Minister's advisory council for senior Territorians - Communique 26 February 2025

The Minister’s Advisory Council for Senior Territorians met on 26 February 2025 in Darwin with the Minister for Youth, Seniors and Equality, the Hon Jinson Charls MLA.

Minister's update

The Minister for Youth, Seniors and Equality welcomed any concerns and advised his office will be arranging a meeting with himself and the Minister for Health to meet with the council.

The main concerns raised by members in the meeting included:

• housing for seniors
• private health and Healthscope
• scams
• aged care and retirement villages in the NT
• voluntary assisted dying
• shopfronts for seniors.

Role of the Office of Senior Territorians and ongoing rollout of the Northern Territory Seniors Policy 2021-2026

The Office of Senior Territorians provided members of the council with an overview of their functions, and current work being undertaken to assist seniors in the community.

Members were advised on completed actions and what new steps will be taken to continue to deliver for senior Territorians under the Northern Territory Seniors Policy 2021-2026.

Members gave feedback about changes they'd like to see for seniors, including:

• a review of how housing designs can better suit the NT climate and
• improved transport in rural and remote communities.

Working group discussions

Members held discussions regarding key issues they would like to work on in 2025:

• voluntary assisted dying
• housing for seniors
• concessions.

The council will work with Northern Territory (NT) government representatives to progress work on addressing these issues.

Commonwealth aged care update

The Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care returned at the request of the council to speak further about changes that will result from the introduction of the new Aged Care Act 2024 in July 2025.

Advice in the February 2025 update related to aged care fees, including:

• recommendations arising from the Aged Care Taskforce report
• how the new fee system was determined
• how much seniors can expect to pay when moving into aged care
• financial information services available to provide assistance in making informed decisions to move into aged care
• where seniors can be directed to online for more information
• how personal information provided by seniors is handled by the Australian Government.

Members were provided with a number of resources by the Aged Care team, including advice on information sessions being held in March 2025 across the NT.