Aged care reform and multicultural CHSP providers
Our project highlights mixed experiences, hopes and concerns about aged care reform among multicultural CHSP providers.
Policy
Agenda for Action: Disability supports for older Victorians 2025-2029
Older Victorians with disability are being systematically under served by existing policy and service frameworks. While the introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has improved the lives of many younger people with disability, those who acquire or live with disability beyond the NDIS age threshold are often excluded from comparable levels of support.
Submission to the Inquiry into Community Consultation Practices
Seniors Rights Victoria welcomes the opportunity to contribute to this inquiry into community consultation practices in Victoria.
Member briefing: The Victorian State Budget 2025-26
The 2025-26 State Budget was handed down by Treasurer Jaclyn Symes yesterday, 20 May 2025.
COTA Victoria and Seniors Rights Victoria (SRV) have developed a special member briefing…
Local government planning for healthy ageing
COTA Victoria has a long-standing commitment to support councils’ plans for healthy ageing. We’ve now developed a suite of new resource materials to help drive the important local efforts that councils provide in supporting older people to be healthy, active, and engaged.
Submission to the Inquiry into Ambulance Victoria
COTA Victoria and Seniors Rights Victoria welcome the opportunity to provide feedback on the challenges facing Ambulance Victoria (AV), particularly concerning call-taking, dispatch, ambulance ramping, paramedic working conditions, and the broader implications these issues have for older Victorians.
Submission on the National Plan to End the Abuse and Mistreatment of Older People 2024-2034
COTA Victoria and SRV broadly support the direction of the second National Plan to End the Abuse and Mistreatment of Older People 2024–2034. However, we believe there are several areas where improvements can be made to enhance its clarity, accountability, and overall impact.
COTA National Alliance Submission on the National Plan to End the Abuse and Mistreatment of Older People 2024-2034
The COTA National Alliance welcomes the second National Plan to End the Abuse and Mistreatment of Older Australians. However, to ensure the plan achieves meaningful and sustainable outcomes, we recommend a few changes that focus on clarity, accountability, and resources.
Briefing: Findings of Survey of Older People with Disabilities
In September 2024, COTA Victoria and Seniors Rights Victoria launched an online survey on disability supports for older Victorians. This occurred in parallel with the release of a discussion paper developed with partner peak bodies in the ageing and disability sectors. The survey and discussion paper are part of an ongoing policy advocacy process to address gaps and inequities in the provision of disability support to older people.
Submission to Review of Primary Health Network Business Model
This submission focuses chiefly on the role and processes used by Primary Health Networks (PHNs) in Victoria in the establishment and management of the Care Finder program in Aged Care.
Submission to Department of Social Services consultation on General Foundational Supports
We welcome the opportunity to provide brief input on how General Foundational Supports (GFS) can effectively respond to the needs of older Victorians with a disability – a frequently overlooked demographic in disability policy discussions.
Victorian Elder Abuse Strategic Alliance Victorian State Budget Submission 2025/26
The Victorian Elder Abuse Strategic Alliance is a coalition of key organisations working at the forefront of family violence and elder abuse in Victoria.
Energy Retail Code of Practice Review
We welcome the opportunity to provide a submission to the Essential Services Commission’s (ESC) Energy Consumer Reforms Discussion Paper. We would like to commend the ESC for their work and endorse their outlined objectives.
Submission on CAV’s Funded Services Program Reviews
This submission underscores the urgency for a specialised, multi-faceted approach to housing support for older people.
Creating a new benchmark for ageing: Submission for the Victorian State Budget 2025-26
In presenting this document, we set out a select collection of funding initiatives that we believe warrant serious consideration across Victorian Government portfolios for support in the 2025-26 Victorian State Budget. In doing so, we have focussed on five priority areas.
Our energy futures: Older Victorians navigating the energy transition
The current energy transition from fossil fuels to cleaner, more sustainable sources is a major change process involving all Victorians. The attitudes and behaviours of different population groups – and the support provided to them – are key to the success of the transition and its impact on people’s wellbeing.
Seniors Rights Victoria and COTA Victoria Annual Report 2023-2024
The Seniors Rights Victoria and COTA Victoria Annual Report 2023-2024 is now available to download.
At 34 pages long, it celebrates our achievements, details relevant statistics and thanks those who’ve supported us over the past financial year. Seniors Rights Victoria content begins on page 23.
Assets for Care: A Guide for Lawyers to Assist Older Clients at Risk of Financial Abuse
Financial abuse is the most frequently reported form of this abuse and the main perpetrators of abuse are adult children. A recent western Australian report found an average prevalence rate of abuse to be 4.6%…
Disability Support and Inclusion for Older Victorians: Towards an Agenda for Action
This paper has been prepared by COTA Victoria and Seniors Rights Victoria, in conjunction with several other peak bodies, to support the development of an Agenda for Action on service gaps facing older Victorians with a disability.
Inclusive use of digital and non-digital communications: A guide for Commonwealth Home Support Program Providers
This guide aims to support Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP) providers to meet the needs and preferences of older people who are not well digitally connected.
Submission to the Inquiry into capturing data on family violence perpetrators in Victoria
This submission highlights the need for improved data collection on elder abuse perpetrators to better address the unique needs of elder abuse within the broader family violence system in Victoria.
Identifying and addressing elder abuse: A guide for Commonwealth Home Support Program providers
“Identifying and addressing elder abuse” is designed to provide Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP) providers with the essential knowledge needed to recognise, understand, and address elder abuse when working with older individuals.
Member briefing: Victorian State Budget 2024-25
The 2024-25 State Budget was handed down by the Treasurer, Tim Pallas on 7 May 2024. COTA Victoria and Seniors Rights Victoria (SRV) have developed a member briefing to inform older Victorians and organisations.
Member Briefing: Findings of COTA Victoria community survey – older women struggling to find effective help for chronic pain
A COTA Victoria survey has found that many older women experiencing chronic pain struggle to find effective support and feel marginalised by health services that lack necessary empathy and understanding. Too often, women feel that they are expected to just be stoic and accept pain as an inevitable part of ageing.