Thank you to all who provided their feedback in our most recent State Budget Survey. These results will assist COTA SA in developing approaches to ensure that the voices of older South Australians are heard.

A total of 195 older people completed our short survey to tell us how they felt about the announcements made in the June State Budget. Around a quarter of the people surveyed felt very positive (4%) or somewhat positive (23%) about the State Budget. Interestingly, the largest percentage of people felt neutral (35%), with the remainder feeling somewhat negative (22%) or very negative (13%).

Of the 43% of people who believed the State Budget measures would impact their quality of life over the next 1 to 2 years, the overwhelming impact was felt to be negative (60% more negative, 13% completely negative).

Approximately a third of respondents (34%) stated that a wider application of cost of living benefits and pricing controls are needed. This sentiment reflects the recent State of the Nation survey undertaken by the COTA Federation, which found that 46% of older South Australians surveyed felt things were getting worse and 20% of people felt under pressure with overdue bills due to payment difficulty.

COTA SA's task now is to continue to strongly advocate for older South Australians and ensure that they're not forgotten when key budget investments and initiatives are rolled out.