Advocacy and representation
2 Sep 2026
Over the last two months, Sue Shearer has attended and been invited to a number of meetings, forums and committees to provide conveners and participants with the perspective of COTA NT members and older Territorians.
These have included:
- Housing Strategy Delivery: Hosted by the Property Council, Sue attended an industry-wide housing summit on 26 August in Darwin titled Strategy to Delivery: Unlocking Housing Across the Territory. This meeting brought together sector leader to discuss how to implement the NT government’s newly launched NT Housing Strategy 2026–2030.
- Ageing Australia Regional and Remote Summit: Sue was invited to be a part of a panel discussion alongside Beth Walker from the Public Guardian and Trust on palliative care and regional support. The summit also focused on the delivery of equitable, high-quality aged care across the NT plus workforce models, culturally safe care, compassionate end-of-life care, service delivery and community partnerships.
- Industry Skills Advisory Council: The role of the council is to gather feedback on how to increase industry skills and capability in accordance with needs. At its meeting on 2 September, Sue advised that Vocational Education and Training (VET) certificates such as the Certificate III in Individual Support (Ageing) and Certificate IV in Ageing Support should include dementia in aged care as a core competency, rather than as an elective.
- Following its national summit in September, COTA NT is expecting updates from the Pharmacy Guild of Australia regarding the roll out of services in NT pharmacies. Stay tuned.
Seniors Voice – August
The 3rd edition of the year was released on 4 August and covered a myriad of topics including: aged care assessment tool, Seniors Month calendar, news of concession cards, Seniors Card discount directory, VAD, scams, new Advance Personal Plan assistance service, SMS Sender ID register, CHSP, key findings from aged care survey, Expo photos and feedback, letters and comments, health articles on weight loss and vaccinations, financial guidance, Seniors Card Business Partner Limitless NT and community news, from rural England to K-Town, NT.
Read it here if you’ve missed it!