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Elder Abuse Prevention

Elder abuse refers to any act within a relationship of trust between an older person and another person that results in harm to the older person. Abuse can include physical, sexual, psychological, financial or social abuse such as neglect.

The Victorian Government is determined to have appropriate strategies in place to deal with this unacceptable abuse.

The Elder Abuse Prevention project was announced in March 2007 by the Minister for Aged Care at the time, Gavin Jennings. The project was established after the Ministerial Advisory Council of Senior Victorians advised that elder abuse prevention required further government attention, particularly in relation to education and increased community awareness of the issue. The aim of the Elder Abuse Prevention project was to consult with the Victorian community on the issue.

The chair of the Ministerial Advisory Council, Barney Cooney, presented the project's report on 15 December 2005. The report recommends improved support networks and strengthened community legal services as ways to empower and protect vulnerable older Victorians. Read the report Strengthening Victoria's Response to Elder Abuse (PDF 133kb).

On 15 June 2006, World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, the Victorian Government released its response to the project, Supporting the Safety and Dignity of Senior Victorians (PDF 73kb). The government supported all the project’s recommendations and provided $5.9 million over four years in the 2006-07 Budget to deliver practical assistance to older people. This support includes a new legal service for older people and an education and community awareness program.

The Victorian Elder Abuse Prevention Strategic Plan 2006-09 (PDF 271 kb) was endorsed by the Minister for Senior Victorians in August 2007.

A consultation paper identifying the expected outcomes of the community education and older persons' legal service was released in March 2007 for public comment. Read the report Consultation on Community Education and Older Persons' Legal Service (PDF 80kb) and the Report on submissions to the Consultation Paper - Community Education and Older Person's Legal Service (PDF 56kb).

Also available:

• The Mismanagement & Misappropriation of Older People’s Assets: How can the Financial Service Sector help? (Word 72kb). - prepared by the Council on the Ageing Victoria for the project’s Financial Abuse roundtable.
• Preventing elder abuse through the health sector (Word 415kb) - a report by the Victorian Community Council Against Violence, outlining research the council had undertaken during the project on the needs of health professionals.

This page contains downloadable documents. In order to view PDF documents you will require Adobe Reader. To view other file types such as Word, Excel, Powerpoint and ZIP, other tools may be required.

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