CEO Update May 2026

11 May 2026

KATHERINE SENIORS EXPO It was terrific to finally get to Katherine and meet with local seniors and stakeholders after the floods that have caused so much upheaval. Thank you to all who came along on the day including more than 35 exhibitors and hundreds of local seniors. We will be publishing photos from the day in our next Seniors Voice and social media pages, but they are also available on our website here.

WORLD ELDER ABUSE AWARENESS DAY To raise awareness of and tackle elder abuse, COTA NT is partnering with Darwin Community Legal Services to host events in Darwin, Alice Springs and Tennant Creek. More details will be available but the dates to save are:

• Darwin – 15 June (keynote: Anne Burgess AM)
• Alice Springs – 17 June (keynote: Dr Kay Patterson AO)
• Tennant Creek – 18 June (keynote: Dr Kay Patterson AO) Read more here.

DARWIN SENIORS EXPO We are currently promoting our largest community event of the year, the Expo in Darwin 27 June. We would love to see as many of our Members there as possible. If you come up and say hello to us on the day, we’ll even stand you a free coffee from the barista trailer (if we haven’t already drunk our way through supplies). Leave us a great event review at the stall and who knows what will happen next. Seriously though all feedback helps us improve every year and gives our grant applications more grunt.

Here’s a summary of what’s been across our desks:

HAVE YOUR SAY

MEMBERS SURVEY  Your Voice: On your experience of receiving aged care services at home

If you are seeking or receiving aged care services at home – or if you care for or support someone who does – we want to understand what this has been like for you. The best way for us to understand aged care services at home is to hear directly from the Territorians using them. The survey is short and should take 5 -10 minutes to complete. If you would like to complete the survey over the phone, please contact COTA NT on 08 8941 1004 during office hours (Mondays to Fridays, 9am to 3pm).

Your responses will help inform us and in turn, we will inform COTA Australia’s and Older Person’s Advocacy Network’s (OPAN)’s advocacy to Federal Government to improve experiences for people utilising aged care services at home in the Northern Territory. Find out more and take the survey here.

Taxi services

The Department of Logistics and Infrastructure is inviting you to take part in a short survey about taxi services in the NT. This survey closes 14 May 2026. Click here to start.

Advocacy

Disability Parking Permits – City of Darwin

We received a statement attributed to City of Darwin on 29 April. You can read the full statement here. We now look forward to hearing from them about the free parking starting once signage upgrades are installed and the wider community is informed. 

St John’s Ambulance Funding

The NT Government will be providing St John Ambulance with a $10m support package in the 2026 budget to help meet increasing ambulance demand. The $10m is for an immediate boost in operations, while a five-year funding agreement is finalised.

Voluntary assisted dying

Featured on 3 pages of the latest Seniors Voice were words from Peter Warren’s presentation, a link to Go Gentle Australia’s State of VAD 2026 Report and Marshall Perron’s letter to the NT Attorney General. The Audience with Peter Warren was well-attended despite a few no-shows with the Leader of the Opposition Selena Uibo and MLAs, Justine Davis, Laurie Zio and Tanzil Rahman in attendance. We realise that the audio on the Facebook livestream was not of great quality, but the people who were watching from afar were appreciative, nonetheless. (Unsurprisingly quality sound recording and engineering costs money we don’t have.) (Access presentation here).

Please let us know if you have any feedback on the event (form open from 1 to 14 May).

Other news

• Seniors Voice May 2026 This issue was released on 5 May and I would like to thank the staff and volunteers for their efforts once again in making sure Seniors Voice is widely read and available in the Territory. You should have already received a PDF copy directly to your email, but you can read it online here.
• COTA news Meet our new staff member, Anna Goode. Now hard at work on the Darwin Seniors Expo!
• Darwin Seniors Expo (27 June) Registrations/EOI are open for exhibitors on our website until 13 June. If you or a group you belong to are interested in being involved, please contact Anna on .
• Fishing Trips Ken has sent an email invitation for the second fishing trip of the season. Check out the Members news for a report of April’s adventures and details of the next one.
• Seniors Month Grants have closed and we are awaiting outcomes. Watch out for news of our events in your inbox. Event organisers can submit details of their events to the Seniors Month print and digital calendars here.
• Aged Care Reform Webinar Series – Start 9 May. More information and bookings here.
• COTA NT Berry Springs meetings – information here. 15 June is a Morning tea and talk from the Hon. Marion Scrymgour MP at the Livingstone Reserve (10am to 12pm) and bookings are required by 10 June for catering purposes. Call Kerryn on 0409 694 075.

COTA Members Website – HAVE A CLICK AROUND!

Remember to access your Member benefits.

• Latest news
• Home Maintenance Service request form
• Free Will Writing Service
• Booking form for aged care consultations
• Plus easy access to
  • COTA library: Seniors Voice | Publications | Constitution | Strategic Plans | Annual Reports | Other COTAs
  • Reports and survey findings
  • Submissions and open letters: A selection of publications and resources is intended to help our members understand issues, solve problems, or make decisions. Topics include: Ageing | Aged Care | Ageism | Assisted Technology | Digital Inclusion | Elder Abuse Prevention | Employment | Health | Housing |  Legal | Retirement | Rights | Safety and Protection | Social Inclusion | Transport
  • White papers
• If you need help with any of our Membership Services, contact Ken on . 
  • We are re-cataloguing a lot of information to present it in this area of our website, so if you notice any broken links, please let us know.