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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-06-15 Daily Xml
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Motions

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day

The Hon. S.G. WADE (16:21): I am delighted to move the motion standing in my name:

That this council—

1. Notes that 15 June is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day;

2. Notes that elder abuse may be physical, social, financial, psychological or sexual and can include mistreatment and neglect;

3. Acknowledges the importance of being aware of the behaviours and signs of elder abuse;

4. Congratulates the former Marshall Liberal government on the establishment of the Adult Safeguarding Unit to make it easier for the community to report suspected or actual cases of abuse or neglect of vulnerable adults; and

5. Acknowledges the ongoing work of the Adult Safeguarding Unit in safeguarding the rights of adults at risk of abuse.

Today is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, an annual opportunity to promote awareness of the insidious nature of elder abuse and as a community to recommit our determination to eliminate elder abuse. At a time when people are said to be more connected than ever, many Australians, particularly older Australians, feel lonely, vulnerable to abuse, even unsafe.

In recent years, the social, community and economic impacts of elder abuse have been laid bare by families, by whistleblowers, by the media, by services, by the parliament, and by the community. Elder abuse has come firmly into the spotlight. In South Australia, that spotlight exposed the shameful failings of the Weatherill Labor government for the care of residents in the Oakden aged-care facility. These patients were some of the most vulnerable members of the South Australian community and they suffered abhorrent abuse at the hands of services that were meant to be there to care for them.

One in 20 older Australians is experiencing some form of abuse at the hands of someone they know and trust. Data shows that in South Australia the majority of people experiencing abuse are women aged over 65 and that their abusers are most often their adult sons and daughters. Older people and other vulnerable adults often feel very uncomfortable calling the police in relation to a matter that may involve a member of their own family. That is why the Marshall Liberal government moved to establish a unit that is both approachable and empowered with the capacity to investigate and pursue matters, but that can work in a positive and wideranging way to help restore relationships.

Many older Australians feel much more comfortable engaging such an agency rather than the police. Anybody can ring the unit on 1800 372 310, whether they seek advice or information or in fact they want to make a report in relation to suspected or actual abuse. As part of its 2018 election commitments, the Marshall Liberal government introduced rights-based adult safeguarding legislation which established the Adult Safeguarding Unit, the first of its kind in Australia.

The unit has been operating since 1 October 2019 and has statutory responsibility to respond to reports of abuse or neglect of vulnerable adults. In response to the recommendation of the Safeguarding Task Force, the Marshall government brought forward the expansion of the legal mandate of the unit to include responding to reports of abuse or neglect of adults living with a disability two years ahead of its scheduled commencement, with the revised commencement date of 1 October 2020.

A key focus of the unit's work is minimising harm and intervening early, supporting multiagency coordination and information sharing, and placing the vulnerable adult at the centre of decisions. The unit has the power to investigate issues and require information to be provided by a range of organisations, including state government agencies or services.

The Adult Safeguarding Unit has a strong focus on the prevention of abuse through early intervention, community awareness and education. As part of this focus, engagement has occurred with culturally and linguistically diverse communities to seek advice and guidance on the delivery of culturally appropriate services as well as the development of culturally appropriate educational material. As part of its early intervention focus, from 1 October 2019 to 31 December 2021 the unit undertook 152 presentations to a diverse range of stakeholders, including community members, non-government and government organisations.

It is still early days—two and a half years—and while much has been achieved there is much more to be done. Considerable work has occurred to support the unit's operations, including formalising clear reporting pathways, the development of memoranda of administrative agreements with key stakeholders, a code of practice, a charter of rights and freedoms of vulnerable adults, and an annual community education campaign focused on raising community awareness about the unit as well as reinforcing the rights of vulnerable South Australians.

The Adult Safeguarding Unit complements a range of promotion and prevention initiatives undertaken by the Office for Ageing Well under the Marshall Liberal government. This included awareness campaigns such as the Stop Elder Abuse campaign. In South Australia half of all cases of elder abuse are financial, that is why the unit has worked with the banking and real estate sectors to try to combat this form of abuse.

Frontline financial services staff are in a prime position to pick up on unusual financial transactions on the accounts of older clients which may, in fact, be elder abuse. Real estate agents may also notice that family members or others are controlling a property transaction to the detriment of an older person, and they may also suspect financial abuse, but these practitioners may not know what to do or where to go for advice or support. That is why the Office for Ageing Well provides comprehensive information to the sector to help them identify the signs of elder abuse and to feel confident about where to go for advice, whether this is through their managers and individual workplace processes and procedures or through avenues such as the Adult Safeguarding Unit.

In conclusion, I commend this motion to the house. Certainly this house has had a longstanding bipartisan or multipartisan commitment to dealing with elder abuse, demonstrated in the strong support for the adult safeguarding legislation in 2018. Our work continues on this World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. This is not only an opportunity to continue to raise awareness of this insidious phenomenon but also, as a community and, to be frank, as a parliament, to recommit ourselves to doing what we can to eliminate elder abuse.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. T.T. Ngo.

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