National Seniors Australia is marking World Elder Abuse Day by asking Australians to identify and call out all forms of elder abuse.
National Seniors CEO and Director of Research, Professor John McCallum says most elder abuse is unfortunately hidden as the abuse occurs behind closed doors and elders can’t or won’t act against family or other perpetrators.
“When we talk of elder abuse, many of us think of physical assaults, but elder abuse takes on many forms such as financial abuse,” he says.
“As inflation rises and mortgage stress increases so will financial abuse. Ironically this is partly facilitated by the inappropriate exploitation of a powers-of-attorney (POA) which should protect people.
“This is where a family member or friend, trusted with sorting out the financial affairs of an elderly person, abuses that trust and financially fleeces the victim,” said Professor McCallum.
National Seniors has long been a part of the Australian Banking Association’s campaign against financial elder abuse and has campaigned for uniform POAs across the country to stamp out financial abuse in each state and territory.
“We are proud to be part of this campaign, but there is still much to do, and we know incoming Attorney-General, Mark Dreyfuss is aware that this needs to be addressed,” Professor McCallum said.
Adding to the concern he says, is the new frontier of abuse in the growth of digital scams ripping off older Australians.
“This has become so much of a problem that when National Seniors embarked on our wellbeing calls to ring older Australians during the COVID lockdowns, many wouldn’t answer, fearing the call was from a scammer. It causes people to shelter behind closed doors and lose social connections.”
“Digital scams need more attention than they are getting and people need help to develop resilience to deal with them,” Professor McCallum said.
He said residential elder care abuse was ‘outed’ by the Royal Commission, but home care also needed better regulation to prevent abuse of seniors receiving care in their home.
“Home care is growing and covers many more people than nursing home residents who at least have care workers to monitor them.”
Professor McCallum says the best way to mark Elder Abuse Day is to be aware and report any suspected abuse and neglect.
“We should also not forget that neglecting an older person unable to properly look after themselves is also a form of abuse and should be dealt with accordingly,” he said.
