From 1 November 2025, the new Aged Care Act will put older people at the centre of aged care. The new Act introduces stronger laws to make sure workers deliver safe, high-quality and rights-based care.
Workers must:
listen, understand and treat people with kindness and respect
support older people to make their own decisions about their lives
have the right qualifications, skills and experience
follow the Aged Care Code of Conduct and Statement of Principles
The Federal Department of Health and Aged Care has stated all workers will be screened and assessed to ensure they are suitable to work in aged care. The Statement of Principles also encourages workers to improve, innovate and provide high-quality care.
Workers are supported to give feedback to their employer about the quality of care your provider delivers.
If something isn’t right, you have the right to speak up without fear of being punished or treated unfairly.
The changes we’re making to aged care are about building a system you can trust and have confidence in. A system where your voice matters, your choices are respected and your care is centred around you.
On 23 September 2025 the TGA made the decision to approve the registration of the lecanemab (LEQEMBI).
What is LEQEMBI approved for:
The approval is for the following indication: LEQEMBI is indicated in adult patients with a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment and mild dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease (Early Alzheimer’s disease) that are apolipoprotein E ε4 (ApoE ε4) non-carriers or heterozygotes.
Beta amyloid evidence consistent with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) should be confirmed using a validated test prior to initiating treatment.
Decision history
In October 2024, the TGA made an initial decision not to approve lecanemab (LEQEMBI). The sponsor of the medicine, Eisai Australia Pty Ltd (Eisai Aust) requested a review of this decision, however the delegate upheld the initial decision to not approve the medicine in February 2025.
The TGA found that whilst safety and efficacy had been satisfactorily established for some patients (namely, people who do not carry copies of the APOE4 gene), safety had not been satisfactorily established for patients who carry one copy of the APOE4 gene (APOE4 heterozygous carriers).
The TGA also found that both safety and efficacy had not been established for patients who carry two copies of the APOE4 gene.
Administrative Review Tribunal
On 26 March 2025, Eisai Aust applied to the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) for review of the TGA’s decision to not approve LEQEMBI. During the course of the ART dispute resolution process, the TGA received several additional submissions from Eisai Aust, which focused on safety in APOE4 heterozygous carriers. These submissions included new risk management proposals and updated Product Information.
The submissions were designed to address the outstanding safety concerns raised by the TGA, for example the submission included an 18 month review for cognitive function testing and clinical symptom assessment to determine if the patient had progressed to moderate Alzheimer's dementia.
After thorough review and detailed discussions with Eisai Aust, the TGA determined that the additional submissions satisfactorily addressed the outstanding concerns regarding the safety of the Medicine.
By consent of both of the parties, the ART made a decision to remit the matter back to the TGA for reconsideration on 11 September 2025.
The TGA made the decision to approve the medicine on 23 September 2025. Details relating to the approved use of the medicine, including the approved indication are available in the Product Information.
More information
The TGA has published a detailed summary of the initial decision, along with the outcome of this review, via an Australian Public Assessment Report.
Questions relating to supply of LEQEMBI should be directed to the sponsor of the medicine, Eisai Australia Pty Ltd.
The TGA encourages affected patients to speak to their doctor if they have questions or concerns about this medicine.
A century in the making
A record of courage, innovation and service. A tribute to those who shaped our stories. 4 - 6 October long weekend | Avalon Beach SLSC
Discover rare photographs, historical rescue equipment, and untold stories that chart our journey from humble beginnings to a century of lifesaving service.
At the heart of the exhibition is the first Inflatable Rescue Boat; a ground-breaking innovation that has transformed surf lifesaving around the world. Returning to its birthplace at Avalon Beach from the National Maritime Museum for our Centenary exhibit, "IRB 1" stands as both a symbol of ingenuity and a tribute to the visionaries who dared to challenge traditional rescue methods.
Saturday 4 October | 6:00pm - 8:30pm Exhibition launch (Bangalley Bar open)
Sunday 5 October | 9:00am - 6:00pm with open mic at the Bangalley Bar from 3:00pm
Monday 6 October | 9:00am - 3:00pm Avalon Beach SLSC
Entry via beachside staircase
Spring air is humming with insects. But we’re blind to what’s happening to them
Spring in Australia has arrived like a celebration. Magpies are warbling in the morning, wildflowers are bursting open across bushland, and the air is humming with life as tiny creatures have stirred back into action after the winter: bees darting between flowers, dragonflies skimming across ponds, and swarms of flying ants mating.
But we are largely blind to Australia’s insects, and more specifically, what has happened to them over years and decades. That’s because Australia – despite having some of the richest insect biodiversity on the planet – doesn’t have long-term datasets about insects. And because of this, we don’t have a coordinated way to know whether our native bees, butterflies, or even pest species are stable, declining, or booming.
But we can all help address this knowledge gap, and now is the perfect time of the year to do so.
Huge changes in insect numbers
Depending on where we look, and which insects we look at, we are seeing huge changes in insect populations.
For example, Europe’s long-running insect monitoring programs, such as the Krefeld study in Germany, have revealed dramatic declines in flying insect biomass, with losses of up to 75% over three decades.
The lack of similar monitoring programs and long-term data about insect populations in Australia is already having consequences. Take the bogong moth.
Once so abundant its migrations darkened the skies of eastern Australia, its numbers have plummeted by more than 99% in some areas in recent years. The mountain pygmy possum, an endangered species that depends on these moths for spring feeding, is now struggling to survive without its main food source.
This cascading effect is a stark reminder that when insect populations collapse, everything that depends on them – plants, animals, even people – can feel the impact.
Yet, we only noticed the bogong moth crash after it happened. Without consistent monitoring, we simply don’t have a baseline to detect change early – let alone prevent it.
In recent years, bogong moth numbers in Australia have plummeted by more than 99% in some areas.davidcsimon/iNaturalist, CC BY-ND
Why spring matters for data collection
Spring is when insect life explodes into action. It’s when pollinators emerge to feed and breed, when decomposers such as beetles and flies begin their crucial work recycling nutrients, and when countless species begin to build the food webs that sustain ecosystems through the year.
Miss the spring data collection window, and you miss the moment when insect activity is at its peak. It’s like trying to understand traffic flow in a city by observing it at 3am instead of during peak hour.
Without good insect data, we can’t track shifts in emergence times that are changing due to warming temperatures (aphids are emerging up to a month earlier in the United Kingdom), or notice if key species are missing altogether.
That makes it harder to support agriculture, manage ecosystems, or respond to biodiversity loss in a meaningful way.
The need for a national monitoring network
For years Australian entomologists have been calling for a national insect monitoring network, one that collects regular, standardised data across ecosystems and seasons.
While not a fully fledged national network, initiatives such as Butterflies Australia demonstrate the potential of citizen science to contribute to long-term monitoring through standardised protocols and broad public participation.
Beyond conservation and risk detection, a national monitoring network would also play a critical role in discovering new species. Many of Australia’s invertebrates remain undocumented, and ongoing monitoring can lead to significant scientific discoveries.
One recent discovery came from a citizen science project where students helped identify a previously unknown wasp species in suburban Perth. This highlights the potential of a national-scale approach to not only track what we know, but also uncover what we don’t know.
While Australia still lacks a national insect monitoring network, you can help fill the data gaps right now. Whether you’re a budding naturalist, a student, or simply curious about the life around you, there are ways to get involved in building the baseline scientists urgently need.
The Christmas Beetle Count runs every summer and involves taking photos of Christmas beetles to help researchers understand if their populations have declined. From this initiative, we have been able to see Christmas beetles that have not been observed in decades.
The Great Southern Bioblitz is a big citizen science project, where users of iNaturalist are encouraged to upload photos of all kinds of nature to the website. Its goal is to increase our knowledge of southern hemisphere nature.
If you’ve got kids and want to observe nature, the app Seek provides a safer environment for children to take photos and contribute to citizen science.
