Which Australian cities are committed to being age-friendly?

37 Australian cities and communities are committing to age-friendly policies and programs. Who are they?

Residz Team 11 min read

Which Australian cities are committed to being age-friendly?

We recently ran a story on the best places in Australia to retire to and noted Mornington in Victoria was a member of the World Health Organisation Global Network of Age-Friendly Cities and Communities.

But, Mornington is not alone in publicly committing to make life easier for downsizers and older Australians looking at retirement real estate.

In fact, there are 37 Australian cities, regions, or states among the 1445 cities and communities in 51 countries in the WHO age-friendly network. Here we take a look at each one, and some facts about each.

What is the WHO Global Network for Age-friendly Cities and Communities?

According to the WHO, the mission of the Network is to stimulate and enable cities and communities around the world to become increasingly age-friendly. The Network seeks to do this by:

● inspiring change by showing what can be done and how it can be done;

● connecting cities and communities worldwide to facilitate the exchange of information, knowledge and experience; and

● supporting cities and communities to find appropriate innovative and evidence-based solutions.

WHO says membership to the Network is not an accreditation for age-friendliness. Rather, it reflects cities’ commitment to listen to the needs of their ageing population, assess and monitor their age-friendliness and work collaboratively with older people and across sectors to create age-friendly physical and social environments.

Age-Friendly Commitment: State of Queensland and State of Western Australia

Western Australia and Queensland are the only two states in Australia that are members of the WHO network of age-friendly cities and territories.

Queensland’s info page on the WHO website states that it is estimated that by 2050, more than one in five Queenslanders will be 65 years or older. Queenslanders are working and living longer, are healthier and are more independent and active than ever.

A “contemporary and meaningful” seniors strategy will be released in 2023, it says, directly informed by the voices of older Queenslanders.

Meanwhile, the WA Government has adopted the WHO Age-friendly Cities and Communities approach since 2006.

It says this has led to the establishment of an Age-friendly Interagency Group, which brings together state and local government agencies to collaborate and develop strategic responses to ageing.

Age-Friendly Commitment: Surf Coast Shire of Victoria

With 24.4% of its population over 60, Victoria’s Surf Coast Shire is a strong retirement location with many older Australians moving to popular spots around Anglesea, Aireys Inlet, Lorne, and Winchelsea.

In 2020, Council employed an Age Friendly Officer to assist in the implementation of its Age Friendly Strategy key projects and evaluation framework.

Age-Friendly Commitment: Darebin City Council

Some of the initiatives that Darebin have implemented since 2020 include:

Age-Friendly Commitment: South Gippsland Shire Council

One of the initiatives of South Gippsland, which has nearly 38% of its population aged over 60, is the employment of a Positive Ageing Officer to the Council, who is working on developing better communication links with the senior community by creating a monthly e-newsletter, ‘Community 55+’ and a dedicated web page.

Age-Friendly Commitment: Indigo Shire Council

Incorporating Beechworth, Chiltern, Rutherglen and Yackandandah, Indigo Shire Council has 26% of its population aged over 60.

A key step to becoming age-friendly included becoming a dementia-friendly Shire in partnership with Dementia Australia. In 2015 the village of Beechworth and ISC became dementia friends, with the aim to continue planning and developing dementia-friendly communities across the entire shire.

Age-Friendly Commitment: City of Wanneroo

In the northern suburbs of Perth, WA, the City of Wanneroo is committed to building a city that is safe and inclusive with opportunities to maintain a good quality of life and access to services as people age.

15% of the population of 206,860 are aged over 60, and Wanneroo has seven Age Friendly Principles based on WHO’s age friendly topics around health and education, lifelong learning and education, social and economic participation, age-friendly environment and transportation, civic engagement and leadership.

Age-Friendly Commitment: City of Knox

More than 21% of the population of Knox is over 60. Part of the age-friendly strategy at Knox is the Active Ageing & Disability Services team,  providing a range of services to older people including Domestic Assistance, Personal Care, Flexible Respite, Escorted Shopping, Social Support, Food Services, Occupational Therapy, Home Modifications, Home Maintenance, Social Support Groups, Community Transport, and Housing Support.

Age-Friendly Commitment: East Gippsland Shire Council

East Gippsland is one of Victoria’s highest per capita populations of ageing people, with almost 40% of the population being over 60 years. It says on its WHO page that it is one of 19 municipalities within Victoria already “super aged.”

Its Ageing Well in East Gippsland strategy encompasses age-friendly initiatives around wellbeing, infrastructure, housing, and community engagement.

Age-Friendly Commitment: City of Monash

Around 1 in 5 residents of the City of Monash in Victoria are over 60. One of the areas for recent focus was the issue of social isolation amongst local residents and the city’s 21 trained Age Friendly Ambassadors became involved in engaging with the community to develop a social inclusion policy.

