Page 898 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 20 March 2019
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Last year during Seniors Week events, we conducted an age-friendly city survey to ascertain seniors’ views and preferences about life in the capital. The results of the survey informed the development of the government’s “Age-friendly Canberra—a vision for our city” that I was pleased to table in the Assembly last sitting.
I note in her speech that Ms Lawder has talked about a number of things that peak bodies or older Canberrans are looking for, benefits that they are seeking. I assume that Ms Lawder has read the vision for our city document well, because many of the matters that she has specifically listed are included in that vision, as we have heard very clearly from the members of the community. This is because senior Canberrans shared their priorities for Canberra.
My Ministerial Advisory Council on Ageing worked with directorate officials to develop a set of principles to drive this further future planning. The principles highlight the importance of ensuring that older members of the community are involved; that they are connected and valued; that they feel safe, secure and free from abuse and discrimination; that they have the information and the services they need; and that they can access the city through age-friendly transport and infrastructure.
The vision sets the agenda for the next phase of work to support an age-friendly Canberra. We will be developing a whole-of-government age-friendly city plan. Through this plan, we will strengthen efforts to foster community attitudes of dignity and respect towards older people, include the voice of older people in policy development, ensure that services meet the needs of older people, and provide older people with access to information and services that effectively support them to live a good life.
While the plan is being developed, we continue to provide a range of initiatives to assist older members of our community. Each year, the seniors grants program provides a total of $80,000 in funding for innovative projects to enable seniors’ active participation in community life. This year we have given $10,000 to ADACAS to help counter elder abuse. We have given $5,800 to Nutrition Australia (ACT) to provide workshops on healthy eating and to help people trial new cooking methods. We have provided funding for community gardens and cultivation courses, money for workshops to help prevent dementia, and money for programs to build connections and friendship.
This grant program provides vital funding for those organisations that help and support our older Canberrans. Funding of $640,000 over four years has also been allocated for Legal Aid ACT to establish the seniors rights service. The service, which is called the Older Persons ACT Legal Service, known as OPALS, provides specialist legal assistance for older people. A flexible service delivery model is used that provides outreach, referral and engagement with family and services where appropriate. The model, which involves not just the provision of legal assistance, assists the coordination of various forms of supports for older people.
In addition to OPALS, Council on the Ageing ACT is provided with over $175,000 in funding for the provision of information, advice and referral for older people in the
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