On a more local scale, you can join a local initiative run by some councils and environmental groups, such as Moth Night and the Sutherland Shire Beetle Hunt.
Insects are the unsung heroes of our ecosystems, pollinating crops, recycling nutrients, feeding birds, and much more. By getting involved in citizen science, you’re not just collecting data, you’re laying the groundwork for a national monitoring system Australia urgently needs, and ensuring we notice what’s changing before it’s too late.
There is a pleasure for readers in walking streets known from the pages of books. Taking literary walking tours in London, Paris, New York or Dublin, readers conjure the worlds of Woolf, Hemingway, Whitman or Joyce. We move through the streets in the here and now, but also amid characters from other times and versions of the city. Our cities are given back to us, expanded and enriched.
The explosion of urban writing set in the cities and towns of Australia allows us to walk amid history, subcultures and alternative visions of urban places – these other lives of the city mingling with our own.
As a reader and a writer, I am fascinated by how writers know and imagine cities. In Sydney, the city in which I’ve lived for nearly 30 years, writing has sprung up over that time from every corner, and from communities previously underrepresented in Australian literature.
We learn of Aboriginal sovereignty and activism in Larissa Behrendt’s novels of the inner city. Vivian Pham’s Coconut Children tells of a Vietnamese-Australian childhood in Cabramatta. In Amnesty, Booker Prize-winner Aravind Adiga introduces us to a Sri Lankan asylum seeker slipping by unseen on the streets of Glebe and Newtown. To read these books is to know the city in ways we did not before.
Wanting to know more about how writers know cities, I embarked on a project – Walking Sydney – an extended literary walking tour that unearths the histories and lives, real and imagined, of the many very different areas of Sydney amid the rapidly changing forms of a contemporary city.
There is a strong tradition of walking to understand cities. Proponents of psychogeography urge us to “get lost” in the city, to resist its commercial imperatives in “drifts”, as the French theorist Guy Debord termed these counterflows.
In this way, we can go beyond surfaces, understanding the city as palimpsest, seeing through to deeper meanings.
Walking with writers allowed me to see the city differently. Just as reading books empowers us to know what it means to be human beyond our own limited perspective, reading the city through the eyes of others helped me see the city anew.
The first walk was on Gadigal land with poet, filmmaker and artist Jazz Money, of Wiradjuri and Irish heritage. We strolled around the old railway yards of Carriageworks in Eveleigh. The broad flat lot of massive brickwork sheds is now the site of markets, theatre and festivals – including the Sydney Writers’ Festival.
Jazz’s poetry, though, is ever conscious of Australian places, including cities, as Country.
On our walk, Jazz explains that before colonisation, this was a gathering place for local community, a vantage point from which you could see the water to the east, with valuable ochre pits all around.
It is an important place in more recent history too; thousands of workers came from far afield to work in the railyards, a large proportion of them Aboriginal, and so the inner-south of Sydney has been heartland for much of the city’s history.
As we walk among the repurposed buildings and through the streets of terraces and workers’ cottages, a poem of Jazz’s provides context for the site’s colonial history. £100,000, previously presented as a site-specific work in the Carriageworks gallery, tells the story of the sale of this land for a vast sum.
The site was once the estate of James Chisholm, a soldier involved in quelling Aboriginal resistance on the Hawkesbury. His family sold the land to the New South Wales government in the 19th century for the construction of the railyards. In the poem, Jazz commemorates the loss and desecration of stolen Country for the purposes of industry:
a place all riches all sand dune water way banksia safe of ceremony of song of care of always
wiped razed and poured.
Reflecting on the stories and art that remind us of the true histories of the lands on which we walk, Jazz explains the Wiradjuri concept of Yindyamarra: “at its simplest it means to go slowly and respectfully”.
Thinking and being with this in mind allows Jazz to understand the knowledge contained and expressed by place:
If you’re interested in story, and the way that stories operate, there isn’t a square centimetre of this continent that isn’t rich with it, and with story that goes back to the first sunrise.
Razor gangs and warehouse parties
In another post-industrial inner suburb, Surry Hills, different histories unfold among the steep streets of terraces and former warehouses and factories.
Fiona Kelly McGregor, writer, artist and critic, is the author of Iris, based on the life of petty criminal Iris Weber, once dubbed “the most violent woman in Sydney”. As well as a gripping novel, Iris is an important work of queer history, providing a fresh angle on the familiar story of razor gangs and sly groggeries of Depression-era Sydney.
As we walk among the streets of Iris and associates’ criminal activities and violent altercations, Fiona explains the appeal of this figure. She had always been interested in the interwar period, its politics and art.
It was an era in which it seemed as though queer people had “a kind of cultural community in some parts of the world”. But “it’s hard to find working-class women who lived openly as queer […] to discover someone from this grungy old working-class criminal world who was open about her relationships with women – I’d never found anything like that anywhere”.
The stories Fiona tells as we walk the steep streets infuses them with Iris’s story – of shootings and violence, but also of Black Ada’s: dancing academy by day, queer club by night.
She speaks too of her own artistic and social life in this place. We move among vivid threads of memory: warehouse parties at the turn of the millennium, friendship, music, art. When Fiona walks through these streets, laid over with her memories and discoveries, she finds them “boiling with layers of life”.
Irrepressible geography
A distinctive feature of Sydney is its dramatic topography and natural life. Delia Falconer, in her personal account Sydney, writes of its sandstone cliffs and its “water, which penetrates the city with bright fingers, filters constantly through its foundations, and weighs down the air”.
Walking from Rushcutters Bay Park up through Elizabeth Bay towards Kings Cross, we are walking through the deep time of geological change, known and experienced by the area’s Aboriginal people, and the more recent bohemian and literary history of the art-deco apartments climbing towards the gritty glamour of Kings Cross. This is the Sydney of Kenneth Slessor, Sumner Locke Elliot and countless other writers, artists and adventurers.
We visit stands of trees and flying fox colonies, “checking to see if everyone’s home”. She notes the “Milo-like” layer of seeds and crushed fruit under the Moreton Bay figs in summer, the flaky paperbarks, the barnacles clinging to the seawall.
Everywhere, colonial attempts to shape and give order to the land are evident: the curved sandstone wall of Rushcutters Bay Park, its flat green lawns where once were rushes; the grand form of Elizabeth Bay House looking out over the Harbour, with the remnants of its formal gardens tucked between apartment buildings in the form of exotic trees and hidden grottos.
It is an area that has, since its bohemian days, “seen a seismic shift socioeconomically, but there’s something hard to contain and irrepressible about the geography itself”.
Book bazaars and goth picnics
No stranger to an urban walk among the curiosities and layers of time is writer, artist and zine-maker Vanessa Berry. In her blog and book Mirror Sydney, Vanessa chronicles the curiosities of Sydney’s past and present. In doing so, she unearths deep significance in the overlooked corners of the city.
A walk from the city end of King Street to Sydney Park in St Peters takes us through the heart of Newtown, with its colourful Victorian terraces and grand old theatres. Above the shop awnings, the walls are adorned with street art and sprouting with hardy ferns.
We begin at the old Gould’s Book Arcade, empty now, but for decades a chaotic bazaar of used books, run by anti-Vietnam war campaigner and socialist Bob Gould.
When the shop lost its lease, there was community outcry. As Vanessa explains:
Something happens as certain shops become more than a commercial enterprise in people’s minds […] You’re losing a place where you could go and feel connected with a world, or a subculture.
King Street and the surrounding area enjoy many such points of connection: the “I have a dream mural” near the junction with Enmore Road, the graveyard at Camperdown Memorial Park where the goth kids gather, the street’s pubs and restaurants, its second-hand bookstores.
Vanessa points out the curious shop windows, the old theatres, the op shops that lure wanderers in to browse their treasures. We finish our stroll at Sydney Park in St Peters, where raves and punks’ picnics used to pop up amid the brickwork towers.
