Page 921 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 19 April 1994
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Among the matters that will need to be addressed by the plan is how to maintain the quality of life of people as they age. This involves issues such as access to convenient transport; a safe, attractive and well-designed environment; positive community attitudes to ageing; healthy lifestyles; education and employment opportunities; appropriate accommodation options; accessible and useful information; and, most importantly, consideration of access and equity issues, how to cater for the special needs of some older people and how to promote self-determination.
Accommodation and support services will also be key elements of the plan. In this area the Government will wish to present strategies which involve all relevant ACT government agencies and which over the long term cohesively implement the Government's positive response to the Social Policy Committee report. Of course, the Government already recognises the increasing number of older people in the community who need affordable and secure housing and has sought to assist older people maintain the quality of their lives and their independence.
The ACT Housing Trust, through its public rental housing and its aged persons units, currently provides a significant amount of accommodation for older people who are financially disadvantaged. It also provides mortgage relief, home ownership assistance and housing assistance for people with special needs. At the same time the ACT Housing Trust is exploring options that may help older people who do not qualify for aged persons units and yet find it difficult to afford accommodation that meets their needs. These options include the possibility of providing off-budget loans to older people, shared equity schemes, reverse equity schemes, home swap schemes and joint ventures with community or private organisations to build affordable accommodation.
Other measures now in place to assist those older people in the community in greatest need include the provision of concessions to ACT pensioner concession card holders. Such concessions are available in relation to charges and services, including rates, bus travel, electricity, ambulance and special needs transport, meals at day care centres, rent of ACT Housing Trust dwellings, medical and dental related services and equipment, vehicle registration and licence fees, and recreational facilities. It has been brought to my attention that some older people in the community may not be aware of the benefits to which they are legally entitled, especially those provided by the Commonwealth Department of Social Security. In addition, recent changes to the eligibility criteria for the pensioner concession card may have been slow to come to the attention of people who have a new entitlement. For this reason the Government has made available during Seniors Week a kit containing a range of information, including information on benefits available to older people and how to reduce expenditure or seek financial planning advice. I am sure that older people will find this information useful.
One of the dilemmas confronting some older people on low incomes who are not eligible for the pensioner concession card is the desire to remain in their family home and still maintain a reasonable quality of life. Insufficient income to pay the rates or to do maintenance on the home becomes a problem. The Government has sought to assist such people through its rates deferment scheme. Anyone having difficulty in paying their rates can apply to have their rates deferred. Older people can defer the payment of their rates to a later date when they are better off, or can arrange for the deferred rates to be paid out of their estate. Interest is charged on the deferred rates at a reasonable rate, and
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