Chinese Community Council of Australia (Victoria Chapter) (CCCAV) today announced its official support to the Chinese Community Social Services Centre’s (CCSSCI) petition to the House of Representatives to highlight the severe shortage of residential care places and community care packages to the growing Chinese Australian ageing population.

CCSSCI’s bilingual petition to the Parliament of Australia received extremely positive responses from the Victorian Chinese community where 12,000 signatures were collected over a period of seven weeks.

“This is most likely the largest ever petition presented to any level of Government from the Chinese community. There needs to be more recognition of our growing ageing community. Our community is concerned about their ability to receive and afford adequate health and aged care”, said Dr Chiang.

“All levels of government need to acknowledge that Australian citizens of Chinese descent are estimated to grow by 300 per cent from 2006 to 2026 and that policies and programs need to be in place. Clearly the community has spoken and priority must be given when the allocation of residential care places and community care packages are announced during the Aged Care Approval Rounds.

CCCAV further recommends the Federal Government to follow the Victorian Government’s lead in looking forwards implementing a CALD Aged Care Strategy. CCCAV believes support for ethno-specific and multicultural aged care service providers to deliver services across aged care and positive ageing program areas are a key priority for the sector. This could be done through direct funding or brokerage agreements with partner agencies.

“Numerous research and sources have acknowledged that CALD people with dementia often revert to their first language, which requires culturally appropriate and language specific care. A national strategy is in dire need to ensure all aged care facilities (not just ethno-specific) have cultural and linguistic competency as a key service standard in their operations.

CCCAV supports the CCSSCI petition which states the following:

• Acknowledge that Australian citizens of Chinese background come from more than 100 countries and Government statistical data on the Chinese community should be compiled based on the language spoken at home instead of country of birth/origin;
• Give priority to the Victorian Chinese-speaking community in its allocation of residential care places and community care packages in the forthcoming Aged Care Approval Round;
• Develop a strategic plan, through community consultations, to address the needs of people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds for aged care services.

The petition was tabled to the House of Representatives in late November 2009.