World Elder Abuse Awareness Day 15 June 2019
This year’s activities focused on increasing the online awareness and profile of elder abuse in the Northern Territory. COTA NT used its website and marketing capability to improve its search engine indexability for its information pages.
Click the picture to download your copy of the Report.
“All Australians have rights, which do not diminish with age, to live dignified, self-determined lives, free from exploitation, violence and abuse.”
This Report initiates a conversation about the nature of elder abuse in the Northern Territory (NT) and encourages the collection of more information and the involvement of the community to develop ways forward. The Report draws on the findings and community input to a 12-month project conducted throughout 2018 by Darwin Community Legal Service (DCLS).
The Elder Abuse Prevention Project aimed to:
• Raise community awareness of Elder Abuse;
• Identify strategies to protect senior Territorians from experiencing abuse and mistreatment;
• Develop relevant resources;
• Provide information and training; and,
• Indicate the prevalence of the abuse of older people in the NT.
Published new website pages in our Human Rights Advocacy and Info sections regarding elder abuse and our work in this area. These pages featured:
In its 2017 report Elder Abuse—A National Legal Response, the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) recommended that all governments in Australia work together to develop a national plan to combat abuse of older people. This would include establishing a national policy framework, outlining strategies and actions by government and the community, setting priorities for implementing agreed actions, and conducting further research and evaluation.
The ALRC highlighted five key objectives of a national plan:
- empowering all older Australians to live with their preferred level of autonomy, and have a say in decisions that affect their day-to-day life
- promoting positive views of ageing in the community
- ensuring there’s somewhere to turn if an older person needs help to prevent abuse and neglect
- developing a nationally consistent approach to identifying and responding to abuse and neglect of older Australians, and
- building on our understanding of abuse of older Australians and its effects.
“We don’t yet have a detailed picture of how extensive the problem of abuse of older people is in Australia. What we do know from overseas studies is that abuse of older people affects between 2% and 12% of older people, and it affects both women and men. It has been estimated that as many as 185,000 older people in Australia experience some form of abuse or neglect each year.”
This national plan outlined 5 priority areas:
- Enhancing our understanding
- Improving community awareness and access to information
- Strengthen service responses
- Planning for future decision-making
- Strengthening safeguards for vulnerable older adults
Human Rights
Elder Abuse
