Age Discrimination Commissioner Susan Ryan is writing to Attorney-General George Brandis to ask for federal government help to combat the private scourge of elder abuse.
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With the World Health Organization estimating one in 10 older people experiences elder abuse each month, but no Australia-wide data on the issue, Ms Ryan will ask the government on Monday to fund a national prevalence study to understand how widespread it is.
"We get to hear about things when they go wrong," Ms Ryan said, adding that elder abuse requires national coordination, much like approaches to domestic violence.
There is no exact costing for the study yet, but it would be more than the $180,000 for recent Human Rights Commission research into older people and workplace discrimination, as the issue is more complicated.
The federal government quietly began tackling elder abuse earlier this year. Senator Brandis has asked the Australian Institute of Family Studies to do a scoping study to assess the problem and ways to address it. Work started in August and the report is expected in December.
According to a spokesman for Senator Brandis, the government would have "more to say in the near future" on elder abuse.
"The government is deeply concerned at the level of abuse that members of the Australian elderly community, which are some of our most vulnerable, appear to be exposed to," he said.
Ms Ryan is also recommending the federal government set up a national financial abuse hotline, which would advise older people on where to get the help if they were concerned about financial abuse – such as being asked to transfer their home to a son or daughter.
On top of this, she is suggesting a national register for powers of attorney, so it would be clear who had control of an older person's finances affairs.
"I think the federal government could show some leadership here," Ms Ryan said.
In an interview with Fairfax Media, the Age Discrimination Commissioner also raised the issue of elder abuse among Australia's migrant population.
"It's quite an urgent task for government and NGOs to look what's happening [and] how we can better protect these people," she said.
More than a third (36 per cent) of Australians over 65 were born overseas and Ms Ryan said as they aged there needed to be particular focus on the group to keep them safe.
She noted that some older migrants did not have the English language skills that would allow them to seek help about their legal entitlements, adding there was also a lack of awareness about what elder abuse was.
Elder abuse can involve physical, sexual, psychological or financial abuse or neglect from someone in a position of trust, such as a family member, carer or friend.
