Elder Abuse

Adjourned debate on motion of Hon. K.L. Vincent:

That the Social Development Committee inquire into and report on matters relating to elder abuse in South Australia including—

1. The prevalence of abuse (including but not limited to financial abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, social abuse, chemical abuse and neglect) experienced by older people in South Australia;

2. The most common forms of abuse experienced by older persons and the most common relationships or settings in which abuse occurs;

3. The types of government and/or community support services sought by, or on behalf of, victims of elder abuse and the nature of service received from those agencies and organisations;

4. The adequacy of the policies, resources, powers and expertise of specialist agencies (including South Australia Police, Office of the Public Advocate, Aged Rights Advocacy Service, Legal Services Commission, Public Trustee, Domiciliary Care South Australia) and other relevant service agencies to respond to allegations of elder abuse;

5. Identifying effective ways to improve reporting of and responding to elder abuse to assist in establishing best practice strategies for multi-agency responses;

6. Identifying any strength-based initiatives which empower older persons to better protect themselves from risks of abuse as they age;

7. The effectiveness of South Australian laws, policies, services and strategies, including the South Australian Strategy for Safeguarding Older People 2014-2021 in safeguarding older persons from abuse;

8. Innovation for long-term integrated systems and proactive measures to respond to the increasing number of older persons, including consideration of their diverse needs and experiences, to prevent abuse;

9. The consideration of new proposals or initiatives which may enhance existing strategies for safeguarding older persons who may be vulnerable to abuse or prevent such abuse, including with reference to international best practice;

10. Identifying ways to inform older South Australians about online scams to which they may be vulnerable; and

11. Any other related matter.

(Continued from 23 September 2015.)

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS (19:47): I rise to indicate the government's support of this motion. In doing so, I would like to point out some of the actions currently in train by the government. In 2014, the Minister for Ageing, the Hon. Zoe Bettison, released the Strategy to Safeguard the Rights of Older South Australians, and then in June this year she issued an action plan to drive its implementation. The focus of this strategy is the prevention of elder abuse across the continuum, from building resilience and reducing risk in the community through to service responses to abuse and opportunities to strengthen supportive legislation.

The cabinet endorsed the plan, including a budget of $753,000 over the forward estimates. The safeguarding strategy and action plan were developed over a number of years through close consultation and engagement with the key stakeholders, including but not limited to SAPOL, Office of the Public Advocate, Aged Rights Advocacy Service, Legal Services Commission, the Public Trustee and Domiciliary Care, to name a few.

All these organisations are currently contributing to the implementation of the strategy. A public consultation on the strategy was also undertaken as part of the policy development. The work of the steering committee overseeing the strategy addressed many of the proposed terms of the proposed inquiry and as such could inform the Social Development Committee in an inquiry to build and leverage from the recent work. There are a number of elements in the action plan which will directly address or inform the proposed terms of inquiry. However, having only been released in June 2015, its implementation is at its very early stage.

The key actions of relevance currently underway include a prevalence research study being undertaken by the University of South Australia to establish a baseline for elder abuse prevalence in South Australia because one does not currently exist; the establishment of an elder abuse prevention phone line to commence operation in October, that is, this month, bringing South Australia into line with all other Australian jurisdictions; evaluation of the phone line during its first nine months of operation to identify support services sought and the effectiveness of service referrals; a community awareness campaign that is both media and web-based to raise the profile of elder abuse as an issue of growing concern; and also numerous research and resource development projects to identify and promote resilient strategies and factors across the community.

Given that the Social Development Committee inquiry is unlikely to commence before late 2016, it will allow the committee to make use of the outcomes of the activities currently underway to inform its findings and recommendations. I also point out that the committee may well like to see the impact of service provision to the elderly at a broader level, including services provided by the federal government and other corporate service providers, as this certainly impacts on the broader issue of elder abuse. As I said, the government supports the motion, and I look forward to the Social Development Committee conducting the proposed inquiry.

The Hon. S.G. WADE (19:52): I rise on behalf of the Liberal team to support the motion. I thank the Hon. Kelly Vincent for bringing this important issue before us. Elder abuse relates to any kind of harm inflicted on an elderly person occurring within a relationship where there is an expectation of trust. This abuse can take many forms including physical, psychological, financial, sexual and social abuse and can have a devastating effect on its victims.

Given our ageing population, it is not surprising that elder abuse is an issue of growing importance and concern in South Australia. Statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics suggest that the number of people aged over 65 could more than double in the next 50 years from 270,000 in 2012 to 580,000 in 2061—a 115 per cent increase. Clearly we must ensure that the rights of this growing segment of our population are protected through initiatives such as education support services and legislation.

It is currently estimated that between 3 and 5 per cent of people aged over 65 have experienced some form of elder abuse. Sadly, the vast majority of these cases go unreported, highlighting the need for concerted action. I acknowledge the comprehensive and well-structured terms of reference put forward for the committee by the Hon. Kelly Vincent and I would like to highlight two particular elements. Point 6 of the terms of reference asks the committee to identify:

…any strength-based initiatives which empower older persons to better protect themselves from risks of abuse as they age.

