Page 4077 - Week 15 - Thursday, 17 December 1992
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more appropriate purpose designed and built aged accommodation was brought to our attention time and time again. Their family home may become too large to maintain; a big garden, once a joy, can become a burden, and they need smaller, more appropriate surroundings. There are many elderly in our community who cannot afford to sell their homes and then buy that purpose built accommodation.
Madam Speaker, as the committee was informed by the ACT Council on the Ageing, the average home sells for between $80,000 and $150,000. Townhouses and, more particularly, retirement villages have purchase prices well above those amounts. People who are financially in this position do not qualify for government assisted housing, and nor should they; but, Madam Speaker, they are entitled to spend their elderly years enjoying the comforts of accommodation suited to their needs and abilities, and the committee concluded that they should have this option. I must make the point here that I do not wish in any way to infer that the purpose designed and built private aged accommodation currently on the private market is not meeting a need. It certainly is. The group that are catered for, however, are fortunate enough to afford the services and accommodation generally provided.
I cannot stress enough the yawning gap that exists in this area. The committee received, from across the board, expressions of concern and submissions relating specifically to the asset rich, cash poor elderly in the community, as we have chosen to refer to them, who simply must have their options catered for. To this end the committee has recommended that the Government investigate the merits and viability of joint venturing arrangements between community organisations and private enterprise with a view to providing affordable unit-type aged accommodation. Madam Speaker, another hurdle that does exist for the elderly home owner is the current law not allowing separate title. I, along with the committee, look forward to the passage of appropriate legislation which will assist in this area.
One of the most well-known but least understood conditions amongst the aged is dementia. Before this inquiry I was not aware of the degree to which dementia does exist in the community. Of course, I knew that it existed, but it is now evident just how many people in our community do suffer from dementia. Of these, many are cared for in the home by family carers. These family carers are carrying the majority of the burden of dementia caring. We found, through the course of the inquiry, that these carers have not been receiving adequate support, and I applaud the recent initiatives of the Commonwealth Government in addressing this issue. I encourage all governments to continue to recognise the role of carers in the community.
The committee has identified three major problems associated with the care of dementia sufferers in Canberra. First, there are insufficient residential facilities to care for people with dementia. Secondly, the Commonwealth funding formula is inadequate and inappropriate. Thirdly, respite and crisis care is inadequate. The only dementia specific facility in the ACT is Victoria Shakespeare Cottage, part of the Brindabella Gardens aged residential complex in Curtin. In early 1993 a second dementia specific facility currently under construction will be opened as part of the Mirinjani retirement complex at Weston. Shakespeare Cottage caters for 12 residents and Eabrai Lodge at Mirinjani will cater for 20. Even with the
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