An ageing population and loss of young people from rural communities is significantly impacting on the population size and makeup of many communities. This is one of the findings of Hepburn Shire Council’s Positive Ageing Strategy.
Located in Central Victoria, Hepburn’s population of 15,000 is spread over 1,470 square kilometres.
Council is developing a Positive Ageing Strategy to address the local impacts of Australia’s rapidly ageing population and to provide its senior residents with every opportunity to have active and fulfilling lives.
A draft of the Positive Ageing Strategy was presented to the October Council meeting and public comment is now being sought before the strategy is finalised.
Council’s Community Strengthening Coordinator, Brian Dunn, said the Australian population is ageing and living longer requiring all levels of government to prepare for this demographic shift.
“In Victoria in 1976, the number of people aged over 100 years was 83, in 2006 it was 643,” he said.
With Victorian councils now required to prepare Positive Ageing Strategies, last year Hepburn received funding from the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) and Council on the Ageing Victoria to complete its strategy. The strategy has involved a community reference group to guide the development and distribution of the research.
The main tool has been a survey, which was widely distributed across the Shire.
Brian Dunn said information from the survey, in conjunction with other population data and relevant Council strategies, will form the basis of a three year action plan for Hepburn Shire.
The survey revealed that the median age of Hepburn Shire residents is 44 years, compared with the national average of 37 years. It is predicted that by 2021, Hepburn’s 50 years plus age group will be 52.6 per cent, and by 2031, 58.45 per cent. The survey also revealed that transport was an important factor to remaining independent and that approximately one third of respondents in the Shire had no access to public transport in the area they currently lived.
The Shire also has a higher than State average of sole occupant households in the overall population.
Most people wish to remain in their own homes as long as possible, therefore support will be required for them to do so.
A gap was also revealed in other housing options, such as cluster living accommodation and retirement villages.
For further information contact Brian Dunn on
(03) 5348 1633.
