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Speaker 1: Look, you'd have to be living under a rock if

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Speaker 1: you didn't realize that we're going to an election in

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Speaker 1: August this year. It's definitely, it's definitely something we're all

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Speaker 1: talking about. And the Council of the Aging here in

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory, they've released a suite of recommendations for

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory government to improve well being and social

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Speaker 1: justice outcomes for senior citizens. Now there are thirty recommendations

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Speaker 1: covering six key areas to guide whoever forms government after

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Speaker 1: the election in August. And the Council of the Aging

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Speaker 1: nt CEO Sue Sera joins me in the studio.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Sue, Good morning Katie and all your listeners.

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Speaker 3: You have to be living under a real big rock

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Speaker 3: to election, hey.

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Speaker 2: A mountain that this is election mode.

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Speaker 3: Election, It truly is. It's election mode.

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Speaker 1: And and you know there are some key areas for

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Speaker 1: Kota that you that you really have prioritized and that

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Speaker 1: you're hoping the next government is going to address.

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Speaker 3: Six of them as I understand it, What are they?

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Speaker 2: There are age care and we know that's a federal responsibility.

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Speaker 2: But however, we would like whoever is the next Chief

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Speaker 2: Minister and the Health Minister. He help to lobby long

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Speaker 2: and hard and represent Territorians so that the federal government

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Speaker 2: doesn't reneg on any of their responsibilities. Because at the moment,

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Speaker 2: out of our health budget, there's at least I think

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Speaker 2: eighty five or even ninety people in RDH and Palmerston

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Speaker 2: who should be in either a dementia facility or in

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Speaker 2: an age care facility. Work that out at nearly two

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Speaker 2: thousand dollars a day out of our health budget. So

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Speaker 2: you know, the federal government just has to step up

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Speaker 2: and either build They have to build more public age

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Speaker 2: care places and fund it properly. Because the government did

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Speaker 2: put out own expressions of interest to build a dementia village.

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Speaker 2: However none of the providers put it up because they

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Speaker 2: get paid sixty one dollars a day to look after

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Speaker 2: a patient. Now, really with a high care patient, it's

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Speaker 2: just not good enough. And with the age care revision

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Speaker 2: we're put in, if anybody would like to see it,

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Speaker 2: are really long All CODE is around Australia along with

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Speaker 2: Code Australia has put in an age care recommendation to

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Speaker 2: the new Age Care Act.

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Speaker 1: It is such an important issue making sure that we

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Speaker 1: do have that care for seniors and that they do

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Speaker 1: have the appropriate facility and care that's required. It's like

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Speaker 1: this is something that comes up like quite often.

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Speaker 2: So it does. Unfortunately it comes up, and especially the

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Speaker 2: next one, obviously, as you can see, is housing. The

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Speaker 2: federal government wants people to age in their house. Well,

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Speaker 2: if you haven't got a house, where do you end up?

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Speaker 2: Hospital or in the street. With quite a few elderly

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Speaker 2: ladies come to see us, they haven't. They're stuck in

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Speaker 2: private accommodation at six hundred dollars a week and their

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Speaker 2: pension is a thousand fortnite. They might get some relief

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Speaker 2: from the rental assistance scheme from the federal government, that

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Speaker 2: just doesn't cover it, so really, and they've got nowhere

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Speaker 2: to go.

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Speaker 1: So, I mean, they are some pretty big key areas.

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Speaker 1: What look, what kind of feedback are you receiving from

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Speaker 1: both sides of the fence at this point, for one

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Speaker 1: of a better word, you know, from the COLP and

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Speaker 1: the ALP, who are the two major parties in the territory.

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Speaker 2: I haven't had any actual response as yet, but I

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Speaker 2: must admit only sent it out. I think I sent

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Speaker 2: this out to all the politicians on Friday, but I'd

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Speaker 2: like to see we'd like to see obviously an answer

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Speaker 2: to it, especially as you can see to the cost

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Speaker 2: of living, which is another big area again as I mentioned,

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Speaker 2: and for seniors as an example, with the Seniors Card,

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Speaker 2: the ant Seniors card that we deliver that program, they

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Speaker 2: might catch fifty five dollars of their motor vehicle license

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Speaker 2: hasn't changed I think for about ten years.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, the cost of living is gone about astronomy.

