COTA NT attends Ageing Australia’s inaugural Regional and Remote Summit

10 Sep 2026

Ageing Australia held an inaugural Regional and Remote Summit on 1 September at Novotel Darwin bringing 80 delegates together in Darwin to explore equitable, person-centred aged care across regional, rural and remote Australia. Sue Shearer was invited to attend as one of the panellists in the afternoon session.

Overview and photo provided by Ageing Australia

The morning set the tone for the day: culture, connection and community at the heart of regional aged care. Liz Behjat, Director of Government Relations at Ageing Australia, opened proceedings followed by a Welcome to Country from Yvonne Odegaard and reflections from CEO Tom Symondson and Professor Christine Fejo-King – underscoring a simple message: the answer isn’t always something new, it’s listening to what has worked for 65,000 years.

Sarah Begley (Danila Dilba Health Service) brought that home with a candid look at community palliative and aged care in the Northern Territory, and a panel on the Future of Regional Ageing closed the session with a line that captured the day: “If you’ve been to one remote community, you’ve been to one remote community.” No two towns, communities or people age the same way, and services need to reflect that. 

The afternoon opened with a look at growing and sustaining the regional workforce before a shared spotlight session on integrated models of care brought provider perspectives from Mala’la Health Service and Yaandina Community Services together.

Two panel discussions followed: ‘A good end for everyone: Supporting choice, rights and dignity wherever you live’ exploring advance care planning, supported decision-making and advocacy at end of life and ‘What makes regional services work’ which unpacked the infrastructure, partnerships and local engagement regional services need to thrive.