Craig Gear OAM was appointed CEO of the Older Persons Advocacy Network in 2018. Craig has a Masters of Nursing (in Critical Care) and over 20 years of clinical and senior management experience within the health and human services sectors, previously serving as Board Chair at Seniors Rights Service. Craig is passionate about connecting and improving the health system for all Australians. He also has an insider’s perspective of the challenges involved and has been using that experience to drive better outcomes for at-risk communities for more than 20 years.
From Consultation to Influence: Older People Shaping the Future of Aged Care
The aged care system is being reshaped around stronger rights, choice and person-centred care. But a critical question remains: are older people genuinely influencing how reform is implemented, or are they still being consulted after the important decisions have been made?
This panel brings members of the Older Persons Advocacy Network’s (OPAN) National Older Persons Reference Group (NOPRG) into the centre of the conversation. Rather than speaking about older people, the session will hear directly from older people about what reform feels like from their side of the system: what is working, what remains difficult, and what providers, policymakers and sector leaders need to understand as implementation continues.
NOPRG is a national lived-experience advisory group that informs OPAN’s policy, systemic advocacy, communications and engagement. Members bring diverse experiences of navigating aged care, supporting others, exercising rights, making choices and encountering barriers across assessment, home support, residential care and the broader aged care system.
In a facilitated panel discussion, NOPRG members will explore three questions: What has changed for older people under the reformed system? Where does the gap between policy intent and lived experience remain? And what does meaningful partnership with older people look like in practice?
The session will move beyond conventional consultation. Panel members will reflect on the conditions that allow older people to participate as genuine partners in reform, including accessible information, time to understand and deliberate, feedback loops that show how advice has influenced decisions, and opportunities to shape issues before solutions are designed.
Delegates will leave with practical insights into how organisations can strengthen consumer participation and co-design, recognise emerging risks earlier, and test whether reforms and service models are delivering what they were intended to deliver.
Most importantly, the session asks the sector to reconsider a familiar question. Instead of asking, “How do we engage older people in our work?”, what changes when we ask, “How do we build our work around what older people tell us matters?”