As the Liberal team, we strongly believe in the dignity of the individual and that the state should act to empower individuals in ways such as empowering people to protect themselves. While these strength-based initiatives are valued, they need to be realistic about the capacity of people to take action on their own behalf, particularly when ageing can also be accompanied by cognitive impairment. There are already over 340,000 Australians living with dementia and this number is set to rise to almost 900,000 by 2050. Conditions such as dementia limit an individual's capacity to adopt these strength-based initiatives. In any case, even if elderly individuals do not have cognitive impairment, they may not have the capacity to communicate their wishes.

One example of state action to empower older South Australians to protect themselves is the use of advance care planning. I commend the work the government has done in its Planning Ahead program which encourages elderly people to write an advance care directive laying down their instructions for their health, living and end-of-life care. I think it is important that we ensure there are mechanisms to monitor the implementation of advance care directives, including compliance with the orders.

Often there is, I believe, pressure on health professionals to override the stated wishes of the person who has made the advance care directive in deference to the wishes of friends and family and I do not consider that is appropriate. Point 7 of the terms of reference asks the committee to inquire into:

The effectiveness of South Australian laws, policies, services and strategies, including the South Australian Strategy for Safeguarding Older People.

The government's action plan promises to introduce a series of measures to curb elder abuse, some of which include:

raising awareness in the workplace, particularly in financial, legal and health sectors;

developing a new elder abuse prevention website;

promoting a planning ahead message;

empowering older people by informing them of their rights; and

collaboratively producing a new age-friendly resource to help raise awareness of older people's rights.

I might just pause there and make a comment that I have had feedback from some organisations serving older South Australians that, whilst there are many older South Australians who readily embrace IT, there have been examples recently of government initiatives built around an IT response which actually significantly impair the access of older South Australians. In particular, I have heard concern expressed in relation to the commonwealth government's My Aged Care website. Whilst I think it is important to make sure that information is available in a range of formats, we need to be careful that we do not assume that the preferences of older South Australians will be the same as some other generational groups.

I believe it is important that the committee plays a role in monitoring the implementation of the government's commitments, and I acknowledge the comments of the Hon. Gerry Kandelaars that the likely timing of this committee inquiry may well give the committee a good distance from the implementation of some of the government's strategies so that assessments can be made of progress. On too many occasions, governments overpromise and under-deliver, and on an important issue such as elder abuse it is important that that not be the case in this area.

In conclusion, I reiterate the Liberal team's support for the motion of the Hon. Kelly Vincent which seeks to address this important issue. We look forward to the work of the committee, including the contribution made by members of our own team within that committee, and we look forward to the outcomes.

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT (19:58): In summing up, I would like to thank the speakers to this motion, the Hon. Gerry Kandelaars for the government and the Hon. Stephen Wade for the opposition, and I also thank those who have indicated their support without necessarily making a contribution to the motion. I believe I am correct in saying that that is all parties. I certainly thank parliamentary colleagues for that support.

I particularly thank the Hon. Gerry Kandelaars for reminding the chamber of what is being done in the area of elder abuse prevention. I certainly would not want to make it seem as though, by putting this recommendation forward or calling for this inquiry, Dignity for Disability was somehow suggesting that nothing was being done because we certainly understand that the government is doing some quite comprehensive work in this area. However, as has been pointed out, point 7 of the terms of reference asks the committee to review existing government policy, including the South Australian Strategy for Safeguarding Older People, which is the very policy that the Hon. Mr Kandelaars mentioned.

I believe it is important that these policies are regularly reviewed so that they do not languish or become outdated. Unfortunately, we do not have to think too hard to think of examples where that has occurred. While not wanting to deny that things are being done, I want to encourage the regular review of existing policy.

As was rightly pointed out, the time at which this inquiry is likely to start getting traction is likely to be mid to late next year. This will give us some distance from the beginning of that safeguarding policy, and hopefully it will give the committee the opportunity to review what has been done without jumping the gun and trying to review something that has not yet started.

I would also like to thank the Hon. Mr Wade for reminding us about the rate at which the South Australian population is ageing and that the needs of this community need to be taken very seriously, particularly because it is a growing sector. The Hon. Mr Wade also talked quite comprehensively about the need to give people the skills and resources to protect themselves. As a party, Dignity for Disability believes that we need both the resources and the skills to empower people to know their rights and their responsibilities and to recognise and speak out about abuse. We need measures to protect those who might not be able to do so or to protect people where the measures to enable them to speak up for themselves fail for any reason.

The Hon. Mr Wade also rightly points out—as I recall I did in my opening speech in calling for this inquiry—that information technology can be a barrier for some older South Australians because it is not necessarily part of their everyday life, and I certainly agree. That is not to say that all older Australians have trouble with technology. However, I think it is fair to say that, due to the fact that often they have not grown up with it or used it on a daily basis, as some of us in this chamber here tonight might, I think there is significant concern about the potential susceptibility of older Australians to things like telemarketers and online scams. That is certainly covered in the terms of reference.

I would like to again thank the speakers and my parliamentary colleagues from all sides for their support. Again, I would like to place on the record my thanks and Dignity for Disability's thanks to those advocacy bodies and individuals, particularly the Aged Rights Advocacy Service, the Council on the Ageing and Professor Wendy Lacey for their support and assistance in putting what I believe is a very comprehensive terms of reference together, which will hold the committee in good stead for its inquiry.

In closing, I would like to thank the chamber and my parliamentary colleagues this evening for assisting Dignity for Disability in sending a very strong message that humanity and human worth do not diminish with age. Thank you.

Motion carried.