Moyne signs Age-Friendly Victoria declaration

Published on 29 January 2025

Moyne Shire’s commitment to its older residents has been affirmed with the inking of the Age- Friendly Victoria Declaration.  

At Tuesday’s Council meeting, Councillors endorsed signing the declaration which aims to foster health, participation, and security for older populations through prioritising actions to promote quality of life, such as improving accessibility, fostering social inclusion, and enabling older residents to "age in place”. 

Mayor Cr Karen Foster said signing the declaration was the next step following Council’s decision to continue providing community care services in 2024.  

“We know we have an aging population in Moyne so this declaration is a sign that we are committed to making sure the services we offer are meeting the needs of all members of our communities,” she said.     

“Through our decision to stay in Community Care we are ensuring our older residents can remain independent in their homes with the support of our dedicated care teams.  

“Signing this declaration shows we are committed to taking actions to support and encourage our older residents to be actively involved in the life of the community.”  

Cr Foster said older residents were being engaged as part of development of the new Council Plan and Municipal Health and Wellbeing plan to make sure those key documents reflected the needs of the whole community.  

“The 45-74 age group is the largest age demographic in the shire and there was a 44.9 per cent increase in the 70-74 age group between the 2016 and 2021 census and the median age across the shire is 45, which is well above the state and national average of 38” she said.  

“The statistics show our residents are getting older, so we need to make sure we are doing what we can to make sure our communities and council services are set up to keep our older connected ad active.    

“Through the signing of this declaration, development of the new Council Plan, Health and Wellbeing Plan and changes we are making to ensure ongoing sustainability of our Community Care team, we are focused on supporting the whole community – from our oldest residents through to the youngest.”