How sure are you that you will never move again?
Published 30 June 2021
Living in a home that is accessible is key to maintaining independence as you age. This booklet aims to give you a list of things to consider about your home or any home you might be considering moving into. It’s not exhaustive but is intended as an introduction to home accessibility for older people. [more]
Submission to the Independent Regulatory and Pricing Tribunal’s Review of Competition, Costs and Pricing in the Funeral Industry – Comments on draft report
Published 6 May 2021
In our initial submission, we argued that (1) the NSW funeral industry should have a primary regulator with jurisdiction over the providers of funerals, interments and cremations, and (2) that Cemeteries and Crematoria NSW (CCNSW) is the agency best placed to be that primary regulator. [more]
Submission to Supporting older Australians – exempting granny flat arrangements from Capital Gains Tax (CGT)
Published 6 March 2021
CPSA understands the decision to not require specific terms to be included in granny flat arrangements in the interest of flexibility. However, there should be a requirement that all parties must be referred to materials that outline all possible negative outcomes, a sort of worst-case scenario list, before entering a granny flat arrangement. [more]
Response to the Discussion Paper Statutory Review of the Residential (Land Lease) Communities Act 2013
Published 6 March 2021
CPSA’s members and constituency are for the most part older low-income retirees. As land lease communities are, under this Act, portrayed as affordable living arrangements, CPSA has a strong interest in ensuring legislation protects the interests of land lease residents many of whom live on low, fixed incomes such as the Age Pension. [more]
Submission to NSW Treasury concerning the NSW Government’s Property Tax proposal
Published 6 March 2021
Regardless of the larger economic benefits of the property tax proposed by the NSW Government, as more and more properties are opted into the property tax, eventually hundreds of thousands of low-income households will not be able to pay it. [more]
Submission to the Independent Regulatory and Pricing Tribunal’s Review of Competition, Costs and Pricing in the Funeral Industry
Published 16 December 2020
CPSA's response to the Independent Regulatory and Pricing Tribunal’s Review of Competition, Costs and Pricing in the Funeral Industry.
Submission to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety – System Governance
Published 1 September 2020
This submission discusses the current system of governance in aged care in Australia and proposes a different model, aligning key interests with the agencies and groups best able to pursue them without being conflicted and with the welfare of aged people always at the centre. [more]
Comments on the NSW Federal Financial Relations Review
Published 1 September 2020
The NSW Treasurer commissioned a wide-ranging review of NSW and federal financial relations. The review dealth with the issue of stamp duty, recommending it be replaced with a land tax and also suggested a number of ways land tax could be phased in. [more]
A Housing Strategy for NSW – submission to NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment
Published 1 September 2020
This is CPSA's response to the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment’s Discussion Paper on a housing strategy for NSW, with a focus on housing issues and solutions for older people in NSW.
Review of Rural and Regional Bus Fares 2021 – 2025 Submission to NSW Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal
Published 1 September 2020
This submission responds to the affordability and equity of fares in rural and regional NSW, on-demand bus services and the potential broadening of concession eligibility.
Would you rather be financially secure now or when you’re dead?
Published 29 May 2020
This booklet looks at your options to draw down on your capital while not running out of money before you die.
Submission to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety: How the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission was won
Published 14 May 2020
The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission was touted as the new broom that would sweep away the detritus littering aged care in Australia, but it has two CEOs of major aged care providers on its Board, plus a bevy of CEOs of organisations which have their own corporate barrow to push. [more]
Submission: Retirement Income Review
Published 25 February 2020
The Treasurer announced a review into the retirement income system on 27 September 2019. This review was recommended by the Productivity Commission in its report Superannuation: Assessing Efficiency and Competitiveness and comes 27 years after the establishment of compulsory superannuation. [more]
Submission to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety: Aged care program redesign
Published 25 February 2020
In this submission, CPSA responds to some of the questions posed in the Royal Commission’s Consultation Paper 1.
Submission to IPART Max Opal Fares 2020 Draft Report
Published 31 January 2020
This submission provides recommendations that address the maximisation of community benefits and the affordability of fares, both of which have been identified as objectives of IPART’s draft recommendations.
Turning nursing homes into tourist traps – Submission to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety
Published 17 December 2019
Additional services are top-ups of the standard services provided in residential aged care services. User-pays applies, with fees and compound interest very commonly accrued against residents’ nursing home bonds. At 30 June 2018, the overall pool of money comprising refundable accommodation deposits stood at $27. [more]
Submission on public consultation draft for the Financial Services (Improved Consumer Protection) (No. 1) Regulations 2019: funeral expenses facilities
Published 11 October 2019
CPSA supports of the Financial Services (Improved Consumer Protection) (No. 1) Regulations 2019: funeral expenses facilities, which removes the exemption for funeral insurance products from the definition of a financial product and ensures the consumer protection provisions of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 apply to these products. [more]
Submission to the Inquiry into the adequacy of Newstart and related payments and alternative mechanisms to determine the level of income support payments in Australia
Published 12 September 2019
The Newstart Allowance can no longer deliver the best means of support to Australians who need assistance the most. Newstart has not been increased in real terms for a quarter of a century and it shows.Newstart is no longer a safety net, but rather a thin cushion to soften the crash into poverty Australians on Newstart experience. [more]
Submission to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety: The Family Home and Aged Care Funding
Published 10 September 2019
The family home is seen by diverse campaigns as an obvious, and in the minds of some campaigners, magic-pudding type of funding source. Their proposals invariably involve some form of home equity release through lending. This submission sets out to show that not only is home equity release on the scale required to contribute meaningfully to the sourcing of aged care funding financially risky in the extreme, it also is unable to contribute very much at all, really. [more]
Submission to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety Revocation of accreditation: What if the approved provider just shrugs?
Published 29 August 2019
What's the bet it won't happen? At the time of writing, the Bupa Eden nursing home had just been re-accredited on the day it was set to lose its accreditation. Two further Bupa homes faced loss of accreditation. Bupa Traralgon will lose its accreditation on 14 September 2019. [more]