COTA SA made a submission to the South Australian government ahead of the 2024/25 State Budget to highlight our key recommendations for focus areas and investment to address the needs of the 700,000 South Australians aged 50+.

Older South Australians currently comprise about 39% of the state’s population, and this number is predicted to increase to 47% by 2041. Our submission highlighted that there is no universal experience for older South Australians and there is enormous diversity amongst this group. While some older people are fortunate to be financially secure, many are struggling, experiencing cost of living pressures, housing stress and having difficulties accessing the health services that they need to age well.

Our 2024/25 State Budget submission focused on recommendations to improve the health, connectivity and life experiences of older South Australians across three key areas:

• Improving access to health and community connections for older South Australians
• Ensuring housing security for older South Australians
• Enabling older people to age well in regional South Australia.

The key recommendations in our submission were shaped by our consultation with thousands of older South Australians about their experiences and challenges across these areas that impact their everyday lives.

Here are some of the insights older South Australians shared with us:

“I like to help my neighbours and call in on them often to bring them a home cooked meal and anything they need from the shops. My neighbour on the left is a pensioner and lives alone. There have been several occasions now where I have been concerned about his health and wanted to call an ambulance for him. But my husband and others tell me not to because it is too expensive, even when he needs help. I never know what to do.”

“I have a number of health and mobility concerns and I recently gave up my driver’s license as I no longer felt safe on the road. I live around 30 minutes out of a regional town centre and I take community transport or get help from friends to do my shopping and attend medical appointments. When I go out, in many cases I have to wait four hours for a bus to get me back home. I have to schedule my life around the availability of the service, which means I sometimes miss out on social interactions and access to groceries. It makes me feel very isolated.“

“I recently separated from my partner and I had to move out of our family home. I have been searching for a rental property, but they are so expensive and hard to find. I have no choice but to sleep in my car because I don’t have family to put me up, even for a little while. I’m lucky I have a few friends who help me out. The hardest thing is keeping up appearances at work. I really don’t want them to find out, but I am really struggling at the moment. I would do anything to find temporary accommodation while I find a home.”

We believe there are items that should be addressed in this year’s budget to improve the health, connectivity and life experiences of older South Australians. These include:

• Enabling older people living in regional areas to be active in their communities by improving transport options.
• Improving older peoples’ access to digital services in regional areas to facilitate greater access to virtual healthcare.
• Providing a more affordable and accessible ambulance service for older people on low incomes.
• Improving housing accessibility and affordability for older people by increasing social housing stock and institutional investment in ‘build to rent’.

We want to hear your experiences and stories around these issues, please contact us on 08 8232 0422 or email cotasa@cotasa.org.au if you have a story or experience that you’d like to share with us.