Council on the Ageing (COTA) Australia hopes that throughout the election campaign the voices of Australia’s older people will be heard – both through political action and through media coverage.
Aged Care Reform was the centrepiece of this year’s Federal Budget, both in policy and financial terms. Apart from aged care there are not huge gains in this Budget.
Older Australians will benefit from measures aimed at increasing workforce participation and fixing retirement incomes, COTA Australia says, but support for vulnerable groups like renters is still missing and long-term solutions are needed to ensure vulnerable Australians are adequately supported.
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese’s commitment to delivering a national strategy to support older Australians has been welcomed by COTA Australia, as a crucial bipartisan step towards building a better, fairer nation putting the needs of older people above politics
The 2019 Rental Affordability Index (RAI) reveals an untenable situation for older Australian renters, prompting COTA Australia to call for an increase in Rent Assistance and an end to political stalling on greater investment in social housing.