The Western Australian Government can better support older people by adopting the National Seniors initiatives contained in our Western Australian Budget Submission 2024-25.

Our key recommendations promote housing, stamp duty reform, better oral health, home security, public transport, and concessions to help with cost-of-living pressures.

Housing 

While we welcomed the government’s $750 million investment in social housing, homelessness initiatives, workforce supply, and land supply as part of the last budget, these strategies are not enough to fix the housing crisis facing older people unless more suitable housing is built.

There is a lack of suitable low-cost housing for older people to purchase either to downsize into or to escape the costly rental market. 

Seniors’ housing

An important role for state governments is to ensure planning laws encourage the market to deliver new and innovative housing options suited to the needs and wants of older people beyond the retirement village model.

Developers appear to be focused on high end or high-rise housing, which may not be suitable for older people, particularly those with limited wealth or income.

There is a need to build more age-friendly medium density housing in areas where older people already live to provide feasible downsizing and rental options for older people.

Shared equity

Older renters should have the opportunity to co-invest in the construction of new housing using shared equity arrangements.

This would assist those who cannot afford to buy a home, but who could contribute a portion of capital towards the construction of a dwelling. By using a mixed rental/ownership tenure model, the government could facilitate the construction of new homes for older Western Australians.

Retirement village protection

The WA Government should work with other jurisdictions to strengthen retirement village laws (making laws nationally consistent) and give confidence and protection to seniors entering contracts.

Stamp duty concession: Eligible seniors should have access to a stamp duty concession comparable with existing schemes operating in other states and territories. Stamp duty costs are a major barrier to seniors moving to more suitable housing as they age.

A concession for stamp duty for Pensioner Concession Card holders and Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders would operate on a sliding scale and apply to new dwellings, helping to boost the supply of housing in WA.

Oral health 

Oral health deteriorates with age and should be a high priority for government. Additional funding should be allocated for seniors’ oral health programs to provide regular comprehensive services.

This would result in fewer hospital admissions, saving the health budget many millions of dollars.

The scope of existing government funded programs is unsatisfactory. A solution lies in the establishment of a mobile dental service in regional areas (similar to the Breast Screen WA mobile unit).

This would provide better access to dental services and support people living in aged care in regional areas as well as regional communities with limited access to private dental services.

Concessions 

Older people on fixed incomes are especially hit hard by rising living costs. So, while we support the WA Government’s current concessions, we believe the times call for more support through tailored concessions and rebates.

Specifically, the government should increase the local government rebate cap in line with the increased cost of local government and water supply charges. All concessions and rebates should also be regularly indexed to keep pace with rising costs.