Our new report, Voices of Older South Australians: Evidence and insights into the state of ageing in South Australia, reveals that nearly half of older South Australians surveyed are cutting back on heating, cooling, food and healthcare. as cost-of-living pressures intensify.

This comprehensive report, Voices of Older South Australians: Evidence and insights into the state of ageing in South Australia, brings together the voices of thousands of South Australians aged 50+ across metropolitan and regional areas, revealing their experiences of what it means to age in this state.

The new research, based on continuous, mixed-method engagement from COTA SA’s The Plug-In reveals that even though many older South Australians see ageing as a positive phase of life - characterised by greater freedom, autonomy, and friendships and family - a growing cohort of older people believe it is getting tougher for older South Australians. They report feeling “forgotten and ignored” on the political agenda, particularly with cost-of-living, health and wellbeing, and issues with regional areas.

Cost of living

The COTA SA report highlighted older people are finding the rising costs of essentials such as food, energy and rent are outpacing incomes like the Age Pension. These pressures have led to daily trade-offs, with 48 per cent of people reducing social activities and 46 per cent cutting back on their heating and cooling. Some key statistics include:

• 93 per cent of older people reported cost increases for food
• 83 per cent are paying more for energy
• 80 per cent have seen an increase in insurance costs
• 45 per cent reported a significant reduction of their income over the past 12 months

Deb, a 68-year-old woman living in South Australia, told COTA SA she is unable to retire as she needs to keep up with rental costs – issues that compound every day.

“It becomes a case of, what do I deal with today? Do I deal with my mental health? Do I deal with my emotional health?... And then you throw the whole lot together and it's just all too hard and you fall into a heap. And there goes another day, and then you get up the next day and its double what it was the day before,” explained Deb.

COTA SA Chief Executive, Miranda Starke, said that housing status is a key determinant for financial security. “The cost of maintaining and insuring a home is out of the reach of many Age Pension recipients, and older renters in particular are among the most financially disadvantaged.”

“Increasing numbers of older people are making trade offs and going without to make ends meet. These trade-offs directly erode social connection, independence, and health. Hardship is not the same for everyone and we found that people aged 50–65 are facing particular challenges due to ageism in employment, insecure work and housing, and gaps in eligibility for support services.”

“It’s the time of year we’d want everyone to be thinking about spending relaxing time with family, enjoying Christmas lunch, and giving gifts to loved ones, but unfortunately, many under financial strain will be finding it a particularly stressful time of year,” Miranda said.

Health and wellbeing

Access to health and wellbeing services remains another major concern, with costs, long waits and workforce shortages making healthcare access difficult to maintain, especially for people who are financially insecure.

Older South Australians who self-reported as financially insecure were almost twice as likely to report finding it very difficult to access healthcare, at 43 per cent, compared with those who felt financially secure, at 24 per cent.

To address this, older people are calling for more affordable preventative and community-based health programs.

South Australia is the last state or territory where free emergency ambulance transport for full age pensioners is not provided, with one man in his early 80s outlining how he refrained from calling the emergency health service when having chest pains due to the fear of high costs.

“Free ambulance would have been a positive [in the state budget announcement]. A few years ago, I had bad chest pains and didn't call an ambulance for fear of high cost that I knew I could not afford. Luckily a neighbour took me to hospital,” he said.

Regional issues

Almost one in three South Australians live outside metropolitan Adelaide and the proportion of older people in these areas is growing, with the state’s oldest populations living on the Lower Fleurieu and Yorke Peninsulas.

However, older people in regional areas face additional, compounding disadvantages, such as limited access to GPs and specialists, limited availability of bulk-billing services, heavy reliance on travel to Adelaide for care, and very little public transport, including gaps in schemes like the Patient Assistance Transport Scheme (PATS). The growing shift to digital-only services is making it harder for many regional South Australians, creating barriers to their access to essential services, information and social connection.

Miranda continued, “From our conversations in regional areas, older people feel ‘forced into the digital world’, as in-person options such as local bank branches and government support services disappear. While digital access is part of modern life, it cannot come at the expense of inclusion, choice and support for older people who have a lack of options.”

“Our mission at COTA SA is to use these lived experiences to shape our policy and advocacy for older South Australians, grounded in their voices and focused on making ageing a time of possibility, opportunity, and influence for all,” Miranda concluded.