Supporting senior Australians

Positive Ageing

Today’s senior Australians are living longer and healthier lives and continuing to make a significant contribution to society. The Government, with the right investments, will help Australia capitalise on the opportunities this brings and turn grey to gold.

Housing Help for Seniors

The Panel for Positive Ageing has identified housing as one of the major challenges of an ageing population. We will trial a new measure at $112.4 million in funding to assist senior Australians to downsize to a home more suitable to their needs without reducing their Age Pension.

From 1 July 2014, senior Australian homeowners who have owned their

family home for at least 25 years and who decide to downsize will have the option to invest surplus funds (up to $200,000) in an account. The funds invested in the account and earned interest, will be exempt from the Age Pension means test for up to 10 years.

In addition, the Government will look to preference projects that embrace universal design principles for the next 10,000 National Rental Affordability Scheme places. Universal design supports independent living arrangements for both older people and people with a disability.

Keeping seniors connected

To help senior Australians keep up with the digital age, the Government is providing an additional $9.9 million to extend the Broadband for

Seniors initiative which has helped around 250,000 seniors across the country to stay connected with the latest technology.

Andrew Fisher Institute

We are providing $4.6 million to establish the Andrew Fisher Applied Policy Institute for Ageing to provide advice on issues such as demographic change, infrastructure and support for an ageing world.

Wound management

The Government will also fund a wound management scoping study.

This package of measures builds on the Government’s investment of $41 million in the 2012‑13 Budget in response to the Final Report of the Advisory Panel on the Economic Potential of Senior Australians.