Retirement Villages Amendment Bill Community Consultation

Have your say on proposed amendments to South Australia’s Retirement Villages Act 2016.

What's being decided?

We are seeking feedback on the Retirement Villages (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill 2023, which amends the Retirement Villages Act 2016.

This consultation provides an opportunity for stakeholders to consider whether the proposed changes achieve the intent of the review recommendations.

The YourSAy community consultation will begin on Friday 31 March and close on Friday 19 May 2023 at 5.00pm.

Background

The Retirement Villages Act 2016 (the Act) commenced on 1 January 2018. The Act provides an effective framework for regulating the operation of all retirement villages across South Australia and ensuring consumer protections for residents and prospective residents of retirement villages.

When it was introduced, the Act included a provision requiring that it be reviewed after three years of operation. The Review was conducted by PEG Consulting in 2021. A discussion paper released during the review period received close to 200 submissions from residents, operators, peak bodies representing these groups and other interested members of the community.

The Review made 60 recommendations relating to reforming and strengthening legislation, policy, and Better Practice Guidelines.

Many of the recommendations propose amendments to the Retirement Villages Act 2016. These amendments are aimed at:

• increasing consumer protections
• strengthening standards applying to retirement village operators and village staff
• strengthening the powers and functions of the Registrar.

The Review’s recommendations also considered the potential growth of the retirement village sector, the challenges of an ageing population putting increased demand on the sector and the wide variety of operators in the retirement villages space.

Get involved

Find out more:

• Read the draft Retirement Villages (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill 2023
• Read ‘A Guide to the Bill’
• Read the Frequently Asked Questions for residents, for operators, Exit Entitlement options
• Consider the Questions for Community Feedback

Have your say by:

• Responding to the questions
• Completing the online survey
• Registering for an upcoming community information session
• Emailing a submission to: rvactreview@sa.gov.au
• Posting your written submission to:
• Retirement Villages Review
  Office for Ageing Well
  PO Box 196, Rundle Mall ADELAIDE SA 5000

• If you have any questions or require support to participate in the feedback process, please contact Office for Ageing Well by phoning 08 8204 2420.
  
  
  

What are the next steps?

We will consider your feedback to finalise the draft Amendment Bill before it is introduced to State Parliament.