Different scenes and sites animate the area now, but it is one of those places that continues to draw waves of young people, seeking a home in the city, finding their tribe.
Ancient way, modern city
Parramatta, named for the Burramattagal, a clan of the Dharug people, feels simultaneously old and new. The ancient river, once rich with the eels that gave the local people their name, winds through a site of continual urban renewal.
Turkish-Australian writer and researcher Eda Gunaydin is an observant guide to this dynamic area of Sydney. She has written about Parramatta in her essay Second City as the “home ground” of her Blacktown childhood, and as a place of rapid development and social change.
Eda notes different representations of authority as we make a circuit: the large and busy court district, the police in Parramatta Square, and Old Government House in Parramatta Park, an imposing early site of colonial presence.
Parramatta’s streets are full of striking contrasts. Our walk takes us past the Lancer Barracks, the oldest army barracks on mainland Australia and the next-door neighbour to New South Wales’ first high rise school, Arthur Phillip. Around the corner on George Street, the Spanish Baroque Roxy Theatre clings on at the edge of the huge construction zone for the Metro West project.
Eda discusses the shifts in her “mental geography” brought about by Parramatta’s continual development. We navigate construction sites and dead ends, the once familiar streets re-forming around us.
As well as a place of rapid urban development, Parramatta is a vibrant site of art and community. At Phive and Riverside Theatres, Eda has staged community arts events with Finishing School Collective, a group of women writers gathering the art and storytelling of western Sydney and beyond.
It’s a place, too, where the deeper past is visible if you know where to look. In the riverside park, within sight of the huge new stadium, Eda points out a stand of “scar trees”, from which the Burramatta people used bark for canoes.
Eda explains that what she finds so striking about the trees
is that you get a sense of just how recently this place was colonised […] Parramatta has some of the oldest colonial history in New South Wales and it’s still not particularly old.
Eda Gunaydin and Belinda Castles walking in Parramatta.Walking Sydney
Slowing down to experience deep time
In these walks and the many others I took with writers, it was the slow, drifting quality of walking and reading the city together that revealed its layers of meaning.
Writer, teacher and traveller Beth Yahp, walking on the windblown cliff path between Bronte and Clovelly, discussed the importance of
slow[ing] down your walk to the point that you feel each part of your foot on the ground […] it forces you into a different experience of time. The world becomes different.
This was especially the case in the walks I took with First Nations writers. Moving slowly through urban and suburban streets opened up a sense of time much deeper than the perpetual rush of the city clock.
My final walk, through the city and Redfern with writer, filmmaker and law professor Larissa Behrendt, left me to reflect on the fact of Aboriginal creativity and endurance over tens of millennia:
To be part of the world’s oldest living culture is miraculous […] Those places are still here […] We’re still here.
The Belong Club invites anyone to come and participate in the Belong Club Walking Group!
Every Tuesday we walk along the pathway beside the Narrabeen Lagoon, from the Tramshed Arts and Community Centre to Jamieson Park and back. The route is about 1.8km each way, and is estimated to take 45 minutes.
The up and back walk allows for people of any walking speed to participate and enjoy the walk at their own comfortable pace. Walkers often split into smaller groups naturally along the route allowing everyone to go at their preferred pace. The aim here is for everyone to be included and to have an enjoyable walk.
Our meeting spot is to the right of the Tramshed Community Centre, between the basketball court and kids playground.
2025 marks 100 years of Avalon Beach Surf Lifesaving Club.
Planning is underway to celebrate the achievement of Avalon Beach SLSC's Volunteer Surf Lifesavers keeping Avalon Beach safe for residents and visitors for 100 years!
A number of celebratory events and activities spread throughout the Club's 100th year, are currently under development, and will be progressively announced through the year.
The range of celebrations will involve past and present members, the Avalon Beach community, as well as visitors to our area. The Surf Club is a focal point in and for the Avalon Beach community, so it is fitting that the community takes pride in this milestone.
Initially, so that our records are up to date, we invite all past members of our Club to Email the Club at 100years@avalonbeachslsc.com.au with your updated details so we can keep you informed of what will be happening for members.
If you know of others that may be interested in the 100th Anniversary celebrations please pass the message on.
The Club looks to the future, acknowledging and building on the legacy left from those who came before us over the past 100 years.
Avalon Beach SLSC Centenary Committee
Concession car parking at NSW Health public hospitals
Patients and carers may be eligible for concession rates on parking at NSW Health public hospitals.
To be eligible you need to be:
requiring treatment over an extended period
attending hospital more than twice a week (including carers of long term patients who visit frequently).
ongoing cancer treatment
treatment more than twice weekly
daily dressing changes
cardiac rehabilitation or health promotion classes
Concessions are also available for holders of a:
Transport for NSW Mobility Parking Scheme permit
Pensioner Concession Card
Department of Veterans' Affairs Gold Card
Health Care Card.
Hospitals provide communication to patients, carers and visitors about the availability of concessional car parking rates, this includes:
clearly displaying and publicising concessional rates
streamlining the concession application process with designated points of access
validating concessional parking for the duration of a course of treatment.
For detailed information on eligibility and concession fees, visit NSW Health webpage:
We have a fantastic team of volunteers who help us with a range of jobs. A roster system ensures that we don’t overdo things but many of our volunteers nevertheless are there even when they’re not on the roster. We set up a marquee for shade, put out the urn for tea and coffee, bring the boats out from the shed, set up the boats and put them into the water, sail the boats, ensure that everyone signs in, operate the radio, observer on the safety boat, and at the end of our day’s sailing, do all this in reverse.
You don’t have to be a sailor to be a volunteer, landlubbers are most welcome too. And some of our volunteers are themselves disabled.
Volunteering for Sailability Manly will give you many amazing personal rewards… for starters, what better way of spending a few hours on a Saturday than on Manly Cove? And you’ll find that you will grow as a person through meeting and interacting with a diverse range of wonderful and inspiring people with various disabilities.
If you’re not a sailor don’t let that stop you – we have numerous things that need doing on the jetty and we’re happy to take you for a sail or even train you to become a sailor if you wish.
NSW Seniors Card is pleased to provide members with the 2024 Seniors Card Directory, your guide to the best discounts and special offers from thousands of participating businesses across the state.
The directory includes discounts from each region in NSW. The regions are: Sydney & Surrounds, Central Coast & Hunter, Northern NSW, Southern NSW and Western NSW.
View our regional map below to determine which region you are in. You can view the directory online in your browser or download and save to your computer for quick reference as you need.
Each year five directories are released, one for each region in NSW. The regions are: Sydney & Surrounds, Central Coast & Hunter, Northern NSW, Southern NSW and Western NSW.
To download your copy, please click the link below:
Copies of the 2024 directory are also available for pickup from Australia Post Outlets, Service NSW Centres, MP Offices as well as participating local Councils and Libraries across the state. Please click here to find a location near you.
Hotline to report food quality in aged care now live
Australians now have a simple and efficient way to report food concerns in aged care, with the launch of a dedicated Food, Nutrition and Dining Unit hotline at the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission.
The hotline is active and callers will have access to experts in the areas of food, nutrition, and dining, including dietitians and speech pathologists.
A good meal with good nutrition is crucial to quality of life for everyone but especially older people.
The Food, Nutrition and Dining Hotline is also available to aged care providers to access food and nutrition advice, support and education to deliver improved food, nutrition and dining experiences for older people in their care.
Older people, their families and carers, providers and aged care workers can call the Food, Nutrition and Dining Hotline on 1800 844 044.
The hotline builds on the Federal Government’s grant to the Maggie Beer Foundation to build the capability of aged care chefs and cooks working in aged care.
The Council on the Ageing NSW (COTA NSW) is the peak organisation for people over 50 in our state. We’re an independent, non-partisan, consumer-based non-government organisation. We work with politicians, policy makers, and service providers as well as media representatives to make sure your views are heard and your needs are met. COTA NSW works to empower and engage people over 50. For decades, we’ve shaped the policies and programs that change lives.
