A dramatic increase in Ballarat’s senior population by 2031 has been downplayed by the state government, Australia’s peak body for age service providers said.
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The government’s Victoria in the Future 2016 report released last week showed Ballarat’s over 65 population is expected to increase by 143 per cent, the fourth biggest rise after greater Melbourne, Geelong and Bendigo.
Leading Age Services Australia CEO Sean Rooney welcomed the report but said it failed to highlight the overall increase to the aged population of almost 180 per cent statewide.
“An increasing ageing population requires sufficient planning to ensure the right policy settings will deliver the required retirement villages, residential aged care, home and community care, and infrastructure to meet future needs,” he said.
A report into aged care financing in regional and remote aged care service providers released earlier this year found the services were “unviable” based on data for 2014-2015, which revealed they were losing $2004 per resident annually.
The operating result for Victoria and Tasmania combined was the lowest nationally.
Victoria’s Minister for Ageing Martin Foley said the government was ensuring access to high quality care outside major cities.
“We hope now we can work in partnership with the Turnbull government on how they can restore the cuts they made over the last two Federal budgets which threatened the viability especially for rural and remote services,” Mr Foley said.
A spokesperson for federal Health Minister Sussan Ley denied cuts had been made to aged care and said funding had increased by more than $3 billion.
“The number of beds and packages is increasing every year … with funding for the overall aged care sector continuing to grow by a further 7 per cent per year.”
