If you are, or someone you know is, in Victoria and experiencing elder abuse, call our confidential helpline on 1300 368 821.
Our feedback therefore emphasises the importance of a Consumer Strategy that recognises older people as a diverse group of legal consumers, supports informed decision-making, safeguards autonomy and dignity, and ensures that access to justice does not depend on a person’s age, income, digital capability, or personal circumstances.
e are pleased to present the COTA Victoria and Seniors Rights Victoria Annual Report 2025-2026 in this, our 75th year of service to older Victorians.
This resource is here to help you make your voice heard this state election. We won’t tell you what to say – that’s for you to decide – but we’ll help you feel ready and supported to share what matters to you.
COTA Victoria and Seniors Rights Victoria have produced this guide to alert older Victorians to new arrangements to support voting accessibility in the upcoming Victorian state election on 28 November 2026.
COTA Victoria and Seniors Rights Victoria support reform to provide greater protection for communications made through closely integrated legal assistance services.
Continuing participation in the paid workforce is an increasing challenge for many Victorians over 50 whom we seek to support and represent.
Older Victorians are not a single group with shared experiences, and our work sought to ensure that policies and systems recognise this diversity. This approach underpins the work undertaken by the Policy & Advocacy team, across policy areas outlined in this briefing.
The COTA Victoria and Seniors Rights Victoria ‘State of Ageing in Victoria’ pulse survey provides an up-to-date insight into how older Victorians feel about the upsides and the downsides of their lives in 2026.
This toolkit has been developed to support practitioners to strengthen their awareness of elder abuse and build their capacity to respond in ways that are effective, respectful, and uphold the dignity, rights, and autonomy of older people.
This guide has been developed to support practitioners, policymakers, and organisations across various sectors. These include family violence, aged care, disability, legal, health, housing, and social services, all working to adopt an intersectional approach to elder abuse prevention and response.
Seniors Rights Victoria strongly supports the State Disability Plan and the Victorian Autism Plan as important drivers of practical action to improve inclusion, accessibility and equity for Victorians with disability.
COTA Victoria and Seniors Rights Victoria welcome the opportunity to contribute to DEECA’s consultation on reforming prices and consumer protections for customers in embedded electricity and gas networks. We support the proposed direction of reform and, rather than commenting on the broader embedded network framework, this submission focuses on one cohort that requires particular attention: older Victorians living in retirement villages.
As Victorian bushfires, heatwaves, storm events, floods and pandemics have shown, older people are still disproportionately affected by emergencies.
As we age, most of us will need some form of support to continue living independently. The good news is we have a well-developed system of funded services to help Victorians remain at home for as long as possible.
Older women in Victoria are experiencing a systemic crisis of economic insecurity. Despite decades of participation in work and caregiving, many arrive at later life with significantly less wealth and income than men, leaving a disproportionate number of older women facing poverty and housing stress.
This briefing updates members on budget announcements, including what initiatives offer direct benefit to older Victorians, and how this investment aligns with priorities we have previously identified.
This submission reflects on the proposals through the lens of older Victorians at a heightened level of risk, with particular attention to those experiencing intersectional disadvantage and/or digital exclusion.
COTA Victoria and Seniors Rights Victoria welcome the latest set of Essential Services Commission proposals to strengthen protections for Victorian energy consumers through the Energy Retail Code of Practice.
Elder abuse is both prevalent and under-recognised within Australia. Annually, approximately one in six (14.8%) older Australians experience some form of elder abuse. Research by the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) in 2021i found that psychological abuse is the most common form, followed by financial abuse – a trend that mirrors the case data of Seniors Rights Victoria.
Victoria is getting older, and the next Victorian Government must be ready.
While this guide relates to older people with all types of disability, it provides targeted advice for some of the most common forms of disability experienced by participants in community aged care.
Imagine being told that your decades of experience are a liability rather than an asset — that is the reality facing hundreds of thousands of older Victorians. At the same time as people are needing and choosing to work longer, ageist attitudes and practices are shutting them out.
The Department of Justice and Community Safety has proposed three options for remaking the VCAT fee Regulations. COTA Victoria and Seniors Rights Victoria support Option 3.
In making this submission, we highlight the importance of specifically addressing the needs of older people, both as a large proportion of those living with a disability and in relation to other aspects of ageing that also impact on accessibility and support needs