Since our beginning in 1956, COTA NSW has introduced policies and programs that make a real difference to peoples’ lives. We have proud record, having created: ■Meals on Wheels, ■Retirement Village Residents Association, ■Australian Seniors Computer Clubs Association, ■Seniors Clubs, ■Seniors Information Service, ■OM:NI – Older Men: New Ideas, ■Grandfriends, ■Grandparents, Relatives and Kinship Care Alliance, ■Medication Management for Older People, and the ■Mature Employment Line
NSW Seniors Card program: Translated Resources
If you're from a culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) background, and would like more information about the NSW Seniors Card program, translated versions of the Membership Guide brochure are available here:
Avalon Soccer Club is an amateur club situated at the northern end of Sydney’s Northern Beaches. As a club we pride ourselves on our friendly, family club environment. The club is comprised of over a thousand players aged from 5 to 70 who enjoy playing the beautiful game at a variety of levels and is entirely run by a group of dedicated volunteers.
Country Pensioner Excursion ticket: NSW Public Transport
Parents missing out on REAL face time? If they have a Pension Card, sign them up & they could get unlimited $2.50 Country Pensioner Excursion tickets*.
Call 13 22 32 to sign up.
Country Pensioner Excursion ticket (CPE)
A Country Pensioner Excursion (CPE) ticket is an affordable ticket for eligible pensioners and seniors to travel by train in regional NSW and the ACT.
For $2.50 you can book an economy class seat on a NSW TrainLink
Regional train service. You will need to book 7 days or less in advance
A new rebate for independent retirees who hold a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card to help with electricity costs. The Seniors Energy Rebate is available for eligible independent retirees to help cover the cost of their electricity.
To be eligible you need to hold a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC).
CSHCs are means-tested concession cards issued by Services Australia and the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA).
The Seniors Energy Rebate is now $250 per household, per financial year.
If your application is successful, the rebate will be paid directly into your nominated bank or Credit Union account.
Note: Gas accounts are not eligible for the rebate.
What you need
your valid CSHC from Centrelink or the DVA
the most recent electricity bill for your current primary place of residence
your contact details
your bank or Credit Union account details
How to apply
Check you meet the eligibility requirements.
Select the 'Apply online' button.
Enter the required details.
Submit the application.
If you're unable to apply online, visit a service centre or call us on 13 77 88.
If your application is successful, you'll receive payment within 5 working days into your nominated bank/Credit Union account. Service NSW will contact you if there are problems issuing your payment.
Tech Savvy Seniors provides free or low cost digital skills training on how to use computers, tablets and smartphones to keep in touch with family and friends, access essential services, conducting personal business and discover more about the things you are interested in.
Join the thousands of people over 60 who have already completed this fun, practical training and made new friends in the process.
With over 150 training locations across NSW as well as resources online it has never been easier to build your digital skills and confidence, with training available in a range of languages. To find out more about training sessions available near you, visit the Tech Savvy Seniors website to find your local library or community college provider.
For here:
Northern Beaches Council Library at Glen Street, Mona Vale, Warringah Mall 02 9976 1720
Northern Beaches Community College Inc at Narrabeen, Brookvale, Mosman (02) 9970 1000 enquiries@nbcc.nsw.edu.au
The Tech Savvy Seniors website also contains a great range of ‘self-teach’ videos and free digital literacy training resources available to make it easy to learn at your own pace to develop your digital skills from the comfort of your home.
Tech Savvy Seniors is a NSW Government initiative in partnership with Telstra.
NSW Spectacles Program
The NSW Spectacles Program provides glasses and visual aids to eligible recipients who might be at risk of a preventable decline in their eye health.
If you're eligible, you can receive free of charge in any 2-year period:
one pair of single vision glasses, or
one pair of bifocal glasses.
Contact lenses, tinted lenses or low vision aids may be provided in certain circumstances.
You are eligible if you:
receive a full Centrelink pension/benefit
have no other income other than the Centrelink payments
have financial assets less than $500 (if single) or $1000 (if married/partnered or parent/guardian)
are a low-wage earner who earns less than:
the JobSeeker Payment if you're under 65, or
the aged pension if you're over 65.
People living in regional/remote areas and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples may also qualify for the subsidy. At your appointment, your provider will use the program’s online portal to check your eligibility using the information you've supplied.
Visit Vision Australia for more details on the program, your eligibility and how to apply, at:
Everyone is welcome, from novices to experienced players! Sharpen your mind, connect with friends, learn a new skill or refresh your existing game. Mah Jong if fun for all!
For more information contact Leigh Hudson 0408 941 665.
Stay for dinner in Halyards - book your table online HERE
MWP CARE (previously known as MWP Community Aid) is a local not for profit organisation that was founded by Daphne Elsworthy, a Collaroy resident, 52 years ago and we are still going strong!
In 2022 our programs focus on assisting older people aged 65 years and older, we also assist younger people with a disability and their carers. We are funded by the Australian Government Dept. of Health through the Commonwealth Home Support Program (known as CHSP). Pittwater Online News PROFILE
These services may be eligible for government subsidies. Call us on (02) 9913 3244 for a confidential discussion. Alternatively you may call My Aged Care on 1800 200 422 to discuss your needs. To access our services (and all other CHSP provider services) you must be registered with My Aged Care – the portal for all things related to Aged Care Services
We provide services aimed at helping people to stay independently living in their own homes.
Our programs cover:
Transport – to medical and social appointments
Shopping – Escorted Shopping, Shop By List, Group Social Shopping
Visiting – a volunteer visits a client in their own home for social support
Individual Activities – visit a friend, the library, the beach, local garden, and nursery, go for a coffee & chat, attend community activities etc.
Social Group Bus Outings – our mini bus and experienced staff coordinate a calendar of bus outings to interesting venues
CALD (Culturally and Linguistically Diverse) social groups/outings – Chinese, Italian, Korean , Filipino, Serbian
Home Maintenance Modification Service – provided to individual home owners at reasonable cost. Services provided by trusted tradespeople can include Plumbing, Carpentry, Handyman, Electrical, Modifications (ramps, rails etc.)
RSPCA NSW understands that to an elderly owner, a pet can mean everything. Our Aged Care program aims to keep pets and their elderly owners happy, healthy and together in their own homes for as long as possible. To do this, we assist elderly pet owners over the age of 65, Indigenous pet owners over the age of 50 and palliative care patients of any age.
services our Aged Care program offers include: temporary foster accommodation and/or emergency pet boarding if the owner requires medical treatment, respite or other assistance
assistance with veterinary treatment
home visits to assist the elderly with basic pet care
assistance with pet grooming
assistance with transport to and from the local veterinarian
a volunteer network to assist with dog walking and short periods of in-home care if the owner requires medical treatment, respite or other assistance
Please note that due to high demand for this program, we ask that pet owners first ask family and friends whether they are able to assist with their pet’s care.
This community program was previously known as Pets of Older Persons (POOPs).
For more information please contact the RSPCA Community Programs helpline (02) 9782 4408.
The helpline operates Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. During weekends and public holidays contact the RSPCA Contact Centre on (02) 9770 7555
Aged Care Program FAQs
Computer Pals for Seniors: Northern Beaches - Technology made easy for Seniors
Have you ever struggled with the demands of modern technology? Come and join our friendly club and learn at your own pace.
Computer Pals for Seniors Northern Beaches is here to help you master your device, be it Android/Apple tablets and phones, Apple/Microsoft/Chromebook laptops.
Each lesson is one-on-one for an hour each week during term times.
We are based at The Tramshed Arts & Community Centre, 1395a Pittwater Road, Narrabeen, close to the B-Line bus stop.
If you would like further information please contact Anne - Tel: 9984 0604 or emailanne.computerpals@gmail.com.
