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COTA Victoria and Seniors Rights Victoria welcome the opportunity to contribute to the next update of Victoria’s 30-year infrastructure strategy. We appreciate Infrastructure Victoria’s invitation to comment on the strategy’s objectives and options to meet the challenges facing Victoria through infrastructure investment and delivery.
Our policy and advocacy priorities include various aspects of infrastructure, including housing, health and aged care facilities, transport (including road and pedestrian safety) and spaces for recreation and physical activity. More broadly, we have a strong interest in the critical role of infrastructure in supporting optimal health and wellbeing, and social and economic participation for older people.
Given the breadth of the strategy, this submission does not address all relevant elements of the infrastructure needs of older people. Rather, we focus primarily on ways in which the strategy needs to engage more directly and holistically with the changing needs of an ever growing, and ageing population.
While separate strategies on housing, health infrastructure and transport are critical in addressing the needs of older Victorians, the Infrastructure Strategy plays a key role in highlighting the way all these elements of the built environment combine to support older people.
A key aspect of our submission is to strengthen the way in which infrastructure planning and projects engage older people to ensure that their needs are well understood and embedded. Given our particular role and experience in engaging, representing, and advocating for older Victorians, we stand ready to support this objective.