Summary

2.1          The ALRC supports the commitment that a national plan be developed to address elder abuse.^[1] It is a capstone proposal and provides the basis for a longer term approach to the protection of older persons from abuse. The plan will provide the opportunity for future planning and policy development in an integrated way. The proposals throughout the Discussion Paper can be seen as strategies in implementation of such a plan. The plan also offers the opportunity to develop strategies to combat elder abuse that extend beyond legal reforms, such as: national awareness campaigns; elder abuse hotlines; training for people working with older people; and future research agendas.

2.2          Perhaps most importantly, there is a need for a prevalence study, to identify, among other things, rates and types of abuse; who commits it and who suffers it. Real progress is difficult without this information.