(contact Margot Fenelon 0419 122 455 to confirm Saturday class)
COST: $5 - first visit free
WHAT TO WEAR: Casual clothes and soft soled shoes
Bilgola plateau Probus Club
We meet on the first Friday of every month at the Newport Bowling Club; 2 Palm Road Newport. Our membership is full at the moment, and our waiting list is full. However, visitors are always welcome.
If you have any questions, please contact our Membership Officer, Mary Wearne: mary_wearne@hotmail.com
Did you know that Pensioners are entitled to concessions on their Council Rates?
Concessions are available for eligible pensioners. To be an eligible pensioner you must receive a pension from either Centrelink or the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, and be entitled to a pensioner concession card issued by the Commonwealth Government. You can only claim a concession on the property if it is the sole or principal place you live.
If you are eligible, you are entitled to:
Half of the total of your ordinary rates and domestic waste management service charge, up to a maximum of $250.
Half of your water rates or charges, up to a maximum of $87.50.
Half of your sewerage rates or charges, up to a maximum of $87.50.
To apply, you need to complete a pensioner concession application form. You can obtain these forms from your council - download our area's one HERE
Disclaimer: These articles are not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of Pittwater Online News or its staff.
Older workers hit by tax, tests, and stereotyping: NSA's Solution
National Seniors Australia (NSA) has long campaigned for government and business to value older workers and remove the financial barriers to them continuing to work or return to the workforce.
The national economy is on the brink of a major shift as the number of workers retiring or transitioning to retirement will out-number those entering the workforce.
So, it makes little sense to continue societal, government, and employer resistance to recruiting and retaining older workers – which, surprisingly, is even impacting younger workers aged in their late 40s.
Tax rules are a major barrier to retirees working more
A report for super fund HESTA by financial consulting firm Retirement Essentials, quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH), shows Australians on the Age Pension are often hit with effective marginal tax rates of between 60% and 80%, and in some cases as high as 118% – far beyond the tax rate of those in the highest income bracket.
An effective marginal tax rate is the share of an extra dollar of income lost to either income tax or a drop in government transfer payments, such as the age pension.
Traditionally, aged care has been a care sector reliant on a mainly female and poorly paid workforce. Many care workers are now moving into retirement and subject to Age Pension rules and income restrictions.
At a time when the sector is grappling with extreme skills shortages, numerous government reforms and customer demands, these older, experienced workers, are exiting the workforce.
Now’s the time for innovative thinking that breaks the cycle of ageism-based stereotyping and punitive government regulation.
NSA’s Let Pensioners Work policy is simple: allow older people to work in sectors like aged care, where mature workers are needed without impacting their pension.
It is innovative policy that NSA continues to bring to the discussion.
Current Age Pension rules penalise pensioners for earning more income than prescribed under the Income Test. For each dollar earned over an arbitrary limit, the pension payment is cut by 50c.
For many pensioners and those transitioning to a pension, this means pensioners have no incentive to work more.
Aged care workers and providers were the first to alert us to the problem – that older workers, mostly women on lower salaries and with low savings, would decline offers to work more hours – despite wanting to – because of the impact on their pension.
That means we are turning our backs on a valuable and experienced workforce when there are 55,200 job vacancies across the health care and social assistance sector (one of the highest of any sector of the economy, according to the latest ABS data).
The solution is simple
Employment income should be exempt from the income test for all pensioners. But first we should trial the idea in the care economy (aged, disability, childcare) to prove once and for all the benefits it would make to improve outcomes for older people and the economy.
In a recent article, HESTA chief executive Debby Blakey confirmed current Age Pension rules are a significant disincentive for workforce participation among pensioners, many of whom are eager to work at least part-time and as Australia continues to face staff shortages in critical areas such as health.
“Retirement is changing, but the system hasn’t aligned well with that,” she said. “Many of our retirees are keen to work, not just for financial reasons, but for connection or their mental well-being. Part-time or casual work in retirement helps people retain a sense of purpose and fulfilment, while addressing critical workforce demand and boosting the broader economy.”
NSA commissioned Deloitte to conduct modelling into the costs and benefits of exempting work income from the test.
It found that the cost to government would be neutral if 8.3% of pensioners worked or worked more under a full exemption of work income from the Age Pension Income Test.
Allowing pensioners to work and keep their pension will help retain older workers in critical sectors, such as aged care and agriculture. Help us make it happen.
We need to retain older workers throughout the economy, but especially in the care sector, to meet desperate workforce shortages.
This will give older people greater income and retain more people in the workforce to address high job vacancies.
Learn more about our campaign here and help us bring about positive change for older Australians and the nation by becoming a member of NSA.
It’s not just tax and pension rules that stop older workers making a contribution. The stereotyping and ageist attitudes of employers and recruiters are a major barrier to tapping into the opportunities and advantages that older workers offer.
In a sign that NSA’s priorities are gaining attention, the national broadcaster recently aired a 30-minute program devoted to the benefits and opportunities available to businesses in supporting “longevity workers”.
ABC Radio National’s This Working Life brought together experts from the recruitment and business sectors, who all agreed that redesigning work as we know it is necessary to retain mature-age workers, and is needed to solve Australia’s ageing population and productivity challenges.
It’s a no-brainer solution that, sadly, did not get an airing at the recent productivity roundtable in Canberra.
The radio program began with a frank admission that HR recruiters have a built-in bias against hiring older workers.
The contributing experts argued that a major shift in corporate and government thinking is necessary, as well as paradigm shifting planning for “longevity work” across the career cycle, which can help eliminate bias and ageism well before workers hit retirement age.
Daniela Andrei, Associate Professor in the School of Management and Marketing at Curtin University, was a prominent voice in the discussion.
Her message to business was that people are living longer, and their working life capabilities are growing, so their contribution to the economy is needed to pay for the standard of living we want.
However, older people are having trouble getting employed.
“We are losing a lot of talent,” she said. “As people walk out the door to retirement, so does their experience and expertise.”
Dr Andrei urged businesses to plan to keep the workers they have, welcome older workers, enhance their productivity by making changes to work systems, and encourage training and skills development that build “longevity work”.
“Age is not a decline or something bad, but interventions are needed to keep all workers working and productive,” she said.
Research says workers’ motivations change with age. Earlier motivation such as career building and getting ahead can transition to a desire for meaningfulness in work and making a difference.
“Older workers do experience some declines, physical and in quickness in processing, but the gains include emotional stability, experience and expertise, and judgement, which are qualities that compensate for any decline,” she said.
Other speakers said today’s children and grandchildren will expect a much more age-friendly, positive, and flexible work environment and employers should prepare for that now by introducing systems that build productivity as well as workers’ satisfaction and longevity.
Some speakers said research shows employers are often the major problem to imagining the future and bringing about necessary change.
They, too, need re-training.
Case studies
Dr Andrei noted that, following a development program for a Perth local government leadership team, their knowledge and knowledge of ageing increased, negative stereotypes of ageing decreased, and their behaviours of support for ageing workers improved. Customer satisfaction also increased.
In another example, a Western Australian age care provider, which has an older workforce with high level of physical and emotional demands, worked with staff and managers to find solutions to worker concerns. Small changes to processes, shifts, handovers, and rosters produced a happier workforce.
Chris Eaton is HR boss at dairy products company, Chobani, which has been actively recruiting and keeping workforce aged 21-71, with many who are 60-plus.
“We make a lot of yoghurt,” he said. “So, there’s a lot of shift work but we regularly talk to the workers about how that can fit in with their requirements and we have come up with solutions.”
Chobani has also embedded wellbeing programs and has set up wellness centre, with regular visits by allied health professionals. Grandparenting leave has also been introduced.
“We reviewed what our workers needed and brought in three days of grandparents leave, so they can be part of when a grandchild comes into the world.”
Training and development are also key to building productive longevity. There’s one full day a month of training and professional development, which keeps workers up to date.
‘I came to Alice in 1982 to visit friends’
September 23, 2025: OPAN News
Paul Absalom is a member of OPAN’s National Older Persons Reference Group, which was formed in 2020 to hear directly from older people about the issues that affect them and to facilitate their active participation in aged care reform.
Tell us a little about your background.
I have lived in Alice Springs since 1982. I came here to visit friends and never left. In that time, I have owned 3 different businesses repairing cameras, age and disability equipment and continuous positive airway pressure machines.
I’m a polio survivor, so I’ve been with the calliper and a walking stick for most of my life. I have been on a Level 3 Home Care Package for 2 years. The main reason for doing this was to take the pressure off my wife, Chris, who is my informal carer, and because of my health issues.
Chris and I have 2 adult children who live 1,500km in opposite directions from us.
What made you decide to join OPAN’s National Older Persons Reference Group?
Polio Australia has a monthly meeting. Two years ago, someone from there, who’s a National Older Persons Reference Group member, asked if I’d like to join.
Do you have an area of speciality?
Being a polio survivor and advocating for disability in the aged care system is a big one. There are a lot of issues there. If you compare My Aged Care to NDIS, we’re at a real disadvantage.
What has been one of the highlights during your time in the reference group?
Having the chance to voice my opinion on how to make the new Aged Care Act better.
What has been one of the biggest challenges?
Aged care is not nuanced enough for people with disability and other people who are just old and need help.
Older people have done their time. We’re not asking for the world. All we’re asking for is a system that assists us with the things that help us stay at home, not having to argue for every little thing that we might need.
What has being part of a reference group member taught you?
Collegiality. Being able to meet interesting, active, intelligent people who are on the same page. Finding your tribe.
What makes you get out of bed in the morning?
Breakfast and the need to keep moving, to engage with life. You can’t do that if you’re lying in bed.
What’s something most people don’t know about you?
I love riding motorbikes. I had a Can-Am Spyder, which had 2 wheels up front and a sidecar. I did 60,000km on it, including a run around Tassie, before I had to sell it due to ill health.
What’s the one possession you couldn’t live without?
My scooter. Seven years ago, I had a fall and fractured my femur, which took a long time to heal. I gave up on walking, so I rely on my scooter to get around.
What’s the best thing about being an older person?
The things that have happened to me in my life have taught me resilience, patience, and not to get too frustrated about my limitations. That’s been a hard lesson to learn.
If you could have lunch with anyone, alive or dead, who would it be and why?
I would like to have a cup of coffee with Steve Earle, a Texan singer-songwriter who writes political songs that I enjoy.
Birding by ear: How to learn the songs of nature’s symphony with some simple techniques
Waking up to the dawn chorus of birds – one of the natural world’s greatest symphonies – is a joy like no other. It is not surprising that bird-watching has become an increasingly popular hobby.
A simple way to start bird-watching is to buy a feeder, a pair of binoculars and a field guide, and begin watching birds from your window.
However, one of the most rewarding ways to identify birds is to listen to them and learn to recognize their songs.
As an ornithologist and educator, I often introduce students to the intricacies of bird songs, and I have developed some tricks that can make birding by ear less daunting.
Watch the American robin, a common songbird, singing it’s song and making calls.
Learning to listen
Learning bird songs is the difference between “hearing” and “listening.”
Listening requires full attention and limiting distractions. It means using your ears to pick up different patterns in the sounds that birds make. Every person has the capacity to listen and learn patterns in sound.
If I were to sing “da-da-da-DUM” most people would immediately recognize it as Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. Alternatively, if I were to play the first few notes or beats of your favorite song, I’m certain you would know what it was and who sang it.
A wood thrush can sound like it’s saying “Frit-o-LAY.” To remember, you can picture a thrush eating Fritos. Cornell Lab of Ornithology
The ability to recognize bird songs uses the same part of the brain you use to recognize songs on the radio – the supratemporal, or auditory, cortex, an area just above the ears where your brain processes language and sound.
When you’re birding by ear, you use the same skills as when you’re recognizing music; listening to sounds, patterns, changes in pitch, in tone and in volume, but in nature rather than in music.
Watch a tufted titmouse sing “peter, peter.”
You can do this.
To begin learning to recognize bird songs, select two to three common bird songs that you hear frequently around your neighborhood.
Sometimes there are mnemonics that you can use to help remember the songs. For instance, the tufted titmouse says “peter, peter, peter” over and over. Sometimes it sings it fast, sometimes slow, but always “peter, peter, peter.” Whereas the Carolina wren says, “tea kettle, tea kettle, tea kettle”.
A barred owl hoots, ‘Who cooks for you?’
Songbirds aren’t the only birds with helpful mnemonics. Next time you hear a hooting sound, if it sounds like “who cooks for you, who cooks for you all,” that’s a barred owl.
Why and how songbirds sing
Watching the actual bird sing its song is one of the best ways to learn the bird and song together. Find a tufted titmouse and watch it sing “peter, peter, peter,” and you will remember it forever.
Try going out into the woods with your binoculars and following unfamiliar sounds.
Many species make unique sounds as they sing, chirp, hoot, screech or whistle. They vocalize like this for a variety of reasons – to attract a mate, defend a territory, alert other birds to threats, or to locate other individuals to form flocks or groups.
Songbirds, such as the tufted titmouse and northern cardinal, are the group that ornithologists associate most with complex songs. They tend to have multiple notes and patterns that change in pitch and speed, rather than simple one-note or two-note calls.
Studies have found that, in some instances, background noise can weaken territorial responses in males. And light pollution in suburban areas can prolong singing by up to an hour.
In 1962, scientist and conservationist Rachel Carson wrote the book “Silent Spring” after noticing how quiet the spring had become when the bird migration would normally be underway. The pesticide DDT had weakened egg shells, triggering a sharp decline in many bird populations. Many scholars and historians identify this book as leading to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under President Richard M. Nixon in 1970.
Getting started birding by ear
As you start learning bird songs, technology can come in handy. There are now dedicated apps, such as Cornell University’s Merlin, that can help you recognize bird songs as you are listening to them.
Visualizing the sound of birds as you learn. Cornell Lab of Ornithology
As humans, we have long depended on our ability to communicate with each other. I think we relate to birds because they are such vocal creatures too.
Learning their songs is a lifelong endeavor. Once you start tuning into the natural world, you’ll realize that there is something new waiting to be discovered.
Sydney u3a comprises seven regions covering the greater Sydney metropolitan area. The local one is U3A Northern Beaches Region.
Sydney u3a is managed and run entirely by volunteers who contribute time and energy to provide life-long learning and social activities for everyone. Join in to enjoy the benefits of membership! At the one affordable annual membership fee of $85.00 (less than $2 per week), you’ll get:
access to a wide range of courses and presentations
friendly and inviting social events in your region
Members can attend any course in any of the seven regions
Volunteers lead and administer the courses and talks
A wide range of topics is covered – from learning foreign languages to table tennis to history to book/movie clubs to philosophy to science related issues. There’s something for everyone!
Courses are held in a variety of local venues and via Zoom
Events, visits, tours and social activities are also offered
Full details of activities are listed each semester in the Course Book and on individual regional pages
From time to time there are changes to course details after publication of the Course Book. Please keep checking your region’s website or the website home page for updates.
u3a Northern Beaches Region
Our current newsletter includes up to date information on courses, events and any changes to the program. Previous newsletters are available here if you missed any information or wish to refresh your memory.
Please note: The newsletter is distributed to members by email at the end of each month. If you haven’t received the latest copy please check as it may have been captured in your Junk email folder. If this is the case, please adjust your settings so that you receive future newsletters as soon as possible. We also take this opportunity to issue a friendly reminder to contact us with your updated details if you change your home or email address. Thank you.
A Call to Volunteer Trainers and Students
Come and share your knowledge or learn more about your device!
Computer Pals for Seniors Northern Beaches would love to hear from you. We are a not-for-profit organisation helping seniors navigate the wonderful world of technology.
We teach in term times Monday to Friday in a relaxed fun environment.
Common topics requested by Students are: Sending and receiving emails, discovering useful apps, safe banking online, learning how to take and store photos, avoiding Scams, and basically being able to operate their device with confidence.
We teach Android/Apple tablets and phones, and Apple/Microsoft/ Chromebook laptops.
We are based at the Tramshed Arts & Community Centre, 1395a Pittwater Road, Narrabeen, near the B-Line bus stop.
Staying physically active is the single most important thing you can do to stay fit and independent, as you get older. Age is no barrier, research shows that exercise, at any age, is worth the effort. If you are in any doubt about exercise, please talk to your doctor.
This website (https://www.activeandhealthy.nsw.gov.au/) can help you find an exercise program in your local area and provides information and tools that can assist you to increase your physical activity.
Join Healthy and Active for Life Online!
Healthy and Active for Life Online is a FREE 10-week healthy lifestyle program for adults aged 60 years* and over.
The program will help you learn how to make small, sustainable changes in your lifestyle to improve your health.
The program covers lots of topics including healthy eating and physical activity.
No prior knowledge or exercise experience is required!
*Aboriginal people aged 45+ years can register.
Healthy and Active for Life Online will help you to be active by:
Providing online exercise programs for you to complete in the comfort of your home
Providing you with an exercise manual and log to keep you on track
Helping you to create realistic goals and increase your fitness
Peninsula Bridge Club- Founded in 1967, we are a key community hub on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. We contribute strongly to our community: with both social connectedness for those who need it and opportunities to learn and train for those with competitive sporting goals.
The Club is a vibrant organisation hosting up to three bridge sessions a day. We have 37 permanently set tables – that’s 148 players. We host over 30,000 player sessions every year. This includes prominent tournaments and education events attracting players from across the region.
We pride ourselves on the friendliness of the club and our strong community spirit. We support local charities but even more importantly we support community members by providing them with social connection and mental stimulus – irrespective of age and mobility.
Our clubhouse is at Warriewood.
We have a new Beginners Course starting the end of September.
Each 2-hour lesson focuses on learning by playing, with a break for tea and chocolate biscuits mid-way. The course runs for 6 weeks and costs $100, which includes text book and support materials.
After the lessons we offer “Help with Play” sessions to practise what you’ve learned; Mondays 7-9pm; Tuesdays 2.15-4.30; Fridays 9.15-11.30. ($7 for members & $12 for visitors – membership
We also offer more advanced lessons each month so you can continue to improve your game if you want.
If you are keen to learn this great game, please call or email Cath Whiddon (Director of Bridge Ed at PBC): 9979 5752 or cwhiddon@live.com.
If you already know how to play, take a look at our website to see what’s on offer this month: peninsulabridgeclub.org.au
If you receive a pension, you may qualify for a rebate on your water bill.
To be eligible, you’ll need a:
Pensioner Concession Card from Centrelink or Department of Veterans' Affairs, or
gold Health Card (also known as a gold card) that shows:
war widow
war widower
extreme disablement adjustment (EDA)
totally and temporarily incapacitated (TTI)
totally and permanently incapacitated (TPI).
You’ll also need to be the owner and occupier of one of the following:
single dwelling
dual occupancy
strata or company title unit
unit in a retirement village with a life term lease.
If you own the property with someone who isn't a pensioner, you may still get a rebate. This depends on your relationship with the other owner(s) and your eligibility.
Rebates are applied to each bill.
You can claim your pensioner rebate by selecting your water supplier from the following list:
The purpose of our group is to support seniors (55yrs +) living with Parkinson’s, their carers, relatives and those who have lost a partner to Parkinson’s, who live on the northern beaches of Sydney.
This support Group has been meeting for around 30 years on the Northern Beaches. Our meetings aim to help reduce the social isolation, and increase community connectedness for our members. Through guest speakers, discussions, and group activities, our meetings will support and promote mental health, healthy lifestyles and well-being.
Our Facebook webpage will be used to store resources and links, and provide another way to safely keep in touch, for those who want to use Facebook. We also have a website that is regularly updated https://wheresdot.wixsite.com/nbpdsupportgroup
We meet regularly and have been meeting at Jamieson Park, The Esplanade, Narrabeen.
A regular contributor suggests we all look at Lumosity to see if will suit keeping active mentally. Their website states: "improve Brain Health and performance. Designed by neuroscientists, Lumosity exercises improve core cognitive functions. Researchers have measured significant improvements in working memory and attention after Lumosity training. Dozens of research collaborations help improve the Lumosity training program and its effectiveness." You can visit their website to decide for yourself at: www.lumosity.com/app/v4/personalization
Heartmoves is a low-moderate intensity exercise program. Regular participation in Heartmoves will help to: Better manage weight, blood sugars, blood pressure and cholesterol; Improve fitness, balance, co-ordination and flexibility; Enhance your quality of life and meet other people. Ingrid Davey is a qualified Older Adult Instructor and accredited Heartmoves Leader who will guide you through an exercise program that is fun, safe and modified to suit you. Tuesday 9.30am and Thursday 10.30am at Nelson Heather Centre, 4 Jackson Road Warriewood. The cost per class is $10.00 casual now and $17.00 for two classes. Phone Ingrid to secure your spot on 0405 457 063. www.heartfoundation.org.au
MWP Care
We've been supporting the community for over 50 years!
Our Neighbour Aid staff and volunteers are able to provide crucial support to vulnerable elderly residents during the lockdown.
Help with going to the supermarket or shopping on your behalf from a list as well as transport to medical appointments. Please get in touch via our website for more information
MWP Care is a not-for-profit organisation that assists frail aged and younger people with disabilities and their carer’s in the Manly, Warringah, Pittwater area to remain independent members of our community.
MWP Care provides support to people who cannot manage alone by providing a range of services. Many of Community Aid’s activities are made possible by the generous work of our wonderful volunteers. Please contact us for more information.
Australian Government Dept. of Health: Hearing Devices for Seniors
Australian Government's Hearing Services Program (the program), offers the option of being fitted with a hearing device if a hearing assessment identifies you have a hearing loss and a hearing device may assist you.
You will be given a recommendation for a fully subsidised hearing device, and may also be offered the option of purchasing a partially subsidised hearing device. These devices have been approved by the Office of Hearing Services.
You can find out more about this program on the Australian Government's Department of Health webpage on the program here
council has a Home Library Service Available for Seniors
For those unable to visit the library because of age or disability, the Home Library Service maintains a vital connection with all that the library offers. Your Home Library Service Officer will help you select items for reading or listening. Volunteers or staff will then deliver and collect your library items on a regular basis.
Register for the Home Library Service
If you or the person you care for is unable to visit the library or carry library items home due to age, frailty or disability, please complete Council's Home Library Service Application Form or call us on 9942 2393.
A medical certificate or statement signed by a doctor may be required to assess eligibility.
What happens next?
After staff receive your completed application form, a Home Library Service Officer will contact you to arrange a time to meet and discuss the service details with you.
Staff or volunteers will then select your items according to your borrowing preferences and then deliver them to you. During this visit you can return any items that you have finished with.
WIND, BRASS AND PERCUSSION PLAYERS!!!!!
Northern Beaches Concert Band is looking for flute, clarinet, saxophone, tuba and trombone adult players. We cater for players from beginner to advanced and have a varied and exciting repertoire. Come and join us during school term time at 7.30pm, Pittwater High School, Mona Street, Mona Vale.
Details 9970 7131 or 0414 560 263.
Community Connect
Need help on where to go to find the community information and assistance you need?
At Community Connect Northern Beaches, our professional staff and trained volunteers are knowledgeable, friendly and approachable and we will be only too pleased to help you find the service you want. We provide information and support, as well as advocacy and referral to other non profit community services and government agencies.
If we can’t help you we will get you someone who can. If you are newly arrived or do not have an English speaking background we can offer individual advice and support. Or Why not come to Specialist Community Support Workshops: Family Law, Power of Attorney plus Wills and Executors; Domestic Violence Support and Prevention; Positive Community Integration ; Crime Prevention; Or Our Free English Classes.
We also provide information on: Family Services: Child Care, Personal Support & Counselling; Health (Including Mental Health) ; Material and Practical Assistance ; Advocacy to access state and federal MP assistance; Accommodation and Tenancy (help with form filling); Legal and Financial Matters ; Consumer Affairs ; Multicultural Issues; Conservation and the Environment ; Employment and Education; Accessing Community Facilities -You are welcome to call in for: Brochures, booklets and fact sheets on a range of topics; Service Directories e.g. Council Guides and Migrant Directories; Publications e.g. The Senior newspaper and Nova.
Access to our community information data base, internet, email, fax and photocopying.(Please note there is a small charge for photocopying and use of the fax to cover the cost of paper, toner and fax call). We also offer: A Legal Referral Program - Monday 1pm to 2pm at our 30 Fisher Road, Dee Why office. Taxation Assistance for low income earners and pensioners from July to October.
What does it cost?: Our services are free, however we are always grateful for a small donation where possible. The program is supported by NSW Department of Family & Community Services (FACS). CONTACT US: Phone: 02 99317777.
Know Your Bones
CEO of Osteoporosis Australia, Greg Lyubomirsky says “bone health is an important part of your general health and anyone with risks for osteoporosis should be investigated.”
He has urged people to try the online self-assessment, Know Your Bones developed by Osteoporosis Australia and the Garvan Institute of Medical Research.
"Simply visit the website, complete the assessment in your own time and a personal report is generated which will outline potential risks and can be taken to your doctor if required.”
EasyLink (formerly Easy Transport Manly Warringah Pittwater) - medical appointments, shopping trips, mystery tours and Saturday Lunch - this great non-profit organisation offers great ideas and solutions.
Currently Avalon Beach Ladies Probus club is looking for new members - a great opportunity to spring into Spring by meeting up with wonderful local women for fun and friendship. Meets first Tuesday of every month at Club Palm Beach (Palm Beach RSL).
President Margaret White shares a few insights into this local ladies Probus club.
With around a quarter of a million members, National Seniors is Australia’s largest consumer organisation for the over 50s and fourth largest group of its kind in the world.
AvPals
Avalon Computer Pals (AVPALS) helps Seniors learn and improve their computer skills. It is a not for profit organisation run by volunteers.
Started in 2000 it now has 20+ trainers and many hundreds of students. At a really low cost (about $50 a school term) they can provide one-to-one training on most matters connected with computing and related technologies like mobile phones and digital cameras. From the smallest problem (how to hold the mouse!) to much more serious matters, there is a trainer who can help.
We offer “one to one” personal tuition or special short courses in the training rooms under the Catholic Church in Avalon. Training is conducted Monday to Friday from 9am to 4pm. For more information visit AVPALS web site www.avpals.com or phone 02 8064 3574
The National Library of Australia provides access to thousands of ebooks through its website, catalogue and eResources service. These include our own publications and digitised historical books from our collections as well as subscriptions to collections such as Chinese eResources, Early English Books Online and Ebsco ebooks.
What are ebooks?
Ebooks are books published in an electronic format. They can be read by using a personal computer or an ebook reader.
This guide will help you find and view different types of ebooks in the National Library collections.
Peruse the NLA's online ebooks, ready to download - HERE
Wellbeing Plus
The Wellbeing Plus Course is a free, online treatment course for Australian’s aged 60 years+
The course includes 5 lessons delivered over 8 weeks, with optional weekly support from a therapist via email or phone. It aims to help us understand symptoms of anxiety and depression, and practice helpful skills.
Over 95% of people said they would recommend the Wellbeing Plus Course.
Volunteers are sought to help out on Wednesday mornings (7.30am to midday) at the group's workshed in Ingleside. Volunteers need their own transport and be willing to sort and clean toys that are picked up at different collection points on the Northern Beaches.
Prospective volunteers can call Terry Cook on 0410 597 327 or email him. Find out more about this great community group HERE
Meals on Wheels
Meal preparation and delivery: Benevolent Society
Our food services include meal preparation, and delivery of hot, frozen or chilled meals as part of the Meals on Wheels NSW program. This service is currently provided in the Northern Beaches area of Sydney.
Assistance to prepare food at home is available as an activity to help stay active and independent.
To find out if you or someone you know is eligible for this service, call our friendly staff.
Australian Ageing Agenda (AAA) is an independent and authoritative bi-monthly publication for people who work in or around the aged care and retirement sectors in Australia. It provides a broad range of news, education and opinion with an emphasis on knowledge sharing and research translation.
Each issue also contains regular updates on relevant business and financial issues along with a selection of well researched features on crucial systems and operations, clinical care, technology, built environment and other issues relevant to the ‘ageing sector’. AAA leads the way with the industry’s most comprehensive conference details and remains Australia’s number one source of news and information about ageing issues and aged care.
If you need some help around the house or think it’s time to look into aged care homes, My Aged Care is here to help.
My Aged Care is the Australian Government's starting point on your aged care journey. Find and access the government-funded services you need.
Learn about different types of care
If you are just starting out on your aged care journey, this is your first step. You can see what services are available to help you stay in your own home, or what to expect in an aged care home.
Get assessed
If you’ve had a look at what services might be available and you want to know if you are eligible, this is your next step. Read about how to apply and what’s involved in the assessment process.
Find a provider
If you’ve been assessed and are ready to find a provider and set up your new services, start here. Find out what to consider and get information about service providers near you.
Manage your services
If you are receiving services and want to check what you’ve got in place or make some changes, head to this section.
Need some help?
If you need some help, the My Aged Care team can answer most of your questions over the phone. Call 1800 200 422
Home Instead Sydney North Shore & Northern Beaches
We are a provider of quality home care and companionship services for seniors in the Northern suburbs of Sydney.
To you, it’s about finding trustworthy care for your ageing loved one. To us, it’s about providing the highest-quality in-home care services to fit you and your family’s needs.
To Us, It's Personal.
We provide services to all areas and suburbs in the North Shore and Northern Beaches of Sydney.
Any person can make a complaint to the Commissioner, including care recipients, family members, friends, staff, volunteers, or professionals.
Complaints may relate to any aspect of services including care, choice of activities, discrimination, catering, communication or the physical environment. The 1800 550 552 helpline is staffed 9am to 5pm (AEDST) Monday to Friday.
In 2014-15, there were 10,924 contacts to the Aged Care Complaints Scheme. 3,725 were assessed as a complaint, 3,812 ‘other’ contacts includes non-compulsory notifications, own motion investigations and compliance referrals. There were also 3,387 out of scope contacts which were not related to an approved provider or an approved provider’s responsibilities under the Aged Care Act.
Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN)
Older Persons Advocacy Network offer free, independent and confidential services that focus on supporting older people and their representatives to raise and address issues relating to accessing and interacting with Commonwealth funded aged care services.
Older Persons Advocacy Network seek to ensure that aged care consumers understand and exercise their rights and participate, to the maximum degree possible, in the decisions affecting their care.
Older Persons Advocacy Network achieve this through the delivery of individual advocacy support, information and consumer and service provider education.
Nine State and Territory based organisations form the OPAN network. Older Persons Advocacy Network is funded by the Australian Government to deliver the National Aged Care Advocacy Program (NACAP), providing a national voice for aged care advocacy.
ADVOCACY
Older Persons Advocacy Network organisations offer free aged care advocacy services that are independent and confidential
INFORMATION
Older Persons Advocacy Network organisations provide free information about aged care service provision, referrals and the rights and responsibilities of consumers
EDUCATION
Older Persons Advocacy Network organisations offer free information and education sessions to consumers and providers of Commonwealth funded aged care services