❓ The Minister for Seniors and Ageing provides an update on the state's 10-year plan to combat elder abuse, highlighting increased funding for Advocare and educational awareness programs. The response emphasises financial abuse and the importance of inter-agency collaboration.
AnsweredQoN 1096Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
ELDER ABUSE
1096. Ms C.M. ROWE to the Minister for Seniors and Ageing:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's commitment to protecting vulnerable, older Western Australians
by tackling and preventing the insidious issue of elder abuse.
Can the minister update the house on
how the delivery of the state's first long-term plan to prevent elder
abuse will ensure that we have measures in place to tackle this growing issue?
1096. Ms C.M. ROWE to the Minister for Seniors and Ageing:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's commitment to protecting vulnerable, older Western Australians
by tackling and preventing the insidious issue of elder abuse.
Can the minister update the house on
how the delivery of the state's first long-term plan to prevent elder
abuse will ensure that we have measures in place to tackle this growing issue?
AnswerView source ↗
Can I thank the member for the
question, and also for the very good seniors' forum we had the other
day on this issue, which was attended by 70-odd people, showing that there is
concern in the community about elder abuse. The question and answer time
afterwards, which was facilitated by myself, Advocare and the Northern Suburbs
Community Legal Centre, was very enlightening and helpful for the people in the
room. It was with great pleasure that in that meeting we announced our 10-year
plan to help combat elder abuse in the community. It is something that we know
has become more prevalent in today's society and we know where the work
needs to be done. We are now looking at how we can do that and we are now
funding organisations such as Advocare to the tune of an extra $150 000 to help
this 10-year plan. Further, we also funded an extra $50 000 to help Advocare to
go into the regions and explain where people can go for this help.
As we know, elder abuse is very,
very personal at times. For most people in this room, the issue would have
crossed their front counter, and they would have heard from time to time some
of the horror stories of people, particularly in the financial area. I think we
have got across now that elder abuse is not about physical abuse as much, but a
lot of it is in financial areas, such as using mum's bank card and
ripping her off in that way and thinking that is okay because she will not mind
and will not complain.
Now
we have a program that we are using that involves educational awareness,
keeping people socially connected, supporting advocacy agencies, and better
research and understanding of the issue. That means we need organisations such
as the police department, banks and others to feed back to us what we can do to
prevent this issue. It is great to see that the big four banks certainly
attended some of the forums that we had and are getting up to speed on that. In
some cases, the banks themselves will not do a transaction if they think it is
a bit shifty. They will take it to a group and the tellers themselves, who have
been educated in this area, will take action and not allow the transaction to
go ahead if they think it may be shonky. We are getting there, but, for the
first time, we have a program that will go for 10 years that will help seniors.
I think I might have just joined that demographic in recent days! But it is
something that is out there, and it is heartbreaking to see families split up
because of abuse. It is heartbreaking to see the type of situation that I have
seen on several occasions whereby senior parents have moved into a granny flat
in the backyard but because they do not have the title for the property they
are left out in the cold when the kids want to sell the house. Those sorts of
things are happening on a regular basis. We want to get on top of that. It is
not acceptable for this to happen in our society today. We are educating people
around the place. The Advocare phone line is confidential, so we can help
people out without them necessarily going to the police, which they are shy of
doing because it generally involves family members. We are working
extremely hard to make sure that people can retire in comfort.
question, and also for the very good seniors' forum we had the other
day on this issue, which was attended by 70-odd people, showing that there is
concern in the community about elder abuse. The question and answer time
afterwards, which was facilitated by myself, Advocare and the Northern Suburbs
Community Legal Centre, was very enlightening and helpful for the people in the
room. It was with great pleasure that in that meeting we announced our 10-year
plan to help combat elder abuse in the community. It is something that we know
has become more prevalent in today's society and we know where the work
needs to be done. We are now looking at how we can do that and we are now
funding organisations such as Advocare to the tune of an extra $150 000 to help
this 10-year plan. Further, we also funded an extra $50 000 to help Advocare to
go into the regions and explain where people can go for this help.
As we know, elder abuse is very,
very personal at times. For most people in this room, the issue would have
crossed their front counter, and they would have heard from time to time some
of the horror stories of people, particularly in the financial area. I think we
have got across now that elder abuse is not about physical abuse as much, but a
lot of it is in financial areas, such as using mum's bank card and
ripping her off in that way and thinking that is okay because she will not mind
and will not complain.
Now
we have a program that we are using that involves educational awareness,
keeping people socially connected, supporting advocacy agencies, and better
research and understanding of the issue. That means we need organisations such
as the police department, banks and others to feed back to us what we can do to
prevent this issue. It is great to see that the big four banks certainly
attended some of the forums that we had and are getting up to speed on that. In
some cases, the banks themselves will not do a transaction if they think it is
a bit shifty. They will take it to a group and the tellers themselves, who have
been educated in this area, will take action and not allow the transaction to
go ahead if they think it may be shonky. We are getting there, but, for the
first time, we have a program that will go for 10 years that will help seniors.
I think I might have just joined that demographic in recent days! But it is
something that is out there, and it is heartbreaking to see families split up
because of abuse. It is heartbreaking to see the type of situation that I have
seen on several occasions whereby senior parents have moved into a granny flat
in the backyard but because they do not have the title for the property they
are left out in the cold when the kids want to sell the house. Those sorts of
things are happening on a regular basis. We want to get on top of that. It is
not acceptable for this to happen in our society today. We are educating people
around the place. The Advocare phone line is confidential, so we can help
people out without them necessarily going to the police, which they are shy of
doing because it generally involves family members. We are working
extremely hard to make sure that people can retire in comfort.
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