Age-Friendly Commitment: Moonee Valley City Council

There’s a lot going on at Moonee Valley to make the city age-friendly. One initiative is the Active Ageing Reference Group: the reference group, comprising 6-8 seniors, which formally represents older residents and informs the strategic direction of the Healthy Ageing unit at Council.

Age-Friendly Commitment: Illawarra-Shoalhaven Region

34% of the Illawarra-Shoalhaven region is over 60. Age Friendly Illawarra is an alliance of organisations aiming to create opportunities for older people to lead active, engaged lives and contribute positively to Illawarra communities.

It’s consulted extensively with older people to develop a baseline assessment of the age friendliness of the region.

Age-Friendly Commitment: Mornington Peninsula Shire

Around 30% of people are aged over 60 in this Shire. An annual Positive Ageing Community Summit brings together community members, service providers and business with the Shire to reflect on its Positive Ageing Strategy’s progress and to capture emerging issues and opportunities for partnerships.

Age-Friendly Commitment: Whyalla

Whyalla is located 396 kilometres northwest of south Australia’s capital, Adelaide, Australia and it is known for its quality lifestyle. This includes a strong sense of place, a tight knit community, high levels of public safety, an abundance of affordable housing and a hospital.

With lots of community programs on offer, Whyalla says that it recognises “that if we can create and implement a plan to retain our ageing population in Whyalla; we are cementing a future for those people to stay in our town and their immediate growing families.”

Age-Friendly Commitment: City of Salisbury

Also in South Australia is the City of Salisbury, which has 18% of its population aged over 60.

It says on the WHO website that the City of Salisbury will ensure that older residents can experience the community as one of ‘opportunity and spirit.’

Its Age Friendly Salisbury strategy focuses on creating a city that supports and encourages active ageing which is the ‘process of optimising opportunities for health, participation, security and lifelong learning..”

Age-Friendly Commitment: City of Fremantle

With over 1 in 5 people aged over 60, Fremantle’s key achievements in 2021-22 included social participation programs, such as 30 “Come and Try” activities, support for 5 x weekly social groups, weekly one-on-one Tech Help sessions, and 7 x hot topic presentations.

Age-Friendly Commitment: Barunga West Council

120 kilometres north of the capital city, Adelaide, Barunga West Council has nearly 38% of the population aged over 60 and more than 50% over 50. The median age of the population of Barunga West Council is 55, compared to the State average of 40 and national average of 38.

With one of the Council’s major employers being in the aged-care sector, and recognising the circumstances of a regional location, the Council says in the WHO network listing that it is committed to supporting all ages of the community.

“This is seen as crucial to ensuring the long-term sustainability of the local hospital, medical and school services in the district,” it says.

Age-Friendly Commitment: Burnie

Nearly 2 in 5 residents are over 60 in Burnie, in the north-west of Tasmania, according to its WHO member network listing. Burnie Council’s Positive Ageing Plan was made up of five key themes:

Age-Friendly Commitment: Marrickville

There are a lot of programs and activities addressing healthy and positive ageing in Marrickville in Sydney, including Council’s Community Grants Program, which offers small grants to non-profit community organisations to deliver projects that engage older people, people from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse backgrounds, and people with disabilities. Marrickville says it has a vision and a commitment to be an age-friendly community for current and future generations of older people.

Age-Friendly Commitment: Cardinia

Around 1 in 5 are over 60 years old in Cardinia. Some of the actions in Cardinia’s strategy include:

Age-Friendly Commitment: Orange City Council

The growing City of Orange has just under 20% of its population aged over 60 and provides a wide range of services for people who are ageing, people with disability and their carers under the name Choices at Home.

These include home visits, chats and cuppas, volunteer book delivery service from the library, getting out and about activities, community support, and more.

Age-Friendly Commitment: Macedon Ranges

24% of the population of the Macedon Ranges is over 60, and the shire council has developed a 2020-2025 Positive Ageing Plan to ensure it is age-friendly into the future. The five year plan named “Participate” has a strong focus on social connections, being active, living well, advocating for their needs, valuing and respecting older people.

Age-Friendly Commitment: Kiama

With nearly 28% of the population over 60 in this popular NSW coastal town, Kiama says it is building a more accessible and inclusive future for all with a focus on the needs and priorities of older residents.

One initiative is the Kiama Dementia Friendly Project. Kiama says it is estimated that 1200 people are living with dementia in the NSW Kiama Electorate (approximately 300 within the Kiama Council Area) and this number is projected to increase to almost 4000 by 2050.

