • Become a member
    • Sign up for COTA Connects newsletter
    • Volunteer with us
    • Donations and Bequests
  • About
  • News
  • Events
  • Policy
  • Programs
  • Information
  • Support us
  • Login
About
  • Annual reports and financial statements
  • Management Team
  • Board of Governance
  • Contact Us
  • Work with us
  • Our supporters
  • COTA Victoria Privacy Statement
Work with us
  • Current Job Opportunities
News
  • Latest News
  • Media
  • COTA Connects
  • COTA Conversations podcast
  • ONE COTA magazine
Media
  • Media Releases
COTA Connects
  • COTA Connects Archive
  • Sign-up for e-Newsletter
Policy
  • Our policy priorities
  • Policy positions
  • Stories of Change
  • Policy Development Committee (PDC)
  • Aged Care
  • Assistive Technology for All
  • Ageism in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Elder Abuse | Seniors Rights Victoria
  • Social Isolation
  • Submissions
  • Publications
  • End of life
  • COTA Green Sages
Aged Care
  • Telling your story
Programs
  • Seniors Rights Victoria
  • Older Men: New Ideas (OM:NI) men’s discussion groups
  • Care Finders
  • Carer Employment Support
  • Living Longer Living Stronger
  • Victorian Seniors Festival 2023
  • COTA Cycling
  • Past Programs
Carer Employment Support
  • Women Working Together
Information
  • Looking for information?
  • COTA WISE services
  • How-to guides
  • Resources
  • COVID-19 resources for older Victorians
  • It’s Your Energy - New Energy Rights for Victorians
Support us
  • Become a member
  • Sign up for COTA Connects newsletter
  • Volunteer with us
  • Donations and Bequests

Older Australians in desperate need of care don’t count in either Leader’s vision for Australia’s future, or even the present, while they die waiting

9 May 201903/05/2021
Aged Care, Consumer Rights, Rights

The absence of any mention of aged care in last night’s Leader’s Debate is profoundly offensive to the more than 125,000 older Australians, and the more than 1,000,000 members of their families, waiting for a home care package, many of whom die while waiting.

The leaders ignored the biggest single issue facing older Australians and their families today and over the next three years, leading ageing consumer advocate COTA Australia says.

COTA Australia’s CEO, Ian Yates, said 10 days out from the election, and 36 hours before the ALP  releases its election policy costings, both parties are running out of time to release a plan to cut the time older Australians approved for high level care wait to get it – currently up to two years!!

COTA Australia has called on all parties to ensure no-one has to wait more than three months for a home care package that meets the needs government has already approved them as requiring.

Mr Yates asked: “How can both leaders ignore the fact that over a hundred thousand of our most frail older people are not getting the care the government has assessed they need? If this is not a priority for the next government where are our values as a nation – are older people’s lives discounted?”

“Last night’s failure to announce a commitment to a humane aged care packages policy is an appalling failure by both parties,” Mr Yates said.

“The Aged Care Royal Commission has already acknowledged, early in its work, the scale of the waiting lists, the strain on families and the devastating impact on people waiting – whether being forced into inappropriate residential aged care or dying before they receive the aged care they need – and has said it must be fixed now.

Over a hundred thousand families are suffering from the stress and frustration of a system that is badly letting down their loved ones and nearly a million family members.

“This is not something that can be deferred for the next term of government”, Mr Yates said – “all those in need will be dead, and hundreds of thousands more will have replaced them on the queue!”.

Last night Mr Shorten pledged to release Labor’s election costings this Friday and the ALP recently told the Adelaide Advertiser that it will have more to say “before the election” on tackling the aged care waiting lists. The Coalition last announced new home care packages in February 2019 but has not announced any plan to reduce the waitlist to an acceptable level.

“The single most important immediate action we need to deliver humane aged care in Australia is a commitment that no Australian waits more than three months for the right level of home care.” Mr Yates said.

“The Health Department told the Royal Commission it would only cost between $2 billion and $2.5 billion to solve this. Older Australians cannot wait another three years to learn each party’s plans to address this crisis. It doesn’t need to wait for the completion of the Royal Commission, it can be done straight away, as a matter of urgency and humanity.”

Media contact: Ian Yates 0418 835 439; Jenny Stokes 0478 504 280

COTA Australia is the peak policy development, advocacy and representation organisation for older Australians, representing COTAs in every State and Territory and through them over 500,000 older Australians.

Aged Care Royal Commission, Federal Election 2019, Federal Elections, Home Care, Home Care Packages

RELATED NEWS

Recognising and Responding to Elder Abuse: Seniors Rights Victoria launches new professional education program preview image

Recognising and Responding to Elder Abuse: Seniors Rights Victoria launches new professional education program

28 September 2023
Read more
Read more
Involvement of older Victorians key to our state’s new housing statement preview image

Involvement of older Victorians key to our state’s new housing statement

20 September 2023
Read more
Read more
COTA Victoria & Seniors Rights Victoria CEO’s message, September 2023 preview image

COTA Victoria & Seniors Rights Victoria CEO’s message, September 2023

31 August 2023
Read more
Read more
SHARE THIS CONTENT:
COTA Victoria Logo
  • About
  • News
  • Events
  • Policy
  • Programs
  • Information
  • Support us
Seniors Rights Victoria Registered Charity
Follow on
Facebook
COTA FEDERATION
  • ACT
  • New South Wales
  • Northern Territory
  • Queensland
  • South Australia
  • Tasmania
  • Victoria
  • Western Australia
COTA Western Australia COTA Northern Territory COTA Queensland COTA New South Wales COTA ACT COTA Victoria COTA South Australia COTA Tasmania
Follow on
Twitter
GET INVOLVED
  • Seniors Rights Victoria
  • COTA Connects newsletter
  • Get Involved
  • COTA Insurance
  • Follow on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Follow on LinkedIn
  • Follow on Instagram
  • Follow on Threads
  • Contact Us
Seniors Rights Victoria
TERMS PRIVACY CONTACT SITEMAP
© 2023 COTA Victoria ABN 81 960 500 420 WEB DESIGN CODE AND VISUAL
Back to top
All correspondence may also be collected and stored, particularly in regard to registrations, including Email. Any information collected by COTA Victoria is collected via correspondence from you or your organisation. This may be via the telephone, Email, mail, fax or directly through our website.AcceptReject Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT