COTA Victoria Annual Report 2012 – 2013 A 2 ri por 013

COTA Victoria
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A
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Annual Report
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013
2012 – 2013
www.cotavic.org.au
President’s and CEO’s Report
This past year has been one of change for COTA Victoria.
Janet Wood stood down from the role of President but
remained as an active member of the Board and Policy
Council. Elizabeth Jensen became the President after a
number of years on the Board and Policy Council as well
as the COTA Victoria representative to the COTA Australia
Board. Last year Sue Hendy, CEO went on long service
leave and we were ably led by David Craig, and so Sue’s
return in January was a smooth transition back into the
organisation as David stayed on as a senior manager.
After a good deal of soul searching and discussion, we
developed a new strategic plan which puts our focus on
the development of age friendly communities and the
re-organisation of our work so we are more inclusive and
reach more people in more places. The implementation
of new strategies meant the adoption of a new staff
structure which was undertaken in the latter half of the
financial year.
that the SRV Joint Venture is now dissolving and SRV will
be a business unit of COTA Victoria, with the three joint
partners continuing to contribute to and support SRV in
its new form. We thank all involved for bringing SRV to
the next phase of its evolution.
We would like to acknowledge the wonderful work
of our volunteers and staff for without them our work
would not be possible. Their dedication, skills and
commitment ensure that COTA can respond well to
the many challenges, the varied interests, cultural
backgrounds and languages of older Victorians in
diverse locations.
We would also like to acknowledge the long standing
staff who retired this year – Bethia Stephenson, Debbie
Brennan, Pat Anger, and wish them well.
We have embraced new forms of information
dissemination to ensure more people know of our
information service, our programs, policies and
advocacy work. Our print and digital social media
strategy has been very effective in raising our profile.
This year Seniors Rights Victoria (SRV) celebrated its
5th Anniversary. SRV has developed over this time,
providing a highly regarded, responsive service to older
people who are experiencing elder abuse. It is timely
Elizabeth Jensen
PRESIDENT
Board members
Policy Council
Elizabeth Jensen – President
Robert Barron – Deputy President
Ian Jungwirth – Treasurer
Gary Henry
Robert Yung
Lynette Moore
Patrick Moore
Regina Perton
Janet Wood
Robert Barron – Chair
David Brant
Elizabeth Jensen
Randal Harkin
Sue Healy
Marion Lau
Cathy Mead
Sue Hendy
CEO
Patrick Moore
Terry Seedsman
Sally Stabback
Penny Rawlins
Lorraine Wheeler
Janet Wood
COVER: left to right: OM:NI group with their award (from left: Ken Ramplin, John Doutch, Hon David Davis, Spencer Wanklyn),
Back in the game participant, COTA Peer educators at Pensioner Rally.
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COTA Age Friendly
Victoria: Creating great
places for all ages.
Cities and Rural Communities Guide where the emphasis
is on older people doing the auditing, consulting and
reporting on what makes or prevents their community
from being age friendly. COTA’s role is to assist older
people work with others in their communities of all ages
and in all areas to bring about positive changes.
COTA Victoria was delighted to receive a two year
funding grant from the Lord Mayors Charitable
Foundation. With this generous support COTA launched
‘COTA Age Friendly Victoria’ to enable older people in
twenty locations across Victoria to come together to
create great places for all ages.
In 2002 the United Nations adopted the Political
Declaration and Madrid Plan of Action on Ageing
(MIPPA), calling for changes in attitudes, policies and
practices at all levels of society to fulfill the enormous
potential of ageing in the 21st century. MIPPA gives
specific recommendations to the full and effective
participation of older people in society. In the same year,
and at the same meeting, the World Health Organization
released its Active Ageing Policy Framework to provide
leadership in policy and services to improve the
health and wellbeing of older people. Active ageing
is ‘the process of optimizing opportunities for health,
participation, security and life-long learning in order to
enhance quality of life as people age.’
All of COTA’s work is about creating age friendly
communities and this reaches into every aspect of our
extensive program.
To be successful we will work with other organisations
who share our vision of age friendly communities,
such as our links with the Municipal Association of
Victoria (MAV), local government authorities, seniors
organisations and other interested groups. This builds
on the work already done by COTA and supported by the
State Government.
This first year has been a foundation year – one of
planning and developing strategies, devising an age
friendly evaluation framework, preparing training
materials and initiating contact and holding discussions
with older people in their communities.
To understand COTA’s vision we need to look at the
guide lines provided by the World Health Organisation
(WHO). COTA is using the WHO’s Global Age Friendly
Age Friendly Cities and Communities make concrete
the WHO Active Ageing Policy Framework. It guides
local communities to find new ways to design policies,
services and infrastructure while also adapting housing,
transport, health services, and recreation to ensure older
people can contribute and enjoy a good quality of life.
Through Age Friendly Victoria, older people will be
encouraged and supported to be involved in creating
communities for all ages.
Launch of COTA Age Friendly Victoria at the Melbourne Town Hall, March 2013 From left: Elizabeth Jensen, President of COTA
Victoria; Sue Hendy, CEO COTA Victoria; Kathleen Brasher, COTA Manager of Age Friendly Victoria; Catherine Brown, CEO,
Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation; Lew Wheeler, COTA Peer Educator; Mike Zafiropoulos, Trustee, Lord Mayor’s Charitable
Foundation.
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Inquiry into
Opportunities for
Participation of
Victorian Seniors.
Policy, Advocacy
and Research
COTA Victoria’s Policy Council is the governing body for
COTA’s work in the key area of advocacy and Influence
and meets monthly.
Human Rights of Older People
COTA continues to champion the human rights of
older people whether it is in the right to independent
information or at the United Nations. In May,
Dr Jane Barratt, Secretary General of the International
Federation of Ageing, spoke passionately at the Seniors
Conference, about older people leading the way in
lobbying the Federal Government to support a United
Nations Convention on the Rights of Older People. Dr
Barratt highlighted the importance of an International
Convention in promoting and protecting the rights and
dignity of older people worldwide.
COTA has been engaged in the global discussions on
strengthening the rights of older people and has been
represented at the UN meetings by Sue Hendy.
Rights on
the road: the
experiences of
older Victorian
drivers
COTA Victoria has
continued its work
with the Victorian
Human Rights and
Equal Opportunity
Commission (VHREOC)
to identify areas of
discrimination for
older people.
The release of the Report ‘Rights on the road: the
experiences of older Victorian drivers’ in 2012 at the
COTA Annual General Meeting presented the compelling
evidence that, when it comes to older drivers, ageism
and age discrimination remain significant issues in our
community. COTA and VHREOC are working together to
implement recommendations from Rights on the Road,
in particular with VicRoads regarding the experiences
of age discrimination within the community and how
this plays out through third party reporting. COTA and
VHREOC continue their advocacy in seeking to minimise
the current systemic discrimination of older drivers.
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In February 2011 the
Victorian Parliament
asked the Family and
Community Development
Committee to inquire
into opportunities for
participation of Victorian
Seniors. The report from
this inquiry was tabled in the Parliament in August 2012.
COTA Victoria played an active role in the inquiry
process which included - presenting to the Committee
twice, making a formal submission, organising two
forums on the inquiry (one for older people and seniors
organisations, and one for organisations with an interest
in seniors’ issues), organising a lunch for members of
the Committee and other key stakeholders with Dr Alex
Kalache, and liaising with the Committee to assist them
in their inquiry process. COTA also campaigned at a local
and state level for a whole of government approach to
ageing.
The Government accepted many of the
recommendations of the committee, including the
appointment of a Commissioner for Senior Victorians.
The Commissioner will chair a Ministerial Advisory
Committee and report to the Minister for Ageing.
The Ministerial Advisory Committee will be empowered
to develop a whole of government older persons’ action
plan, detailing strategies and actions underway across
departments to address participation of older people.
Victoria’s
Road Safety
Strategy
Transport and road
safety continue
to be important
issues for older
Australians. COTA
Victoria contributed
to the development
of Victoria’s new
10-year road
safety strategy and
promoted discussion
amongst members.
Improving road safety for older (and all) Victorians
requires a multi-faceted approach to enable older
people to maintain mobility as car users, pedestrians
and cyclists. This is an area of policy advocacy that COTA
continues to be active in.
Taxi Industry
Inquiry Report
COTA Victoria was
pleased to work
with the Minister
for Health in its
response to the Taxi
Industry Inquiry,
encouraging
the
th
h Vi
Victorian
t i governmentt tto ttake
k priority
i
action on
recommendations to create more accessible, affordable
and flexible taxi services. COTA strongly supported the
recommendations from “Customers First” draft report, in
particular its clear focus on the outcomes for customers
and the aim to integrate the taxi Industry into a broader
transport planning framework. COTA alongside other
community sector organisations urged the government
to act on the entire reform package.
Research
Invisibility
Advancing the human rights of older people is a key
priority for COTA Victoria and one of its policy focus
areas for 2012-13. The Human Rights Working Group
reporting to the Policy Council identified the theme of
‘invisibility’ for further exploration.
Carers
COTA is working with Carers Victoria on a research
project funded by the Department of Health (Victoria),
to find out more about carers’ experiences of the
service system. The research aims to identify what
would enable older people and their carers to be more
engaged by services and what kind of relationship
carers want to have with formal services. Over 100
older people and carers have taken part in the survey,
interviews or focus groups. The research report is due
for release soon.
Other Research
COTA Victoria worked with a number of organisations on
key research areas including:
•
Victoria Walks: research on the views of older people
on walking and traffic speed;
•
Melbourne University: creating an indicator based on
access to services for older people;
•
ARCHES: sexual assault of older women;
•
Monash University: health literacy;
•
Monash University: Medicine wise;
•
Women’s Health in the North: living longer on less;
•
NARI: Older GLBTI people’s experience of depression;
•
Department of Health and NARI: Healthy Ageing
Literature Review 2012.
Anecdotally, COTA Victoria is aware that many older
people experience a feeling of invisibility in a range
of situations. The recent report by VEOHRC ‘Rights in
focus: report on the rights of older Victorians’ also picked
up on this theme. Accepting her award as Australian of
the Year on Australia Day, Ita Buttrose spoke for many
when she said that a lot of older people felt they had
lost their voice and that ‘they feel like they don’t have an
opinion, they are not respected, they are invisible’.
To explore this experience more comprehensively COTA
has been conducting a small qualitative study, which
will inform further research and activity as well as
shaping our advocacy.
We will better our understanding of the different ways
in which older people feel invisible, the impacts of these
experiences, and the strategies they use to counter
these impacts.
This will provide us with a deeper understanding of the
experience of ‘invisibility’ for older people, strengthen
COTA Victoria’s advocacy, and inform potential future
work.
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COTA VIC representation on committees
•
Victorian utilities Network
COTA Victoria represented older people on a
number of state government committees:
•
Consumer Utilities Network
•
Older Adults Physical Activity Directory Steering
Group
•
Cultural Diversity Partners Network
•
Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria: Elder Abuse
Project Steering Committee
•
Environmental Sustainability Reference Group
•
Victorian Pedestrian Advisory Council
•
Consumer Affairs Victoria
•
Advance Metering Infrastructure Ministerial Advisory
Committee
•
Fair Go for Pensioners Coalition
•
Home and Community Care (HACC) Departmental
Advisory Committee
•
Ageing Well at Home with Broadband
•
Aids and Equipment Action Alliance
•
Statewide Elder Abuser Reference Group
•
Research Projects
•
Statewide Family Violence Reference Group
•
•
Department of Health Elder Abuse Professional
Education
Preventing Sexual Assault of Older Women,
Australian Research Centre, La Trobe University
•
•
Consumer Affairs Victoria Working Together Forum
Royal District Nursing Service Helen Macpherson
Smith Institute of Community Health
•
Seniors Online Reference Group
•
Interpreting mood through physical activity project,
National Ageing Research Institute
•
Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency
•
WISE Medicines Care Project, Austin Health and
Monash University
Sector alliances:
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•
Victorian Council of Social Services – Access to public
transport
•
Victorian Council of Social Services – Victorian
Universal Housing Alliance
•
Safe Speed Interest Group
•
COTA Victoria provided input into policy
submissions at the State and Commonwealth level
including:
•
Senate Inquiry into Human Rights and AntiDiscrimination Bill (2012)
Victorian Pedestrian Advisory Committee
•
The Victorian State Budget
•
Regional Travel Training Reference group
•
Accessible Public Transport Action Plan 2013-2017
•
Yarra Water Consultative Committee
•
Taxi Industry Inquiry “Customers First”
•
Consumer Affairs Marketing Forum
•
Victoria’s Road safety Strategy Directions paper
•
Australian Energy Regulator
COTA Peer Educators
Participation of Older
Victorians
VOLUNTEERS
COTA Victoria, an organisation run for and by older
people could not exist without its dedicated volunteers.
There are 130 volunteers participating in current COTA
activities.
COTA ensures that volunteers are given roles that match
their interests, skills and time with real meaningful work.
This year volunteers were at the forefront of COTA’s Age
Friendly work and will play an even greater role as the
program is rolled out throughout Victoria.
Volunteers work at Expos and special events, in COTA
reception and administration, in policy development
and deliver COTA’s education program besides working
on COTA’s Board, the Policy Council and representing
COTA to other organisations.
Through personal reflections and stories, a panel
of speakers discussed the question ‘What does it
mean to die well?’ The panel members were author
and storyteller Arnold Zable, Fr Geoffrey King from
Melbourne’s United Faculty of Theology, and Janet
Wood, member of the COTA Victoria Board and Policy
Council. David Craig from COTA Victoria facilitated the
session.
It was a highly successful day that engaged and
stimulated great discussion and recommendations for
COTA action into the future.
The Twitter Table at the Conference was new this year
and proved to be a very popular skill sharing event.
Conference participants were assisted to put Twitter on
their smart phones or tablets, as well as send their first
tweet. In addition, they were invited to tweet questions
to Age Discrimination Commissioner Susan Ryan, who
responded via Twitter over the conference lunchbreak.
SENIORS CONFERENCE 2013
COTA’s 2013 State Conference held in Melbourne
on June 5 was entitled Respect, Dignity, Rights. The
conference addressed the relevance of human rights in
the daily lives of older people. Dr Jane Barratt, Secretary
General of the International Federation on Ageing, gave
the opening presentation on ageism and discrimination
and the importance of a UN International Convention in
promoting and protecting the rights and dignity of older
people worldwide.
Over 170 people attended the conference and
participated in a series of workshops and discussions
including advanced care planning and end of life issues;
making informed family agreements; ageing in place
and housing affordability; creating accessible and
affordable public transport; age friendly communities;
the rights of older drivers; consumer advocacy skills;
hospital discharge planning and shaping aged care
services for the future.
Jane Barratt, Secretary General, Intenational
Federation of Ageing
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Pensioner Rally outside Parliament House.
FAIR GO FOR PENSIONERS
Medicines and You
COTA Victoria was one of the foundation organisations
that formed the Fair Go for Pensioners Coalition together
with the Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria and
continues to act as co-convenor of the coalition in
Victoria. As a national coalition of community and
pensioner groups including retired members of various
trade unions, senior citizens’ clubs, ethnic communities
and church groups, the aim is to draw attention to the
plight of pensioners who are doing it tough and to
lobby for an increase in pensions and concessions.
Over 140,000 people are hospitalised every year because
of medicine related problems. For nine years COTA
in partnership with the National Prescribing Service
has provided information sessions to help seniors use
medicines safely and effectively.
In addition to providing the secretariat role and policy
expertise, COTA supported the Coalition’s public events
– two rallies and a meeting of affiliate organisations.
In October 2012 a rally was held outside the State
Library and in July 2013 a Justice for Pensioner Rally
was held on the steps of the Victorian Parliament. Both
received considerable media attention with the State
Library rally covered live by Channel Nine TV News
throughout Australia.
PEER EDUCATION SESSIONS
Last year COTA Victoria delivered 80 talks.
OM:NI
The encouragement of men to participate is important.
Older Men New Ideas (OM:NI) groups have been going
since 2004 providing important social benefits to its
members. There are 22 groups in Victoria. The aim of
these men’s discussion groups is to empower older
men to take greater control of their lives. The discussion
groups are held in an informal setting and are about
mateship and belonging - all important for men’s health
and wellbeing.
COTA has an established program of community
education and information activities. This year 30 Peer
Educators presented over 260 presentations to over
6,000 people. Sessions were given in a number of
languages including Arabic, Cambodian, Greek, Italian,
Mandarin, Polish, Russian and Vietnamese.
This highly successful program is staffed entirely by
COTA volunteers and is run by men for men.
Beyond maturityblues
COTA Green Sages is working for a sustainable and
caring community in which older people take action on
climate change to create an environment our children
and grandchildren can live in with joy and respect.
Around one million Australian adults live with
depression and over two million have an anxiety
disorder. This year COTA delivered 95 sessions on anxiety
and depression in older people in partnership with the
beyondblue organisation.
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Medicines and You as a national project involved all
State and Territory COTAs and delivered 6,205 sessions
to over 130,000 people involving 375 Peer Educators
over nine years.
In 2013 OM:NI won the Minister for Health’s Volunteer
Award for Outstanding Team Achievement.
GREEN SAGES
Successful projects included the Good Life Club at
Carlton where people are encouraged to grow their own
food and the planting of a new ‘healing garden’ in Royal
Park for patients at Melbourne Health.
Seniors Information
Victoria
Access to reliable and independent information
empowers older people and enables them to make
good decisions. COTA is also assisted in identifying
emerging and important issues.
Reliable and readily available information is a critical
factor in enabling people to make good decisions and
remain active members of their communities.
For over fifty years COTA Victoria has provided an
information service. Since the expansion of the service in
2001 to Seniors Information Victoria, with support from
the Victorian government, thousands of older people
have utilised the service. The information provided has
enabled people to clarify issues and be aware of the
options available to them.
Older Victorians are a diverse group with varied
information needs and different preferences for
accessing information. This year SIV responded to just
on 15,000 enquiries via phone, face to face contact,
email and the web. Many more older people received
information through the various outreach activities.
This year SIV presented or facilitated sixty information
sessions in metropolitan and regional areas, including a
visit to Langi Kal Kal prison. These information sessions
covered a variety of topics including housing options,
understanding the aged care system, home care
services, maintaining independence, advanced care
planning, financial issues, accessing the equity in the
home, social media and staying safe online. In response
to an ongoing need, COTA volunteer, Basil Theophilos
continued to assist people with understanding their
phones.
This year we were partnered by other organisations such
as Victoria Police who referred older people to us who
needed support; Centrelink who provided a financial
information services officer for monthly appointments at
COTA, the Shire of Whittlesea on a National Broadband
Network project on videoconferencing to people’s
homes.
This year promotional mail outs went to local
government service providers, state electorate offices
and Federal Members of Parliament, aged and disability
services, libraries, community registers and community
information centres, U3As, older person’s clubs and
groups.
As a means of creating awareness within culturally
and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities SBS ran
COTA community announcements in seven languages.
Advertisements were also placed in the Il Globo and
Neos Kosmos. An article regarding information sessions
was included in Golden Years magazine produced by the
Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria. A fridge magnet
was developed this year in English, Italian, Greek,
Chinese and Vietnamese and first distributed at the
Cultural Diversity & Aged Care Expo at the Melbourne
Town Hall in April. In 2013, SIV was again invited to
present a workshop on ‘How Senior Women Can access
Information” as part of the Victorian Immigrant and
Refugee Women’s Coalition “Senior Women Champions
Project”. The project connects socially isolated
immigrant and refugee women to information as well as
inspiring them to become leaders and advocates.
Last May a review to establish the future direction
of the information service was undertaken. The
resulting proposal, with its emphasis on increasing
SIV’s accessibility through a mix of traditional methods
and new technologies and outreach provisions was
implemented and again supported by government.
As this valuable service moves in to the next phase
of providing information to older Victorians, COTA
acknowledges the significant contribution of departing
SIV staff members Bethia Stevenson, Debbie Brennan,
Pat Anger, Stacey van Dueren and former manager, Kris
Spark. The staff has made an extraordinary contribution
to the provision of the information to older Victorians
over many years.
Left to right: Wilma Marmur, Kris Spark, Edith Chen
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Playing Balloon Ball: from left: Bing Lian Liang, Ai Zhen Sun, Lan Ing Ho
Active Ageing
program received funding from the Moonee Valley City
Council.
COTA developed and delivered a comprehensive
training program for the fitness industry, raising their
level of understanding about the capabilities and
needs of older people, with funding from Sport and
Recreation Victoria. COTA visited Bairnsdale, Bendigo,
Stawell, Geelong, and Berwick as well as Melbourne City
providing one-day workshops on physical activity and
older people. A series of information brochures was also
prepared.
Living Longer Living Stronger (LLLS)
COTA Victoria worked with three state sporting
associations to increase participation of older people
into badminton at Glen Eira Sports and Aquatic Centre,
table tennis at Moe / Newborough Leisure Centre and
cycling at Preston Cycling Club.
Sport and Recreation Victoria funding also enabled
COTA to work with peak organisations such as Arthritis
Victoria, Alzheimer’s Australia Victoria, Diabetes
Australia, Heart Foundation Victoria and the Cancer
Council Victoria.
Be Active Your Way
Over one hundred information sessions on physical
activities were provided to 2,000 older people in the Be
Active Your Way program.
Back in the Game (BITG)
This fun activity engaged older people in sports and
activities to improve their fitness. The program in
Flemington engaged women from different cultural
backgrounds including Chinese, Greek and Vietnamese
to participate in badminton, hockey, volleyball, skittles
and tennis. The oldest participant was 92 years old and
was willing to try everything. The skill levels of the
participants improved immensely and throughout the
sessions there is always laughter and enjoyment. This
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This acclaimed program has been around for over twelve
years. It has supported many thousands of older people
develop their physical strength and remain active.
Thousands of older people are currently enrolled in the
program in 120 venues across Victoria in leisure centres,
YMCA’s, Community Health Centres, and with personal
trainers. From Mallacoota U3A to Stawell Community
Health, participants are developing their strength,
health and wellbeing.
COTA Cycling
Cycling has proved to be a popular activity and COTA
Cycling has developed a strong following. Rides are held
eaxch Wednesday and make use of Melbourne’s network
of bike paths. Bike riding is a social and enjoyable
activity easily incorporated into day-to-day life and is
suitable for all levels of ability. People start riding for
their health and fitness, and often keep riding for the
great company that riding provides. Jane Bennett, leader
of COTA’s Cycling group plays a crucial role in organising
and maintaining COTA Cycling and is ably supported by
a strong leadership team.
Senior Rights Victoria
Senior Rights Victoria now in its sixth year continues to
provide information and advice and respond to people
experiencing elder abuse.
Individual help and assistance
The Helpline received 1,835 telephone calls. The
majority of these calls related to issues of elder abuse,
with some callers reporting more than one type of
abuse. Frequently financial and emotional/psychological
abuses co-occur. The Helpline staff referred 686 callers to
the legal and advocacy team for elder abuse advice and
support.
Older people constituted 71 per cent (375 clients) of
people contacting the integrated advocacy and legal
service for advice. The remainder were service providers
or ‘third party’ callers. This is consistent with Seniors
Rights Victoria’s ethos of empowerment through direct
practice with older people. 65 per cent of the advices
were given to older women. Financial abuse accounted
for 35 per cent of abuse reports, making it the most
prevalent type of abuse. Emotional/psychological abuse
was the next most prevalent type of abuse, at 34 per
cent.
During the year we had a total of 279 new cases opened
and 280 cases closed.
World Elder Abuse Awareness Day
(WEAAD) 2013
June 15 is the annual day designated by the United
Nations to raise awareness of elder abuse throughout
the world. In Melbourne, for a very first, the Victorian
Arts Centre spire lit up in a resplendent purple (the
signature colour for WEAAD) for the weekend and an
information stall was held at Federation Square. Other
events were held in Bendigo where the historic Bendigo
Post Office was also lit in a magnificent purple hue. In
Shepparton attention was drawn to elder abuse by
celebrity chef Peter Russell-Clarke in his presentation
on healthy ageing.
Melbourne’s Arts Centre Spire lit for WEAA
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Care for Your Assets
The exchange of assets for the promise of life long care
can be a significant problem for older people.
A guide for older people, Care for Your Assets; Money,
Ageing and Family was launched by Karen Toohey, the
acting Victorian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity
Commissioner, at the Bendigo Town Hall. It is directed
at older people considering moving in with family
members. The topics include making a family agreement,
and Centrelink and taxation implications. The Care for
Your Assets project was funded by the Legal Services
Board.
Also published this year was a peer reviewed law reform
paper published in the Elder Law Review Journal,
Volume 7, entitled Out of the Shadows: A Discussion on
Law Reform for the prevention of financial abuse of older
people.
Referral Pathways Project
The Referral Pathways Project was a significant research
project which explored client needs and mapped
existing services, identifying those well placed to
respond to elder abuse. Research included interviews
with clients and service providers, data analysis
including comparisons with like services interstate and
service mapping providing a better understanding of
what works and what are the barriers and gaps.
Infocom client and data management
system
With Seniors Information Victoria we produced the 2013
Legal Topics for Seniors Diary 2013 which was hugely
successful with 11,000 copies distributed to seniors
across Victoria. The diary provided legal information
relevant to retirement and ageing well.
Community and Professional Education
The Community Education Program delivered 68
sessions across Victoria to 2830 participants. Of these,
eight sessions were delivered with the assistance of
interpreters to 197 participants and 24 sessions were
delivered to 1,018 participants in regional and rural
Victoria.
The program also delivered 34 professional education
sessions to 1,130 participants. Of these, three sessions
were to CALD workers and four sessions were delivered
in regional/rural areas to 107 participants.
The need for improved understandings of men’s
experiences of elder abuse was the impetus for an article
published on The Shed Online and a webinar for the
Australian Association of Gerontologists.
Both addressed attitudes of men in seeking help,
including notions of masculinity and their responsibility
to be the family provider.
Throughout the year we collaborated with the Ethnic
Communities Council of Victoria (ECCV) to plan and
deliver training programs to bi-cultural workers.
After persistent development and testing, we now have
an excellent client and data management system.
The new system collects the evidence consistently and
methodically and gives us information on the types of
abuse and abuser details.
We would like to thank the following government and philanthropic organisations for their funding and
organisations for their support and partnering of COTA Victoria’s work throughout the period covered by this
report. Our activities and achievements could not have happened without this significant financial support.
This organisation is supported by financial assistance from the Commonwealth and Victorian governments.
BEYOND BLUE
National Prescribing Service
Carers Victoria
Parks Victoria
City of Melbourne
Rotary Club of Melbourne Inc
City of Moonee Valley
State Trustees
City of Greater Dandenong
VicHealth
Department of Health
Victoria Legal Aid
Department of Sport and Recreation
Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights
Commission
Fuji Xerox Australia Pty Ltd
Legal Services Board
Lord Mayors Charitable Foundation
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National Ageing Research Institute Ltd
Victoria Law Foundation
YMCA Victoria
Communications
and Media
COTA Victoria promotes and shares essential information
and stories on the achievements of older people through
many media channels.
This year with the appointment of a Social Media and
Marketing Officer, COTA has begun to raise its public
profile through online and social media channels, as
well as building the skills of COTA staff, volunteers and
members through a social media education program.
Older people and those interested in ageing issues can
now be connected to COTA through the website, the
fortnightly e newsletter, COTA CONNECTS as well as our
Twitter and Facebook pages which are updated daily
with news and coming events and links to interesting
articles.
An important information vehicle is the specialist media,
both online and seniors’ newspapers. The major monthly
newspapers, Fifty Plus and The Senior continue to give
good coverage of COTA.
Mainstream newspapers are often criticised for ignoring
ageing issues but this year we saw an increased
coverage with over 100 references to COTA.
Our policies and views continue to be sought by radio
stations and television current affairs programs and
there was increased coverage this year.
The COTA radio program on Melbourne’s Golden Days
Radio continued to be broadcast each Wednesday and
Friday with Dudley Chamberlain interviewing CEO Sue
Hendy.
Noeline Brown, Ambassador for Ageing with Basil
Theophilos, COTA’S mobile phone expert at the annual
volunteers lunch.
Janet Wood and David Brant using Twitter at Seniors
Conference.
In order to reach non English speaking older Victorians,
SBS Radio and ethnic station 3ZZZ FM promoted COTA.
With the increase in activities being held throughout
many regional Victorian centres and the roll out of Age
Friendly Victoria more attention has been given to these
areas and now there is increased coverage of COTA in
regional media.
13
Treasurers Report
June 2013
On behalf of the Board of Management I have great
pleasure in presenting the Treasurer’s Report for the
financial year ended 30 June 2013.
The final result at 30th June 2013 was a surplus of
$17,141. (11-12 surplus $25,770).
COTA has weathered some difficult conditions over
the course of the past 12 months. Achieving this
surplus required considerable focus and commitment
from management and staff and their work is to be
commended.
The challenges that presented themselves during
the year included a decline in government income
due to a number of projects reaching the end of their
contract period plus commission and royalties’ income
declining. This was further compounded by investment
income falling due to low interest rates and reduced
funds available to invest. The impact of the above was
minimised however by the ongoing focus to grow
other sources of revenue – with program fees received
performing better than the prior year and other income
such as fees for managing projects, sponsorship and
donations all exceeding that received in the 2012 year.
Further cost minimisation strategies were put in place
during the year including moving Seniors Information
Victoria into the Block Arcade premises thus creating
significant rental savings. In addition overall operational
expenditure was closely monitored and reduced. In total
savings of $84,000 were achieved.
Looking to the future and the ongoing viability of COTA,
a significant re-structure and review of the organisation
occurred in the final months of the financial year. The
outcome was a number of redundancies occurred
prior to 30th June. This is why there is an increase in
employment expenses of $56,000 compared to the 2012
year. All costs associated with the re-structure have been
absorbed in the 2013 year allowing COTA to commence
the 2014 year with a cost effective, unencumbered
structure ready to harness the opportunities and
possibilities available to it.
The following table has been provided to give an
overview of the key income and expenditure items of
the organisation for the 12/13 year and a comparison
with the prior year’s results.
The table highlights the result from ordinary activities
before depreciation. This shows a surplus of $56,000,
a decline on last year’s result by $2,000. The operating
result after depreciation is a surplus of $17,000
compared to a surplus of $26,000 last year.
Please refer to the financial statements and notes for a
more detailed explanation of the financial position as
summarised in the table below.
At balance date, COTA’s net asset position is $816,702.
In conclusion, these reserves currently provide an
adequate safeguard against unexpected or significant
future costs or sudden decline in income.
COTA has positioned itself well to tackle whatever
lies ahead over the next 12 months and beyond. Some
difficult decisions have needed to be made but by
doing so have ensured the organisation is well placed
to achieve its Vision and Mission for many years to come.
I wish to acknowledge the finance team for their tireless
work under difficult conditions over the past twelve
months and thank them for their ongoing commitment
and dedication.
Ian Jungwirth
Treasurer
Key Results
Income
12/13
000’s
11/12
000’s
Variance
000’s
Govt Grants
2,518
2,573
(55)
Investment Income
75
98
(23)
Program Fees
17
1
16
Membership, Commissions & Sales Income
244
264
(20)
Other Income
73
21
52
Total Income
2,927
2,957
(30)
Staff Costs
1,784
1,728
(56)
Other operating costs
1,087
1,171
84
Total Expenditure
2,871
2,899
28
Total Ordinary Operating profit/(loss) before depreciation
56
58
(2)
Less: Depreciation
(39)
(32)
(7)
Total Operating profit/(loss) inc Depreciation
17
26
(9)
Expenditure
14
1
2
3
4
5
6
5
1. COTA fitness Instructor Forum in Bendigo. 2. Father Bob Maquire addresses Fair Go for Pensioners Rally. 3 Maria Garzo
and grandchildren enjoying Twister in the Block Arcade. 4 COTA Information’s Kris Spark receives appreciation award from the
Tamil community in Melbourne. 5 Volunteers at Seniors Awards at Government House. 6 Cyclists Larry and Robyn Bird.
7 Re-activate in the Park. Participants in COTA program in Braeside Park.
15
Council on the Ageing Victoria
Level 4, Block Arcade
98 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne Vic 3000
Tel:
(03) 9654 4443
Toll Free:
1800 136 381
Fax:
(03) 9654 4456
Email:
[email protected]
Web:
www.cotavic.org.au
Incorporated Association Registered No. A022312N
ABN 81 960 500 420