The case for the 98%

We know that 98 per cent of the residents who live in retirement villages in Australia would strongly disagree with recent commentary on the retirement village industry by prominent business commentator and journalist Alan Kohler.

That’s the percentage of residents who declared that, if they had their time again, they’d make the same decision to move into a retirement village — according to a recent national retirement village resident survey.

It is true that moving into a retirement village unit can be a complex transaction, because a retirement village is more than just the acquisition of a home — it also comes with services and amenities as a right for the duration of a person’s tenure.

These are benefits of the retirement village industry we don’t believe Mr Kohler considered in his columns. The reason the whole village sector exists is to enable senior Australians to remain independent for longer, have easy access to services, and be part of a social network.

Our published response on to Mr Kohler’s columns is part of our work to ensure the broader population has the facts on retirement living. Media interest in ageing issues is increasing, with more public focus on what retirement villages can offer, from both a social and economic perspective.

An important part of the Retirement Living Council’s agenda is to raise the public and government profile of the industry, from media articles to meetings with ministers and policy makers, and participation in such forums as the National Aged Care Alliance, to ensure retirement living has a voice at the table.

Going hand in hand with a bigger focus is increased scrutiny, which is one of the reasons why we’re such strong supporters of industry accreditation and helped set up the Lifemark Village Scheme last year, to give operators a pathway to high standards.

 

Mary Wood

Executive Director, Retirement Living Council