Elder Abuse

The Hon. S.L. GAME (15:34): I rise today to speak on the issue of elder abuse. The World Health Organization defines elder abuse as 'a single, or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust which causes harm or distress to an older person'. Elder abuse includes financial, psychological, physical, and sexual abuse and neglect.

In June of this year, the Elder Abuse Unit at Uniting Communities partnered with Flinders University to release a report on the prevalence of elder abuse in South Australia. The report analysed data from some of the 1,300 referrals received by the Elder Abuse Unit since its inception. It also presented studies of selected cases of elder abuse that the unit has dealt with over the years. According to the report, approximately 50 per cent of reported elder abuse cases relate to financial abuse. The report also found that most cases of elder abuse were perpetrated by immediate family members. Many were adult children, with sons being the primary abusers.

The following is a common scenario: an adult child moves back in with their elderly parent because their living arrangements have fallen through, perhaps due to a relationship breakdown or failure to pay rent because of gambling, drug or alcohol addictions. These problems manifest themselves in the new living arrangement and the adult child engages in abusive behaviour, such as incurring expenses and refusing to pay for them, threatening the parent into giving them money or disclosing bank account details or coercing the parent into handing over financial power of attorney.

Elder abuse is hard to detect. Given the social isolation and dependency created by the perpetrator, older Australians can find it difficult to speak out due to a lack of understanding and therefore an inability to recognise abusive behaviour, fear of retaliation or feelings of guilt, especially if the perpetrator is a family member.

Former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda has spoken at length in the past about how older Indigenous Australians are particularly vulnerable to elder abuse. So this is a problem that affects all of us. It is also a problem that is set to worsen as Australia's population continues to age. The proportion of elderly people in Australia has increased exponentially over recent decades. According to data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, by 2066 it is projected that Australians aged 65 and over will make up between 21 per cent and 23 per cent of the total population compared with 16 per cent in 2020.

Our ability to care for our older people will be tested as our aged-care systems come under further pressure to accommodate this increase. Our commitment to caring for the elderly relates directly to our response to elder abuse as a society. Elder abuse is a betrayal of trust. When someone deliberately manipulates an older person, often a family member, in such a way that causes emotional distress, financial loss, social isolation, or even physical harm, they have grievously wronged a person whose inherent vulnerability makes them deserving of protection.

Perpetrators of elder abuse seek to erode family networks, isolating the older person from their means of support and making them easier to control. Elder abuse is complex, often involving multilayered problems such as mental health, addiction and family conflict issues. But elder abuse is also symptomatic of an erosion in the social fabric of Australian society. It is so much easier to isolate an older person these days because our society has become atomised: we increasingly live our lives in isolation from the people around us. We must seek to nurture communities where people are concerned about each other's welfare, where neighbours visit each other's homes and are part of each other's lives, such that perpetrators of abuse are not afforded the kind of secrecy and isolation they require.

From a legislative point of view, I support the recommendations of the report by Uniting Communities, among them the call to introduce elder abuse as a standalone offence in South Australian law. The recommendations show this is an area of legislation crying out for reform. As a private member, I recognise the limited ability I have to bring about such extensive reforms and I am calling on the government to take up this issue and make it a priority. In the words of the Australian Law Reform Commission:

Ageing eventually comes to all Australians and ensuring that all older people live dignified and autonomous lives free from the pain and degradation of elder abuse must be a priority.