TWO YEARS AND COUNTING FOR ELDER ABUSE VICTIMS
Thursday, 14 June 2007
Author : Mary Wooldridge MLA
The Bracks Government has played lip service to elder abuse prevention for eight years but failed to address this community crisis.
On the eve of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (June 15), Shadow Minister for Aged Care Mary Wooldridge said in the two years since the establishment of Labor's Elder Abuse Prevention Project more than 40,000* cases of elder abuse have gone unreported and undetected.
"The reality is that Victoria has no central database to record incidents of abuse, neglect or exploitation of vulnerable adults, and the Government has failed to provide statistics or data stating the exact number of cases of elder abuse in Victoria.
Elder abuse can take the form of physical, emotional or psychological abuse of an older and vulnerable person at the hands of a family member, carer or an institution.
The Bracks Government initially promised nearly $6 million for elder abuse prevention but to date has only funded a mere $2.64 million.
"This amount will not appropriately fund essential services, such as the older persons' legal service and the community education service, and what has happened to the rest of the funding Labor committed?" Ms Wooldridge said.
In June 2006, the then Minister for Aged Care announced that these services were to be in operation by the end of the year. Now, a year later, thousands of cases of elder abuse continue to go undetected because there are no avenues for reporting.
Labor says it takes elder abuse seriously. In fact as a commemoration to World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, it will host a largely unpublicised and selective forum to which the Minister will not attend.
In addition there is still no commitment as to when the Older Person's Legal Service and the Community Education Service will actually commence.
While we recognise World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, everyday is elder abuse day. Everyday, hundreds of senior Victorians are victims of abuse.
It is about time the Bracks Government acts to ensure the health, safety and well-being of our senior Victorians.
Source: LiberalDotOrg
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