Article: Inadequate services driving sea-changers back

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Inadequate services driving sea-changers back

Inadequate services driving sea-changers back
Christopher Knaus
December 28, 2010

A LACK of specialised health services, aged-care places and public infrastructure is forcing ''sea change'' retirees to move back to major cities, according to leading interest groups.

The Council on the Ageing has warned of an increasing trend of city-dwellers moving to the coast during early retirement only to return 10 to 20 years later as their dependence on specialist doctors and residential and community aged care services grew.

Council chief executive Ian Yates said a lack of specialist medical support was driving ageing retirees back to cities.

''You don't get the range of specialists and, of course, you don't get the acute care hospitals that you get in the major cities,'' Mr Yates said.

''And also, of course, what they don't estimate is the impact of moving away from established friends and family networks. Those things are significant issues that people don't think about when they're newly retired.''

Mr Yates said the lack of public transport, specialist dental services, disability support and mental health services also made living in coastal areas difficult for ageing retirees.

Almost 7 million people live in coastal areas outside Australia's major cities, and the rate of population growth in those areas is about 60 per cent higher than the national average, according to the National Sea Change Taskforce.

The taskforce, set up by local councils to lobby for infrastructure investment to cope with the demographic shift from city to coast, warns that the strain on threadbare health and aged-care services could worsen next year.

Taskforce executive director Alan Stokes said 2011 marked the start of a 16-year period when baby boomers would retire, meaning the size of the ''sea change'' phenomenon would increase.

He said that at least 1 million baby-boomer retirees owned or planned to own a coastal home. ''It's going to be enormous. It's difficult to keep up with as it is. These areas are having enormous difficulty in keeping pace with demand for infrastructure and services, and if we're experiencing anything like that growth ... it will be a huge task to keep pace.''

Early 2011 will be a key time for the planning of coastal infrastructure and services. A draft Productivity Commission inquiry into the care of older Australians, due on January 21, will make recommendations for aged-care services in rural and remote areas. About the same time, the federal government is due to respond to a parliamentary inquiry into the effects of climate change on coastal infrastructure and planning.

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