Elder Abuse in Australia

Elder Abuse knows no geographic boundaries, as a recent story in the Brisbane, Australia Times showed. Australia’s ageing population prey to abuse was published on February 24, 2016 and explains

The abuse of older people is likely to worsen as Australia’s population ages and relatively wealthy baby boomers become vulnerable to mercenary family members and carers.

The federal government is “appalled” at the extent of elder abuse and has asked the Australian Law Reform Commission to find ways to safeguard older Australians….

The article discusses the number of victims, risk factors, and perpetrators. Similar to the U.S., Australia doesn’t have good data on elder abuse as far as how big a problem it is, “has to extrapolate from international research. “We say that it frequently is a form of family violence – because it happens within families – but the significant difference is that it’s most often between generations,” said Jenny Blakey from Seniors Rights Victoria. ”  The 4th annual national conference on elder abuse  was held in Melbourne, Australia in late February. More information about the conference can be found here.