Elder Abuse Victim's Story Highlights Systemic Failures in Australia

Maria (not her real name) stood shivering outside her home for hours on a winter's day after she was kicked out by an abusive son-in-law and had her belongings dumped on the driveway.

The then-72-year-old had nowhere to go, anxiously waiting for help from police, who she called three times.

It was 2022, and Maria lived at a property in Brisbane she co-owned with her 35-year-old daughter, who then moved in with her would-be husband.

While Maria knew he was "hot-headed", she never anticipated the violence that would be brought into her home.

"They started breaking the door to the other room because he wanted to make a big ensuite," Maria said.

"And while I'm asleep, he just kept banging on the wall."

Maria said her son-in-law frequently swore and screamed at her, made aggressive hand gestures, and put his "face in my face" in fits of rage.

Through it all, her daughter remained a bystander.

"She'd just sit there and observe," Maria said. "He called all the shots. Whatever he says, she agrees."

When her possessions were thrown out, Maria managed to contact a friend on the Gold Coast who offered to help at short notice.

But the now-76-year-old said she hoped police would have better supported her through what was a conspicuously abusive domestic environment.

It was not until Maria reached out to a support service that she said she felt her experience was taken more seriously, and carried forward in court.

"It's as if a big [burden] was taken off my back because I was just hopeless," she said.

Maria said she wanted people in situations like hers to know seeking help made a difference.

'Everyone's responsibility'

Defined as occurring within a relationship of trust, elder abuse can take various forms including neglect, financial, physical, sexual, and psychological abuse.

One in six Australians over the age of 65 experiences abuse, according to a 2021 Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) study, with adult children being the most common perpetrators.

In Queensland, notifications of abuse to the Elder Abuse Prevention Unit have increased 82 per cent in the past five years, with 2,794 notifications made in 2025 from more than 4,800 calls.

However, with research showing more than 60 per cent of victims choose not to report their experiences or seek help, advocates say the broader community needs to step in.

"Sometimes, the person that changes an older person's life and helps them access support isn't an expert or a professional, it's simply someone who noticed," Caxton Community Legal Centre senior lawyer Nicky Mitchell said.

Ms Mitchell said that because older people did not always recognise their mistreatment as such, it was crucial for anyone who noticed red flags to check in and help empower them with knowledge about their rights.

"It is everyone's business. It is everyone's responsibility," she said.

Ms Mitchell said more government funding was needed for dedicated elder-abuse support services.

"Elder abuse should be treated and funded to the same level as family and domestic violence in partner abuse, and anything less than that is ageist," she said.

Addressing ageism, investing in support

A Queensland parliamentary inquiry last year called on the government to improve elder abuse data collection and reporting, develop a national definition of elder abuse, and leverage educational assets to foster respect for older members of the community, among other recommendations.

Aged and Disability Advocates (ADA) Australia CEO Geoff Rowe said there was a lack of public understanding about the extent and impact of elder abuse in Australia, with ageism a key factor.

"Older people don't tend to count … they're often seen as a burden on the community rather than the people that have built the foundations of the community that we all enjoy," he said.

"So, it's very easy to discount the impact. It's seen as someone else's problem. 'It's a family matter. It's not something that's going to impact on you or me.'"

Mr Rowe said the sector was frustrated with the failure of governments to implement recommendations from a landmark Australian Law Reform Commission report into elder abuse in 2017.

"It would be wonderful if some of our community leaders showed leadership on this issue," he said.

Many advocacy and legal bodies have been calling for elder abuse to be criminalised, with a debate on the issue to take place at a national Elder Abuse Conference on the Gold Coast next week.

Queensland Police said it had "no reliable data" on how many elder abuse cases it had dealt with given its lack of classification as a standalone criminal offence.

The Queensland attorney-general's office said in a statement "work is progressing to implement specific recommendations" from last year's inquiry.

Maria's real name has not been disclosed to protect her safety.