Ministerial Conference on Ageing
The Commonwealth, State and Territory Ministers Responsible for the Care of Older Australians and the Australian Local Government Association met in Canberra on 14 September at the third Ministerial Conference on Ageing.
The meeting was chaired by Minister for Ageing, Justine Elliot. It coincided with a meeting of the Community and Disability Services Ministers’ Conference.
The meeting received an outline of the National Health and Hospital Reform Commission (NHHRC) recommendations in relation to aged care and an update on the program of health and hospital reform consultations being conducted by the Rudd Government.
Ministers discussed and noted further measures to be introduced to help address the challenges of our ageing population. These included:
- The increase in pension payments;
- A comprehensive approach to risk management for emergency events in residential aged care and the incorporation of the six national principles for disaster recovery;
- Discussion on residential care and people with psychogeriatric disorders and work being conducted by the External Reference Group’s consideration of the relevant recommendations in the NHHRC Report;
- The success of the Transition Care Initiative ;
- An update on the rollout of the $46 million Indigenous Aged Care plan; and
- Agreement of the implementation of a national guide for practical measures for community care service providers on how to respond when a client does not respond to a scheduled visit.
The Ministerial Conference on Ageing was attended by:
- Justine Elliot, Minister for Ageing (Chair) – Commonwealth
- Paul Lynch, Minister for Ageing & Disability Services – NSW
- Lisa Neville, Minister for Senior Victorians – VIC
- Karen Struthers, Minister for Community Services – QLD
- Murray Watt, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister for Health – QLD
- Lin Thorp, Minister for Human Services -TAS
- John Hargreaves, Minister for Ageing and Disabilities – ACT
- Councillor Sam Alessi for the Australian Local Government Association