Age-Friendly Commitment: Boroondara

Boroondara in Victoria was formed from the amalgamation of the Cities of Kew, Camberwell and Hawthorn. 1 in 5 people in this area of Melbourne are aged over 60.  Boroondara takes a “whole of council approach” to i

ts healthy ageing program, and post-COVID it began its delivery of a new healthy ageing plan called: “Add life to your years – Healthy Ageing in Boroondara.” The plan reaffirms council’s commitment to an age-friendly future, and reflects the priorities older adults said were important to them.

Age-Friendly Commitment: Banyule

Within the north-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Banyule has established an Age-friendly City Champion program. Interested residents are provided with free training which provides an understanding of active ageing and creating age-friendly communities.

22% of Banyule residents are over 60.

Age-Friendly Commitment: Liverpool

Liverpool in Sydney has under 20% of residents under 60, but has an age-friendly strategy in place. 40% of the population in this area were born overseas, which is higher than the proportion of Sydney’s population born overseas (34%).

With the demographics changing as the population gets older, Liverpool City Council says it is committed to providing sound planning to support and embrace the opportunities presented by the changing demographics of the community.

Age-Friendly Commitment: Warrnambool

A novel idea from Warrnambool is that motorised scooter users can travel around the city with confidence thanks to the Scooter Recharge Program. This program is designed to assist people who use scooters by enabling them to recharge their vehicles if they run out of power while out and about.

Many programs have been developed in this Victorian city, and include hydrotherapy, cycling and walking programs, and strength training classes, computer and IPad Classes and a range of intergenerational opportunities.

Age-Friendly Commitment: City of Cockburn

A Life-Long Learning Centre (a multi-purpose centre including a permanent Seniors Centre), seating and shade in parks and public places, and engaging with the business community (to address access issues at shopping centres, employment opportunities and age-friendly strategies in retail) are some of the initiative in the City of Cockburn’s age-friendly strategy. Located in WA, Cockburn’s population has around 16% aged over 60.

Age-Friendly Commitment: City of Unley

On the southern fringe of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, Unley has about 28% of its residents aged over 60. In its WHO listing it makes the point that by 2031, there will be more than 440,000 people in South Australia aged over 65, making up more than 1 in 5 of South Australia’s total population.  It says that, based on the City of Unley profile, 30% of local residents reside in lone person households.

Unley has an  ‘Active Ageing Alliance’ – a forum of active citizens who work in partnership with the City of Unley to oversee implementation of its strategy to be age-friendly.

Age-Friendly Commitment: Maroondah City Council

23% are over 60 in Maroondah in Victoria. Using the Active and Healthy Ageing (AHA) Initiative as a tool, Maroondah is on a journey to becoming an age-friendly city. Initial consultations with older people in Maroondah indicated that they wish to continue to reside in the Maroondah community, remaining as independent as possible and living within their own homes, and wish to be treated with respect and contribute to community life as they age.

Age-Friendly Commitment: Great Lakes

With nearly 40% of the population over 60, council years ago resolved that the Great Lakes would become a “Centre of Excellence for Ageing”. The Great Lakes has the oldest population in the state of New South Wales (Australia), and the third oldest in Australia.

Its active ageing strategy is to “change the current perception of ageing from a model of illness, incapacity and care, to a social model of inclusion, participation and engagement.”

Age-Friendly Commitment: Lane Cove

Just 9 km from the centre of Sydney, Lane Cove has a population of approximately 32,000 and close to 25% of people are aged 55 years and over.

Some of the goals in its Age-Friendly Action Plan are to:

Age-Friendly Commitment: Melville

With around 1 in 5 ove 60 in Melville, the WA city has developed the Age Friendly Melville Plan 2022-2026 with 4 top priorities:

Age-Friendly Commitment: Rockingham

WA’s Rockingham has already seen a lot of age-friendly strategies implemented, including the  development of an annual Seniors Expo which connects seniors and carers to a wide variety of local service providers, government agencies, community groups and organisations, and the initiation of the Tales of Times Past program for seniors to share their generational experiences and stories with children, adults and other seniors.

Age-Friendly Commitment: City of Clarence

The City of Clarence became the first Tasmanian council to join the World Health Organisation (WHO) Global Network of Age Friendly Cities and Communities in 2014. While Tasmania is the ‘oldest’ state in Australia with a median age of 42, the Clarence median age is slightly higher at 43 years of age.

Its latest plan can be found at this site.

Age-Friendly Commitment: Canberra

Last but not least is Canberra, with under 20% of residents over the age of 60. Surveys showed that older Canberrans have the highest rates of volunteering and caring in Australia and are the most educated in the country.

They bring significant resources to the social, community and economic life of Canberra, which says it values and recognises the important role they play. In 2019 the city developed Age-Friendly Canberra – A Vision for our City with 12 key principles to guide ongoing work.

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Photo by Centre for Ageing Better on Unsplash