A two-day national conference to be held in June will explore the many aspects of aged care for LGBTI people.

Advocates and activists from the LGBTI community have largely welcomed the recommendations of a Senate committee looking at the Federal Government’s proposed national anti-discrimination laws, with the committee suggesting religious exemptions be tightened for service providers, protections be strengthened for transgender people and that intersex people receive specific inclusion under any new legislation.

As a Senate committee prepares to hold public hearings in Sydney this week on Labor's draft national anti-discrimination laws, there’s growing outrage within the LGBTI community and elsewhere over the wide-ranging exemptions offered to religious bodies and other groups that will allow them to continue to legally discriminate against people on several grounds including sexual orientation and gender identity.

Long fought for and heralded by many as a watershed moment, the Commonwealth has this week launched its first ever National LGBTI Ageing and Aged Care Strategy as part of a $3.7 billion aged care reform package.

As part of a continuing campaign to better understand the needs of older LGBTI Australians, UnitingCare Ageing has developed a survey that it hopes will provide a greater insight into the community’s needs for aged care services.

A project looking to address the issues in transgender and intersex ageing will soon begin in South Australia with the help of federal funds.

Following on the back of the Federal Government’s recent announcements recognising LGBTI older people as a formal special needs group in aged care and the development of a national strategic plan to accommodate those needs, calls have been made to ensure a “human rights approach” is taken when implementing changes to the sector.

The needs of older LGBTI people will be addressed under a new plan to be developed by the Federal Government, a move that has been welcomed by advocates as a ‘significant breakthrough’ for the LGBTI community. 

Aged care provider Evergreen Life Care Limited has received federal funding for projects designed to aid LGBTI aged people.

The special needs of older lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people (LGBTI) will be addressed under a new national strategy on aged care to be developed by the Federal Government.

In what is described as a first for the aged care industry, UnitingCare Ageing has taken the step of appointing an LGBTI project officer to liaise with community and health organisations to help gain a better understanding of the challenges facing older LGBTI people.

The Australian Government will include LGBTI people as a special needs group under the Aged Care Act, and will allocate $2.5m over the next five years for LGBTI training of the aged care workforce, in an announcement greatly welcomed by the likes of ACON and the National LGBTI Health Alliance.

ADELAIDE: UnitingCare Wesley Adelaide was recently successful in gaining grant money from the Federal Government specifically for older LGBT people in the Adelaide metropolitan area.

There have been strides in attending to the needs of older Australians but when it comes to LGBTI seniors, there’s still a long way to go. As NSW marks Seniors Week 2012, Serkan Ozturk looks at the challenges facing older members of the LGBTI community.

ADELAIDE: Alex Dunkin looks at a new project aimed at improving the lives of older LGBTI people in South Australia.