Mary Wood outlines the role of the new Retirement Living Council

This week at the Retirement Communities Conference, Executive Director of the Retirement Living Council, Mary Wood, outlined challenges and the initiatives the sector needs to embrace. The major challenge with government she reported is ignorance and apathy, resulting in knee-jerk regulatory response to “limit the bad, not promote the good”. The Council strategic plan going forward is based on:
• tell the story
• present the business case for Federal seniors housing policy
• improve the understanding of the industry
• engage constructively with residents stakeholders
• ensure evidence-based outcomes
• launch the new accreditation scheme
She stated that “without quantitative analysis and data you will not get the ministers support. It is imperative the sector develop simple, key messages supported by fact”. The RLC will commission four research projects to develop this factual data base.