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Speaker 2: So we'd like to see that at least go up

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Speaker 2: to one hundred rebate. And also i'd like to see

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Speaker 2: the Seniors Recognition Scheme Card either indexed to CPI or

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Speaker 2: another increase of at least one hundred dollars. And another

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Speaker 2: one in there that we're really quite obviously very strong

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Speaker 2: on is a health and wellbeing. If you're mentally stable

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Speaker 2: and you're and you're healthy as well, and especially you

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Speaker 2: can move and remain independent for as long as you

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Speaker 2: want to. So one of those is okay, all our

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Speaker 2: children get a sports voucher, why can't our seniors get

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Speaker 2: a sports voucher to help them go to fitness places

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Speaker 2: or to help them even culturally. So we've put that

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Speaker 2: recommendation on health and wellbeing? Why can't they get a

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Speaker 2: sixty to one hundred dollars sports voucher to go, as

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Speaker 2: I said, to use for things like either tie, cheer,

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Speaker 2: yoga all the things there, or walking, netbook all those ones.

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Speaker 1: You know.

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Speaker 2: Really, as I said, independence relies on being able to move.

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Speaker 2: So that's that's just one of the little recommendations there.

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Speaker 2: The other one obviously a big issue with safety. And really,

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Speaker 2: all those children running around running a mark, why aren't

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Speaker 2: they in school?

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Speaker 3: I think answering themselves that question.

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Speaker 2: Exactly, why should their parents also maybe get the sports voucher?

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Speaker 2: Stop that. I'm sure they'd go, oh, you better go

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Speaker 2: to school now because I can't get one hundred dollars

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Speaker 2: for your footy boots, you know, something like that. Let's

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Speaker 2: let's think outside the box and be a bit more strategic.

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Speaker 2: So do they love the most sport?

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Speaker 1: Well, we all love our sports, do you know me?

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Speaker 1: There's no but so you know, like that the issue

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Speaker 1: of safety for our seniors at the moment, how concerning

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Speaker 1: is it Has it gotten any better since the last

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Speaker 1: time we spoke.

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Speaker 2: No, it's actually gotten worse. Really, Yeah, they're more they're

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Speaker 2: still frightened to go out, and especially as I said,

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Speaker 2: in Alice Springs and even up here, they're just they're

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Speaker 2: just frightened. But she and that's where the isolation occurs.

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Speaker 2: When they have to stay home and they're too frightened

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Speaker 2: and they're using online shopping. Where do they mingle? Who

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Speaker 2: do they talk to?

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Speaker 3: Do you have a coffee?

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Speaker 2: It leads to greater depression, which obviously affects the mental health.

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Speaker 2: So it all goes around in a circle, which is

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Speaker 2: really We.

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Speaker 1: Took a phone call last week from a lady who's

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Speaker 1: lived in the Northern Territory for a long time. I

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Speaker 1: think she said fifty years, or maybe it was forty,

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Speaker 1: but either way, an awful long time. And she had

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Speaker 1: said that her daughter in law actually had to help

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Speaker 1: a senior Territorian who was having I believe, had her

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Speaker 1: bag snatched.

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Speaker 3: I mean, are you.

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Speaker 1: Being contacted about incidents like this or is something like

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Speaker 1: that uncommon for you to hear?

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Speaker 2: No, it's not uncommon in any shape or form, unfortunately.

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Speaker 2: And I, like Leanne Little said, when we see this happening,

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Speaker 2: when we see people fighting, that, why don't we intervene?

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Speaker 2: If I'd intervening out the front of our place, and

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Speaker 2: I've had my staff punched in the face. I've had

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Speaker 2: a two Lisa Bundy bottle lifted over my head. Luckily

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Speaker 2: I can still move quite quickly because it missed me.

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Speaker 2: So why really, overall, why would we want to intervene

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Speaker 2: in things like that. We'd intervene obviously if there's like

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Speaker 2: a senior like myself and things like that, but even then,

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Speaker 2: if somebody's got a machete or a weapon, you know,

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Speaker 2: I'd like to live a little bit longer to enjoy

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Speaker 2: my grandchildren, as everybody would. So saying that we should

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Speaker 2: intervene in things like that, Unfortunately, when there's that sort

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Speaker 2: of violence happening, it's at a risk to the safety

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Speaker 2: and well being of a whole lot of other people.

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Speaker 1: And I think it might be talking about a story

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Speaker 1: that I'd spoken about on ere yesterday there and it

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Speaker 1: was also on so it was on the NT News.

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Speaker 1: I think it was actually Senator Kerrianne Little from South

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Speaker 1: Australia and she was saying after a video, yeah, an

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Speaker 1: Irang a woman who had said that you know that

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Speaker 1: this violence that we're seeing on social media and that

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Speaker 1: kind of thing, that it's sort of becoming all too common.

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Speaker 1: But I think that that's the case right across the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory right now. You know, it's horrendous some of

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Speaker 1: what is going on Terranus.

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Speaker 2: And I've got one of my besties, Alice, been there

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Speaker 2: fifty years, leaving at the end of the year. But

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Speaker 2: her husband, her son was born in Alice. He's taking

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Speaker 2: his family, his wife was born in Alice and their

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Speaker 2: children because they just don't go out anywhere. And especially

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Speaker 2: my friend whose husband has Parkinson's. He's a walking target.

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Speaker 2: So he goes shopping at six seven in the morning

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Speaker 2: when everybody's still asleep. He won't go out after that.

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Speaker 2: So what sort of life again do people like that?

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Speaker 2: If they're not, as I said, totally mobile, they can't

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Speaker 2: defend themselves. But hopefully with the review of the Youth

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Speaker 2: Justice Act, but what I'm hearing out there is very cynical.

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Speaker 2: There's not a lot of faith in either party unfortunately

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Speaker 2: to really fix this. It's gone on too long, too late.

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Speaker 2: The other area of concern is obviously which we've waited

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Speaker 2: a long time for, is voluntary Sister Day. We haven't

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Speaker 2: had a you know, I'm on the VAD panel which

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Speaker 2: I can't talk about too much. That's up to the

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Speaker 2: two chairs. But we haven't had a commitment from the

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Speaker 2: COLP government at all. So is this reportant all this

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Speaker 2: work that's being done, or a Territorian's going to have

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Speaker 2: to wait another election cycle. We want a commitment from

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Speaker 2: both parties. Really, this is important to senior not just

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Speaker 2: senior Territorians, but to all territorians. Don't deny me in

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Speaker 2: my choice.

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Speaker 1: Well, sou Shirah, it is always good to catch up

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Speaker 1: with you. You don't mince your words, that's for sure.

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Speaker 1: And I think that you know both the governments, well

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Speaker 1: both the government and the opposition, I should say, really

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Speaker 1: do need to come out. They need to be quite

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Speaker 1: clear on, you know, their commitments for our senior territorians.

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Speaker 3: I think it's very important that they do.

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Speaker 2: That wisdom, that knowledge, and especially with the self funded

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Speaker 2: retirees who buy coffee, they go shopping, or all our

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Speaker 2: seniors as well. I mean, we don't we can't afford

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Speaker 2: to have our people, our seniors, leaving any regional area

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Speaker 2: at all. We need them. The volunteering they do, the

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Speaker 2: childcare they do help you know that there are a

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Speaker 2: treasure there are living treasures, so we just can't afford

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Speaker 2: to lose them.

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Speaker 1: Sue Shier, we will talk to you again very soon.

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Speaker 1: Always appreciate your time. Thanks so much for coming in

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Speaker 1: this morning pleasure Katie.

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Speaker 3: Thank you