Policy and advocacy

Our ongoing work seeks to achieve positive change to polices, services, and systems that impact the lives of older Victorians. It demonstrates and guides our commitment to addressing the issues that matter to older Victorians, today and into the future. It is also a key entry point for our members, the broader community, partners, and other stakeholders to engage with us and help shape our policy advocacy.

Our focus is on practical change over the medium term (3-5 years) while maintaining a longer term perspective on the impacts of ageing over coming decades.

Our guiding principles

Our policy advocacy is based on six guiding principles and informed by evidence on older people’s needs, preferences and outcomes as follows:

1. Positive ageing: We recognise and value ageing as a positive stage of life, and support older Victorians in being active participants in community, social, and economic life; enriching their lives and society. 
2. Equitable access: We advocate for all older people to have fair, timely and affordable access to quality healthcare, secure housing, and essential services, ensuring their well-being and dignity. 
3. Prevention of, and response to, ageism and elder abuse: We are committed to the prevention and timely, accessible and supportive responses to age discrimination and elder abuse through strong policy protections and services. 
4. Inclusive decision-making: We advocate for policy changes that promote respect and increase the agency of older Victorians, ensuring their voices are represented in decisions that affect their lives and communities. 
5. Diversity and respect: We strive to ensure equal opportunities are provided for those of different genders, sexualities, abilities and cultural backgrounds through partnerships and collaborations that celebrate, and advocate for, diverse communities. 
6. Prioritise high-impact areas: We will focus our efforts on initiatives that offer the greatest impact and broadest coverage, ensuring our resources are directed toward the most effective and meaningful outcomes. 

Portfolio policy summaries

At the heart of our platform is a set of portfolio policy summaries setting out our perspective, position, and action on a range of specific topics.

These documents outline COTA Victoria’s perspective on the evidence, policy context, and directions for change on priority topics, providing key messages, information on work in progress, and opportunities for engagement.

State election and budget

We seek to influence the state government’s wider policy priorities and investments for older Victorians through annual submissions on the Victorian state budget and our state election platform every four years.

Policy submissions

A key way in which COTA Victoria advocates for change is by making written submissions to government inquiries, reviews and other consultation processes. We share these submissions publicly to be transparent about what we are saying to government and to support others who may wish to advocate on the same issue.

Member briefings

COTA Victoria offers an ongoing series of briefings on a wide range of ageing policy topics. These may explore a more specific issue, share new information we have collected, or analyse a government policy announcement or report.

Other publications

From time to time, COTA Victoria also publishes more substantial reports on key ageing policy topics based on particular projects, consultations and other research. These usually include recommendations for change and may take the form of a proposed agenda for action.

Feedback and engagement

COTA Victoria values community and sector input on all aspects of our Policy Advocacy Platform. We regularly invite comment through purpose-specific surveys promoted via our member communications.

More generally, we invite anyone reading our policy advocacy resources to provide feedback and/or express interest in being engaged by responding to a survey form here.