Collaboration and coordination

3.49       A lack of collaboration and the absence of a lead agency to coordinate the provision of services has been identified as a key limitation of existing elder abuse strategies and responses.[74] The ALRC considers that public advocates/guardians are well-placed to play a crisis case management and coordination role. As part of their investigation, the public advocate/guardian can assist an older person in determining what services and ongoing monitoring may be required to support the older person in addressing elder abuse. This would require extensive information sharing and coordination between government agencies and service providers. State and territory governments will need to ensure that the public advocate/guardian can disclose information to other agencies and service providers for the purposes of collaboration and coordination. Additionally, the ALRC acknowledges that the success of such collaboration and coordination may require significant additional resources for the public advocate/guardian.